Q. ornë n. “(tall) tree” (Category: Tree (generic))
A word for a “(tall) tree” in Quenya, derived from primitive ✶ornē (Let/426; PE17/25, 50). This word can be compared to the more common alda “tree”. Talking about the primitive forms Tolkien said:
... *ornē “tree” originally and usually applied to the taller, straighter, and more slender trees, such as birches [as opposed to] ... stouter and more spreading trees, such as oaks and beeches, were called in C.E. galadā “great growth” (NM/349 and note #1).
I would use ornë in Quenya only for tall straight trees, and alda as either the general word for “tree”, or where applicable for broad and spreading trees.
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor to this word seems to be ᴱQ. orond- “bush”, cognate to G. orn “tree” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/62). It became {orne >>} ᴱQ. orme “tree” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/139) and then ᴹQ. orne “high isolated tree” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ᴹ✶ÓR-NI “high tree” (Ety/ÓR-NI). It retained the form orne thereafter.
References ✧ Let/308, 426; PE17/25, 50, 80, 112, 153
Glosses
Related
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶ornē > orne | [ornē] > [orne] | ✧ Let/426 |
ᴹQ. orne n. “(high isolated) tree” (Category: Tree (generic))
References ✧ Ety/ÓR-NI; SD/302
Glosses
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶ÓR-NI > orne | [orni] > [orne] | ✧ Ety/ÓR-NI |
ᴱQ. orne n. “tree” (Category: Tree (generic))
References ✧ PE13/164; PE16/80, 139
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Inflections
| ornin | nominative plural | ✧ PE16/80 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ✶orne- > orne | [ornē] > [orne] | ✧ PE13/164 |