√MAL “yellow, gold” This was the root for Elvish words meaning “yellow” for much of Tolkien’s life, though with some minor variations. It appeared as ᴱ√MALA² “yellow” (usually mali-) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. malina “yellow” and ᴱQ. malikon “amber” (QL/58). It also appeared
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MA-MAK
ᴹ√MA “interrogative base; [ᴱ√] root of indef[inite]” This root is the basis for Elvish question words. When it first appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien said ᴱ√MA was the “root of indef[inites]” (GL/55), and it served as the basis for the indefinitive suffix G. -(u)m and ᴱQ.
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LU-LUY
ᴹ√LU “*time” This root and ones like it were the basis for time words throughout Tolkien’s life. The earliest appearance of this root was as ᴱ√LUHU or ᴱ√LU’U (the latter marked by Tolkien with a “?”) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but with derivatives like ᴱQ. lú
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LOG-LOY
√LOG “wet (and soft), soaked, swampy” Tolkien considered a bewildering variety of roots as the basis for the suffixal element S. -ló “flood” in Sindarin, common in river names such as S. Gwathló and S. Ringló. In a collection of notes associated with the name S. Lhûn from around 1967,
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LI-LIW
√LI “many” This root was connected to words for “many” throughout Tolkien’s life. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s it appeared as ᴱ√LĪ, with variant ᴱ√ILI² “many” and extended form ᴱ√LIYA (LI + ya) “unite many as one” with derivatives like ᴱQ. lia- “entwine” and ᴱQ. liante “tendril” (QL/42,
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LED-LER
√LED “go, proceed, [ᴹ√] fare, travel” This root appeared in The Etymologies (Ety/LED) and in some later writings (PE17/51, 139) with the basic sense “go”. In the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, Tolkien decided that √LED was a Quenya-only variant of the original root √DEL (WJ/360, 363). Elsewhere, Tolkien
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LAN-LAY
√LAN “stretch, extend; ‽twine; [ᴹ√] weave” This root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “weave” and derivatives like ᴹQ. lanat “weft” and ᴹQ. lanya- “weave” (Ety/LAN). It reappeared in etymological notes from the late 1960s with the gloss “stretch, extend” or “twine” (the latter marked
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LA-LAM
√LA “no, not; negative; not to be” An invertible root, √LA or √ALA, used for negation. It first appeared as ᴹ√LA “no, not” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/LA), and regularly appeared in document from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Tolkien then abandoned this form of negation in 1959
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: KWEL-KYUR
√KWEL “fade, die away, grow faint, [ᴹ√] fade away; wither, [ᴱ√] decay, perish, die” In Tolkien’s later writings this root primarily meant “fade”, but its earliest precursor ᴱ√QELE from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s was glossed “perish, die, decay, fade”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. qele- of the same meaning,
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: KWA-KWE
√KWA “complete, full, whole, all, every; [ᴹ√] something” A root, frequently but not universally suffixal, indicating completion or fullness. The first appearance of this root was ᴹ√KWA “something” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, serving as the basis for ᴹQ. il-qa “everything, *all-thing” (EtyAC/KWA). √KWA reappeared in the Quendi and