Select Elvish Words 9.64 Gold

9.64 Gold

⚠️ᴹQ. kulu n. “gold (metal)”

The Etymologies of the 1930s had a pair of words kulu “gold (metal)” and kulo “gold (substance)” derived from the root ᴹ√KUL of similar meaning (Ety/KUL). However Tolkien revised the meaning of this root to “golden-red” and the derivatives of the root became color words: ᴹQ. †kullo “red gold” and ᴹQ. kulda or ᴹQ. kulina “flame-coloured, golden-red”.

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. kulu “gold” under the early root ᴱ√KULU of the same meaning (QL/49). The word ᴱQ. kulu “gold” reappeared in the Early Qenya Grammar and English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE14/46, 71; PE15/72) before being abandoned in The Etymologies of the 1930s, as noted above. In later writings, “gold (metal)” was Q. malta.

Q. laurë n. “gold (light or colour)”

A very well-attested noun for “gold (light or colour)”, an element in many names, derived from √(G)LAWAR of the same meaning. This word only refers to “those things which we often call ‘golden’ though they do not much resemble metallic gold: golden light, especially sunlight” (RGEO/62), as opposed to gold as a metal which is malta (PE17/51, 159).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where ᴱQ. laure was the “(magic name of) gold”, derived from the early root ᴱ√LOURI (LT1/100; QL/42, 51), as opposed to ᴱQ. kulu which was ordinary gold (QL/49). The shift towards laure being only light or color seems to have begun in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where ᴹQ. malda was “gold (as metal)” (Ety/SMAL), later Q. malta (as noted above). This use of laurë only for color and light was reaffirmed frequently in Tolkien’s later writings (RGEO/62; Let/308; PE17/159).

Q. laurëa adj. “golden (of hue)”

An adjectival form of laurë “gold (light or colour)” (RGEO/62; PE17/61) appearing in its plural form laurië in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the adjectival form of ᴱQ. laure was ᴱQ. laurina “golden” (QL/51), but ᴱQ. laurea “golden” appeared in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/73), and Tolkien seems to have used that form thereafter.

Q. laurië n. and adv. “goldenness; like gold”

An abstract noun form of laurë “gold (light or colour)” meaning something like “goldenness”, also used adverbially for “like gold” or “goldenly” (PE17/58, 61). The word laurië “like gold” appeared in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377), but Tolkien vacillated on whether it was an abstract noun used adverbially or the plural of the adjective laurëa “golden” used as an adverb. See the discussion of Quenya adverbs for more information.

Q. malta n. “gold (metal), gold as material”

A noun for “gold” appearing in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, also used as the name of tengwa #18 (LotR/1123). In private notes on The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien specified that it was “gold metal” or “gold as material”, as opposed to laurë which was golden light or gold as a color (PE17/50-51, 159).

Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s writings in the 1910s he had ᴱQ. laure as the mystical or magical name of gold as opposed to ordinary “gold” which was ᴱQ. kulu (LT1/100). The word ᴹQ. kulu “gold” survived until The Etymologies of the 1930s, but there its root ᴹ√KUL was redefined to refer to the color “golden-red” (Ety/KUL). Tolkien introduced a new word {malta >>} ᴹQ. malda for “gold (as metal)” derived from the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” (Ety/SMAL; EtyAC/SMAL). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s Tolkien had the form ᴹQ. malta “gold” (PE22/50), and he seems to have kept that form thereafter. At some point he revised the root to √MALAT “gold” as well (PM/366).

⚠️N. côl n. “gold (metal)”

A word appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√KUL “gold (metal)” (Ety/KUL). Tolkien updated this entry to change the root’s gloss to “golden-red”, after which its Noldorin derivative became N. coll “red”, while elsewhere in The Etymologies the word for “gold (as metal)” became N. malt (Ety/SMAL).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. †culu used poetically for “gold”, cognate to ᴱQ. kulu “gold” (GL/27) and thus derived from the same early root ᴱ√KULU (QL/49). G. culu was also given as an example noun for declensions in the contemporaneous Gnomish Grammar (PE11/14).

S. glaur n. and adj. “gold [light or colour]”

A noun for “gold (light or colour)”, appearing as either glaur or glawar, derivatives of the root √(G)LAWAR of the same meaning (NM/351; PE17/17, 159; VT41/10). As Tolkien described it:

The application to gold of this stem was poetic and referred to colour primarily (as especially of laburnum) not to material ([which was instead Q.] malta) (PE17/159).

The distinction between the two forms glaur and glawar is not entirely clear. In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. glaur “gold” and N. glawar “sunlight, radiance of Laurelin” as derivatives of distinct forms of the root: ᴹ√GLAW(-R) and ᴹ√(G)LAWAR, with the first of these being rejected (Ety/GLAW(-R); LÁWAR). In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien said:

[Q.] Makalaure was converted simply phonetically to S. maglaur > maglor. Its pure Sindarin [development] would have been {maka-glawar >>} maka-glaur-. [In] S. glaware > glawar = Q. laure but as second element in compound glaware > glaur (VT41/10).

This note seems to imply that glawar is the normal form, and glaur is just a reduced form in compounds. However, glaur does appear as independent word in Tolkien’s later writings, for example in its mutated form ’laur in Nan Laur “Valley of Gold(en Light)” (UT/253). Conversely, longer glawar appears in a few compounds, such as Glewellin “Song of Gold” (MR/155) and Lothlewerian(d), the “pure Sindarin” form of Lothlórien (PE17/48). These glawar forms in compounds seem to have resisted reduction because they first underwent i-affection to glewer.

The vast majority of compounds with this word show a further reduction to either glór or glor, where au became o in polysyllables as was usually the case in Sindarin. The reduced form is always -glor as the second element of a compound (Maglor), but is glór- as an initial element if followed by a vowel (Glóredhel), or glor- if followed by a consonant cluster (Glorfindel).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would treat glaur and glawar as variants of the same word, both functioning as a noun meaning “gold (light or colour)”. However when “golden light, sunlight” is the intended meaning, I would tend to use glawar. Furthermore, I think glaur can also be used adjectivally = “golden [colour]”, as in Nan Laur where the mutation of the second element indicates an adjective rather than a noun.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. glôr “gold” as a cognate to ᴱQ. laure (GL/40), and hence probably derived from the early root ᴱ√LOU̯RI (QL/51) since ou became ō in Gnomish of the 1910s. ᴱN. glór “gold” appeared Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/144). Its most notable use in the early period was in the name G. Glorfindel which meant “Golden Hair” throughout Tolkien’s life.

The Etymologies of the 1930s had {ᴹ√GLAW(-R) > N. glaur “gold”} revised to ᴹ√(G)LAWAR > N. glawar “sunlight, radiance of Laurelin” as noted above (Ety/GLAW(-R); LÁWAR). Possible precursors to N. glawar “sunlight, radiance” include G. galwen “brilliance” from the 1910s (PE13/114) and ᴱN. gladwen “radiance, sunshine” (PE13/123, 144). From the 1930s forward Tolkien had both glaur and glawar, as discussed above.

S. glóriel adj. “golden”

This appears to be an adjectival form of glaur “gold (colour or light)” seen only as a element in names like Galadlóriel “Golden Rain” (MR/155; RS/187) [not an exact translation] and Rathlóriel “Golden-bed” (S/235).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s these names had a short o under the root ᴹ√(G)LAWAR, indicating a Noldorin form of N. gloriel (Ety/LÁWAR). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. glôriol “golden, like gold” based on G. glôr “gold” (GL/40).

S. glórin adj. “golden, ⚠️[G.] of gold”

An adjectival form of glaur “gold (colour or light)” seen only as a element in the name Glórindol “Goldenhead” (S/147; WJ/225, 234).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. glôrin “golden, of gold” based on G. glôr “gold” (GL/40).

S. mallen adj. “golden, ⚠️[N.] of gold”

An adjective for “golden” mentioned in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings as an element in the name Cormallen “Golden Circle” (RC/625). It may also be seen in Rathmallen, a variant of the name Rathlóriel “Golden-bed”, replacing the second element glóriel “golden” with mallen (WJ/353). The word N. mallen also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” as an “analogical” variant of N. malthen “of gold” (Ety/SMAL).

Possible Etymology: In Tolkien’s later writings, this adjective was probably based on the root √MAL(AT) “gold”, also seen as the basis for the noun malt “gold [as metal]” (PE17/50; VT42/27). It was likely in keeping with the 1950s and 60s sound change whereby medial lth became voiceless ll; a similar sound shift may be seen in S. mallorn “golden tree” < OS. malthorn = malt + orn (VT42/27). In Noldorin of the 1930s lth was preserved, so 1930s N. mallen may have been based on *(s)maldina instead.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word only for golden colors, and would use [N.] malthen for “of gold [metal]”; see that entry for discussion.

S. malt n. “gold (as metal)”

A noun for “gold” based on the root √MALAT. The Etymologies of the 1930s specified that N. malt was “gold (as metal)” derived from the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” (Ety/SMAL). This is consistent with Tolkien’s later notes in which Q. malta was “gold (metal)”, as opposed to Q. laurë/S. glaur which was “gold (colour or light)” (PE17/51, 159). Note that in The Etymologies the form was revised to (h)malt indicating an archaic voiceless hm that was the result of ancient sm (EtyAC/SMAL), but this would no longer be the case after the root became √MALAT.

N. malthen adj. “of gold [metal]”

An adjective in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “of gold” based on N. malt “gold (as metal)” under the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” (Ety/SMAL). The form was revised to (h)malthen indicating an archaic voiceless hm that was the result of ancient sm (EtyAC/SMAL), but in Tolkien’s later writings the root became √MALAT (PM/366) so this would no longer be the case.

Neo-Sindarin: In Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s, medial lth became voiceless ll (VT42/27), as seen in the noun mallorn “gold tree” and (probably) the later adjective mallen “golden”. However Tolkien said:

… among those to whom Sindarin became a language of lore, as the men of Gondor who were or claimed to be of Numenórean race, the spirant [th] was reintroduced from the spelling. In true Sindarin of the Elves or Elf-friends of the early ages the final form [lt] was often introduced medially (VT42/27).

As such, I think malthen “of gold [metal]” may still be viable by analogy with its noun form malt “gold [metal]”, and the adjective mallen may be limited just to golden colors.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had similarly formed G. maltha “golden yellow, rich, mellow” (GL/56) likely based on the early root ᴱ√MALA² “yellow” (QL/63).