13.22 Empty
- ᴹQ. kúma n. “void”
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A word for “void, darkness”, perhaps first appearing in Ambarkanta from the early 1930s (SM/241). The Etymologies from around 1937 had ᴹQ. kúma “void” under the root ᴹ√KUM of the same meaning (Ety/KUM). It was an element in ᴹQ. Avakúma “Exterior Void”, the darkness surrounding the world (SM/241; Ety/AWA).
- ᴹQ. kumna adj. “empty”
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An adjective for “empty” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUM “void” (Ety/KUM).
- ᴹQ. lusta adj. “void, empty”
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An adjective in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “void, empty” derived from the root ᴹ√LUS (Ety/LUS).
- ᴱQ. munta n. “*zero, naught, ⚠️nothing”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. munta “nothing” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/48, 81), likely related to the early negative root ᴱ√UMU (QL/98).
Neo-Quenya: Since the negative root √UMU appears in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. munta for purposes of Neo-Quenya. In earlier versions of this lexicon I used to recommend munta for “nothing”, but in 2024 an attested word for “none, nothing” ᴹQ. alla was published, from a document written by Tolkien in 1948. So I now recommend using munta for “*zero, naught” for which we have no attested words.
- Q. undumë n. “abyss”
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A word for “abyss” in the Markirya poem of the 1960s (MC/222), perhaps based on the root √NDU “down”.
- N. caun adj. “empty, void”
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An adjective appearing as N. {cûn “empty”} >> cofn [kovn] or caun “empty, void” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUM “void” (Ety/KUM). It is not clear how of vocalized to ou > au.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use ᴺS. covn “empty, void” to better fit later Sindarin orthography.
- N. gaw n. “void”
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A word for “void” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. gása under the root ᴹ√GAS “yawn, gape” (Ety/GAS).
- S. lost adj. “empty”
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A word for “empty” implied by the names Camlost “Empty-handed” (S/184) and Lothlann “Wide and Empty” (S/123).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. lhost “empty” under the root ᴹ√LUS (Ety/LUS) with the 1930s sound change of initial l to lh, a sound change absent from Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s. The Etymologies originally put lost “empty” under the ablative root ᴹ√LŌ “*from”, but lost was deleted from that entry (EtyAC/LŌ).
- G. unt n. “nothing”
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A word appearing as G. unt or unath “nothing” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with an adjective form G. untha “no, none” (GL/73, 74). It is related to the negative element G. û (GL/73). It may also be related to ᴱQ. munta “nothing” (PE14/48, 81) and based on the early negative root ᴱ√UMU (QL/98).
Neo-Sindarin: Since √UMU continues to appear in Tolkien’s later writings, I retained ᴺS. unt “nothing” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, but adapt the adjective form as ᴺS. ont “no, none” with a-affection of u to o. For an alternative, see ᴺS. lad “nothing, zero”.