Q. hlócë (hlóki-) n. “reptile, snake, serpent, worm” (Category: Snake)
A noun in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN) with variants hlóke and lóke based on primitive ✶(s)lōkō “reptile, snake, worm” from the root √LOK “bend, loop”, so presumably having a similar meaning (PE17/160). Christopher Tolkien also had (h)lóke in The Silmarillion appendix, but gave it the glosses “snake, serpent” (SA/lok). Its Sindarin cognate lhûg points towards a Quenya form hlócë.
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. lóke (lóki-) “snake” appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√LOKO “twine, twist, curl” (QL/55). It was also mentioned with the gloss “snake” in the Official Name List for the Lost Tales (PE13/105) and the Name-list to the Fall of Gondolin (PE15/28). It appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as related to G. ulug “dragon” (GL/74), and in The Lost Tales proper lóke was given as the “the Eldar name [of] the worms of Melko”, that is dragons (LT1/85).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien glossed ᴹQ. lóke as “dragon” under the root ᴹ√LOK “great serpent, dragon” along with Noldorin cognate N. lhûg (Ety/LOK). It was followed by an -ī in parenthesis, indicating a primitive form of *lōkī and a stem form of lóki-. Tolkien’s vacillation on its 1957 form was probably out of a desire to retain lhûg as the Sindarin form. In Noldorin of the 1930s an initial l was unvoiced to lh, but this was no longer true of Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s, so Sindarin lhûg required a corresponding Quenya form of hlócë.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I recommend sticking with hlócë. Furthermore, since this Quenya word cannot be derived directly from ✶(s)lōkō, I would assume a primitive form slōkĭ and a stem form hlóci- compatible with its earlier appearances. Given the breadth of its glosses, I would assume the word can apply to any sinuous reptilian creature with or without legs, including lizards, snakes and dragons. A more exact term for just “a snake” would be leuca.
References ✧ PE17/160; SA/lok
Glosses
Variations
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶(s)lōkō > hlóke | [slōke] > [l̥ōke] | ✧ PE17/160 |
| √lok- > (h)lókë | [slōke] > [l̥ōke] | ✧ SA/lok |
ᴹQ. lóke (lóki-) n. “dragon” (Category: Snake)
Reference ✧ Ety/LOK ✧ “dragon”
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√LOK > lóke | [lōke] | ✧ Ety/LOK |
ᴱQ. lóke (lóki-) n. “snake, dragon” (Category: Snake)
References ✧ GL/74; LT2/85; LT2A/Foalókë; LT2I/lókë; PE13/105; PE15/28; QL/55
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| lōki- | stem | ✧ QL/55 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ√LOKO > lōke | [lōki] > [lōke] | ✧ QL/55 |