ᴱ√MARA² root. “*sand, soil”
A root appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as root {ᴱ√MAŘA² >>} ᴱ√MARA² that Tolkien indicated was a dialectical variation or byform of ᴱ√MṚŘṚ [MṚÐṚ] “grind”, with a single derivative: ᴱQ. marilla “pearl” (QL/59). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, G. brithla “pearl” was most likely a derivative of ᴱ√MṚÐṚ (GL/24). However, in the m-section of GL Tolkien said “mar and môr probably conceal two roots and a confusion [with] mbara”, with various apparent derivatives of mar- such as G. mar “Earth, ground, soil”, G. marol “sand” and G. Môr “the Earth” (GL/56). Tolkien also had G. mara- “dwell”, but it appeared before a variant (m)bara and so likely was derived from ᴱ√MBARA “dwell, live” as mentioned in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/60). As for ᴱ√MARA² itself, it may have meant “*sand, soil”.
References ✧ GL/56, 58; QL/59
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