5.91 Mead
- Q. miruvórë n. “mead, nectar, special wine or cordial, drink of the Elves, ⚠️(lit.) precious juice, [ᴱQ.] sweet drink”
-
The Quenya word for the special Elvish drink of Rivendell, more commonly known by its (Sindarin) name S. miruvor (LotR/290), itself a loan word from Quenya (PE17/37). The Quenya word dates all the way back to the earliest versions of the Legendarium, with ᴱQ. miruvōre “nectar, drink of the Valar, sweet drink” appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/61), and the shorter form miruvor appearing The Lost Tales from this same period (LT1/153).
Possible Etymology: In notes from 1967, Tolkien admitted this word was inspired by Germanic među + wōþi = “sweet mead”, which would have become miřuwoři in the English language branch (PE17/64). In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s it was a combination of ᴱQ. miru “wine” and ᴱQ. wóre “sweet” (QL/61, 104). In notes from the late 1950s, Tolkien redefined it as a combination of √MIR “precious” and ✶wōri “juice”, but then declared this was a false etymology (PE17/37-38). Indeed, in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 Tolkien said the Quenya word was based on Valarin mirubhōze (WJ/399), elsewhere glossed “a honey wine” (PE17/38), with the element Val. mirub being “wine”.
- S. miruvor adj. “a special wine or cordial”
-
A special Elvish drink of Rivendell (LotR/290), a loan word from Quenya (PE17/37). See the entry Q. miruvórë for further discussion.
Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s this word was G. mirofor “drink of the Gods” based on G. mîr “wine” (GL/57) along with an alternate form G. gurmir where the initial element was G. gûri “sweet” (GL/43).
5.92 Wine
- ᴹQ. limpe n. “wine, ⚠️drink of the Valar, [ᴱQ.] drink of the fairies, fairy-drink, elfwine”
-
A noun glossed “(wine), drink of the Valar”, in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√LIP (Ety/LIP).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. limpe appeared in Tolkien’s earlier writings of the 1910s and 20s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√LIPI and variously glossed “drink of the fairies” (QL/54), “fairy-drink” (PME/54), and “elfwine” (PE16/141). In a list of names associated with The Lost Tales it had a longer form limpelis (PE15/7).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this word for ordinary “wine” only, since the “drink of the Valar” is commonly Q. miruvórë in Tolkien’s later writings.
- ᴱQ. miru n. “wine”
-
A word appearing as ᴱQ. miru “wine” in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s as the basis for the name of the drink of the Valar: ᴱQ. miruvóre (QL/61; PME/61).
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writing, the initial element of Q. miruvórë was derived from the Valarin word Val. mirub “wine”, but I think ᴺQ. miru “wine” can also be retained as an adaptation of that Valarin word.
- ᴱQ. mirúva adj. “wine”
-
A word appearing as ᴱQ. mirúva “like wine, winy” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. miru “wine” (QL/61).
Neo-Quenya: Since I retain ᴺQ. miru “wine” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would retain ᴺQ. mirúva as well.
- G. mîr n. “wine”
-
The words for “wine” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s were (archaic) G. †mîr¹ and (ordinary) G. miros (GL/57), both related to ᴱQ. miru “wine” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/61).
Neo-Sindarin: In Tolkien’s later writing, S. mîr was “jewel” and S. miruvor was a loan word from Q. miruvórë, where the initial element was based on Val. mirub “wine” (PE17/37-38; WJ/399). As such I use ᴺQ. miru for “wine”, and I would also used ᴺS. miru for “wine” as another loan word from Quenya and an element in S. miruvor. This assumes both “wine” (from grapes) and miruvor were drinks introduced by the Noldor.
5.94 Juice
- ᴹQ. pirya n. “juice, syrup, *sap”
-
A noun in The Etymologies of the late 1930s glossed “juice, syrup” derived from the root ᴹ√PIS (Ety/PIS).
Conceptual Development: Several earlier words seem to be precursors of this one. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. pulqe “juice” under the early root ᴱ√PḶQḶ which was unglossed and had no other derivatives (QL/74). Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱQ. pihye, a cognate of ᴱN. hí “sap, juice” and derived from ᴱ✶pisye (PE13/147). The Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s had ᴹQ. pite “juice” pl. pitsin (PE21/7).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this word for thicker juices, syrups and *sap, as opposed to ᴹQ. sáva as “juice” for drinking (such as from fruits).
- ᴹQ. sáva n. “juice”
-
A noun in The Etymologies of the late 1930s glossed “juice” from the root ᴹ√SAB of the same meaning (Ety/SAB).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. văsă “juice” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (a cognate to G. gwâs) is a possible precursor (GL/44).
- N. iofog n. “fruit drink, cider”
-
A word for “fruit drink, cider” in a rough notes from 1940, whose primitive form was {ᴹ✶yābā-sāb >>} ᴹ✶yābā-sūka and whose Old Noldorin form was ON. {yōbasoka >>} yōbasūka > iovhug > iofog (TMME/53). It was thus a combination of the ancient roots ᴹ√YAB “fruit” and ᴹ√SUK “drink”, though the deleted primitive form indicates Tolkien first considered ᴹ√SAB “juice” as the basis for the second element.
The change of o to ū in the Old Noldorin form could represent vacillation between ᴹ√SOK and ᴹ√SUK as the root for “drink”. However, since primitive long ō became ū in Old Noldorin, it is hard to say what the exact vowel in the root was. In the initial syllable ᴹ✶yābā, ancient long ā became ǭ and then au, but then the au became o as usual in polysyllables to produce iov-. This reduction of au to o also allowed the v from b to survive. Compare this to monosyllabic N. iau < *yābē where the v was lost after au (Ety/YAB).
Note that the change of u to o in the final syllable of this word is unusual. In Noldorin (and Sindarin), the change of short ŭ to o was normal, but an ancient long ū usually meant the u survived. For example, compare this to N. gwanur < ON. wanūro from The Etymologies (Ety/TOR). The survival of h in iofhug is also unusual, since generally the loss of h between vowels occurred before short vowels vanished before morpheme boundaries, as with the development of the name N. Tinúviel. Thus we would expect iauvahūg to become (perhaps) iovaug, not iovhug. However, perhaps the h in iofhug was restored by analogy with the mutated forms of independent words like N. sog- “drink”.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would retain this word as iofog, but would assume the primitive form was *yāba-sŭka or *yāba-sŏka to avoid the question of the abnormal development of ū > o. I think both [yofog] and [yovog] are acceptable pronunciations.
- N. peich n. “juice, syrup, *sap”
-
A noun appearing as N. peich “juice, syrup” in The Etymologies of the late 1930s under the root ᴹ√PIS, probably from primitive *pisya given its Quenya cognate ᴹQ. pirya (Ety/PIS). Here sy became χı̯ [pixı̯a], the i became e via a-effection [pexı̯(a)], and then the i intruded into the preceding syllable to produce the diphthong ei after the final a was lost to produce peich [peix].
Conceptual Development: Several earlier words seem to be precursors of this one. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. bith “juice, sap” with a deleted primitive form {viđa} (GL/23), cognate to ᴱQ. vite “sap, juice” under the early root ᴱ√VITI (QL/101). Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. hî “sap, juice” derived from ᴱ✶pisye (PE13/147) with initial p becoming h as was usual in Early Noldorin of the 1920s.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt this word as ᴺS. paich as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD), since ei became ai unless it was in a non-final syllable in Sindarin.
- N. pichen adj. “juicy, *oozing”
-
A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “juicy”, the adjectival form of N. peich “juice, syrup” (Ety/PIS).
- N. saw n. “juice”
-
A noun in The Etymologies of the late 1930s glossed “juice” from the root ᴹ√SAB of the same meaning (Ety/SAB).
Conceptual Development: G. gwâs “juice” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s is a possible precursor (GL/44).