Eldamo : Middle Quenya : qelet

ᴹQ. qelet (qelett-) n. “corpse” (Category: Corpse, Body)

ᴹQ. quelet (quelett-), n. “corpse” (Category: Corpse, Body)

A noun for “corpse” in The Etymologies written around 1937 derived from primitive ᴹ✶kwelett- under the root ᴹ√KWEL “fade (away)” (Ety/KWEL). It had a plural form qeletsi indicating a stem form of qelets-, but that is inconsistent with its attested primitive form; its plural may instead be a conceptual remnant of the Early Qenya sound change whereby [ti] became [tsi] (PE12/23).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. qelet “corpse” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QELE “perish, die, decay, fade”, but there its stem form was qelekt- (QL/76). ᴹQ. qelet “corpse” reappeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, but there its stem form seems to be qelet- (PE21/33, 35). Its early 1930s nominative plural qeletsin also shows ti > tsi (PE21/35).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d assume a stem form quelett- (and plural queletti) consistent with its primitive form. If the stem form was quelets-, then the uninflected form would be **queles, since final -ts became -s (PE19/104).

References ✧ Ety/KWEL; PE21/33, 35

Glosses

“corpse” ✧ Ety/KWEL; PE21/33; PE21/35

Variations

qelet ✧ Ety/KWEL; PE21/33; PE21/35

Q. loico “corpse, dead body” vs. qelet “corpse”

Inflections

[qel]etullo	ablative	✧ PE21/35
†[qel]ityo	ablative; assimilated	✧ PE21/35
[qel]eta	accusative	✧ PE21/35
[qel]elta	allative; assimilated	✧ PE21/35
[qel]etunta	allative	✧ PE21/35
†[qel]ilta	allative; assimilated	✧ PE21/35
[qel]eten	dative	✧ PE21/35
[qel]eto	genitive	✧ PE21/35
[qel]etanen	instrumental	✧ PE21/35
[qel]etwen	instrumental	✧ PE21/35
†[qel]inten	instrumental	✧ PE21/35
†[qel]itse	locative; assimilated	✧ PE21/35
qeletesse	locative	✧ PE21/35
qeletse	locative; assimilated	✧ PE21/35
qelet	nominative	✧ PE21/35
qeletunt	nominative dual	✧ PE21/35
qeletsin	nominative plural	✧ PE21/35
qeletsi	plural	✧ Ety/KWEL
qelitya	possessive	✧ PE21/35
qeletundon	similative	✧ PE21/35
†qeliston	similative	✧ PE21/35

Derivations

< ᴹ✶kwelett- “corpse” ✧ Ety/KWEL
- < ᴹ√KWEL “fade (away), die away, grow faint; wither” ✧ Ety/KWEL
  - < ᴹ√KEL “flow, flow away (downhill), run (of water or rivers), run away especially downwards or at end” ✧ Ety/KEL

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ✶kwelett- > qelet

[kwelette] > [kwelett] > [kwelet]

✧ Ety/KWEL

ᴱQ. qelet (qelekt-) n. “corpse” (Category: Corpse, Body)

References ✧ QL/76

Glosses

“corpse” ✧ QL/76

Variations

qelet ✧ QL/76

Inflections

qelekt-

stem

✧ QL/76

Element In

ᴱQ. qeleksie “rot, corruption” ✧ QL/76
ᴱQ. qeleksima “corrupt, rotten” ✧ QL/76
ᴱQ. qelekte “carcase” ✧ QL/76

Cognates

G. cweleg “corpse, dead body”

Derivations

< ᴱ√QELE “perish, die, decay, fade” ✧ QL/76

Phonetic Developments

ᴱ√QELE > qelet

[kʷelekt] > [kʷelet]

✧ QL/76