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PHAW root. “emit (foul breath), *breath, puff of breath”

PHAW root. “breath, puff of breath; blow, emit (foul breath); [ᴹ√] gape”

Tracing the conceptual development of this root is difficult. Its earliest precursor might have been unglossed ᴱ√FAGA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the derivative ᴱQ. = ᴱQ. vilna “air” (QL/37) with Gnomish cognate G. “lower airs” (GL/33). G. faf- “puff, blow, pant” may also be related (GL/33).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, there was the root ᴹ√PHAU̯ “gape” with derivatives ᴹQ. fauka/N. faug “thirsty” (Ety/PHAU; EtyAC/PHAU). The Noldorin derivative was used in the names N. Anfauglin “Jaws of Thirst” (SM/115) and N. Fauglith “Thirsty Sand; Gasping Dust” (LR/132) from contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts. Sindarin variants of these names S. Anfauglir “Jaws of Thirst” (S/180) and S. Anfauglith “Gasping Dust” (S/150) continued to appear in later versions of The Silmarillion.

In Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 Tolkien gave a new gloss for the root √PHAW as “emit (foul breath etc.)” serving as the basis for Q. foalóke, unglossed but perhaps “*breath-dragon” (PE17/181). The root √PHAW reappeared again in 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD) as the basis for Q. foa and S. faw, all unglossed (PE17/181). Finally ✶phā appeared in some notes from 1968 as an example of a primitive monosyllablic noun, with glosses “puff, (?blow)” or “breath, puff of breath” and probably-related forms fawa and foa (VT47/34-35). All these hints at a possible restoration of the sense of early ᴱ√FAGA from the 1910s: “emit (breath), puff, blow”.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume √PHAW had its 1950s-60s meaning “emit (breath), puff, blow”, but that ᴹQ. fauka and N. faug “thirsty” were derived from another root *√PHAWAK or *√PHAUKA, either an extension or unrelated.

References ✧ PE17/145, 181

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ᴹ√PHAW root. “gape”

See √PHAW for discussion.

References ✧ Ety/LIT, PHAU; EtyAC/PHAU

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ᴱ√FAGA root. “*blow”

See √PHAW for discussion.

References ✧ LT1A/Vilna; QL/37

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ᴱ√FOƷO root. “hide, hoard, store up, lay up in secret”

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “hide, hoard, store up, lay up in secret” with derivatives like ᴱQ. foina “hidden, secret” and ᴱQ. foa “hoard, treasure” (QL/38). Gnomish derivatives also appear in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. fuin “secret, dark; hoarded” and G. fuis “hoard”, though there the root was given as foχo (GL/36); this is not a contradiction, since in QL the ancient voiceless spirant χ was represented with H in roots. One of the Qenya derivatives of this root, ᴱQ. foalóke “*hoard dragon” reappeared much later as Q. foalóke with a new etymology where the first element meant “breath” (PE17/181). Thus this early root was likely abandoned.

References ✧ GL/36; LT2A/Foalókë; QL/38

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