Select Elvish Words 6.63-6.71: Brooch, Adornment

6.63 Pin, Brooch

ᴱQ. pirin (pirind-) n. “thin rod, pin”

A word appearing as ᴱQ. pirin (pirind-) “thin rod, pin” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√PIRI having to do with cylinders and spinning (QL/74).

Neo-Quenya: In 1959 Tolkien gave a new meaning to the root √PIR as “close eyes, blink, wink” (PE17/146), but I believe this was a transient idea; see that entry for details. As such, I use the Neo-Root ᴺ√PIR with its earlier meaning “cylinder” and would use this to salvage ᴺQ. pirin “thin rod, pin”.

Q. tancal(a) n. “brooch, ⚠️clasp, [ᴹQ.] fastener, pin”

A word appearing as Q. {tankil >>} tankal or tankala “clasp, brooch” in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) from around 1950, derived from primitive ✶tankḷ or ✶tanklā respectively (PE18/100). Q. tañkal “brooch” also appeared in the contemporaneous Outline of Phonology (OP2) with a similar derivation (PE19/83). This word reflected Tolkien’s vision of the phonetic development of syllabic final ḷ in the 1950s and 60s, where syllabic ḷ developed a vowel of the same character as the preceding vowel, producing -al in this case.

Conceptual Development: The deleted form {tankil} from TQ2 hints at earlier developments for syllabic ḷ. The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. tankil derived from ᴹ✶tankla “pin, brooch” under the root ᴹ√TAK “fix, make fast” (Ety/TAK). The first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) from the 1930s instead had tankala “clasp, brooch”, but with tankil, tankḷ added in pencil (PE18/51 and note #51). The original layer of composition from the contemporaneous Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) had tankila from ᴹ✶tanklā “fastener, brooch” with a variant tantya, but the primitive form was updated to ᴹ✶tanklă and the Quenya form to tañkal (PE19/40 and note #72). Thus the tankil forms reflects original Tolkien’s 1930s notion of the syllabification of ḷ to il (PE19/40 note #66), updated at some point to instead produce -al.

The Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s had an entirely unrelated form ᴱQ. pieksin for “brooch”, an elaboration of ᴱQ. piek “pin” (QL/73; PME/73).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would use tancal only for a decorative brooch, and for “hasp, clasp” in clothing I would use [ᴹQ.] tangwa.

ᴹQ. tangwa n. “hasp, clasp, *fastener”

A noun for “hasp, clasp” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶takmā “thing for fixing” under the root ᴹ√TAK “fix, make fast” (Ety/TAK). It is an example of how primitive ✶km developed into ngw in Quenya of the 1930s through 1950s.

Neo-Quenya: Sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien revised his notion of the phonetic developments for ancient stop-nasal combination, so that ✶km became qu (PE19/85). However, I choose to ignore this particular revision to Quenya phonology, and as such I would retain tangwa “hasp, clasp” for purposes of Neo-Quenya. I would use tangwa for a “clasp” in clothing over the word tancal(a), whose use I limit to decorative brooches. I would also use tangwa for movable fasteners in general (e.g. hasps to hold windows closed), not just in clothing.

S. tachol n. “brooch, clasp, [N.] pin”

A word glossed “clasp, brooch” in both versions of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1: PE18/51) and around 1950 (TQ2: PE18/100) derive from primitive ✶tankla based on the root √TAK “fix, fasten”. N. tachol also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√TAK “fix, make fast” where it had the same derivation but the glosses “pin, brooch” (Ety/TAK). This word illustrates the phonetic development whereby final l became syllabic and developed into -ol in Sindarin/Noldorin.

6.71 Adornment

Q. carrëa n. “tressure, *headdress”

A noun for “tressure” in notes from the late 1960s derived from ✶cas-raya = √KAS “head” + √RAY “net, lace” (VT42/12). Given this word’s etymology, Tolkien was probably using “tressure” with its Middle English sense = “headdress”.

Q. netil n. “trinket, small thing of personal adornment”

A word for “trinket, (?small thing) of personal adornment” [part of the gloss is hard to read] derived from √NET “trim, pretty, dainty” in notes from the late 1960s associated with one of the etymologies for nettë “(little) girl” (VT47/33).

Q. netya- n. “to trim, adorn”

A verb for “to trim, adorn” derived from √NET “trim, pretty, dainty” in notes from the late 1960s associated with one of the etymologies for nettë “(little) girl” (VT47/33).

ᴱQ. qilin adj. “adorned; (orig.) bright-coloured, *embellished; ⚠️embroidered”

An adjective appearing as ᴱQ. qilin “adorned, bright-coloured, embroidered” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QILI¹ (QL/77).

Neo-Quenya: I retain the Neo-Root ᴺ√KWIL mostly in the sense “colour/color” for purposes of Neo-Eldarin. However, I think the original sense of ᴺQ. quilin might have been “bright-coloured, *embellished”, and from there the senses “adorned” could have developed under the influence of ᴺQ. quiltassë “embroidery”. Therefore, I’d retain this word for purposes of Neo-Quenya with a slightly different origin, but would use ᴺQ. quilinoitë for the more specific sense “[em]broidered”.

ᴱQ. qilinoite adj. “[em]broidered”

An adjective appearing as ᴱQ. qilinoite “broidered” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as an elaboration ᴱQ. qilin “adorned, bright-coloured, embroidered” (QL/77).

Neo-Quenya: I’d retain ᴺQ. quilinoitë “[em]broidered” for purposes of Neo-Quenya; see the entry ᴺQ. quilin the rationale.

ᴱQ. qiltasse n. “(em)broidery”

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. qiltasse “(em)broidery” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QILI¹ (QL/77). It also appeared with the gloss “broidery” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/77).

Neo-Quenya: The initial element of this word looks suspiciously like quilta “belt”, so I suspect that the meaning of this word might originally have been an abstract noun meaning “belted with decorative elements”, influenced by the sense “embellish” of the verb quilya-. I therefore retain this word but with this slightly different etymology, and then assume it went on to influence the meaning of other words like quilin “adorned, (orig.) bright-coloured” and quilinoitë “broidered”.

S. cathrae n. “tressure, *headdress”

A noun for “tressure” in notes from the late 1960s derived from ✶cas-raya = √KAS “head” + √RAY “net, lace” (VT42/12). Given this word’s etymology, Tolkien was probably using “tressure” with its Middle English sense = “headdress”.