Q. malta n. “gold (metal), gold as material” (Category: Gold)
A noun for “gold” appearing in Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, also used as the name of tengwa #18 [t] (LotR/1123). In private notes on The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien specified that it was “gold metal” or “gold as material”, as opposed to laurë which was golden light or gold as a color (PE17/50-51, 159).
Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s writings in the 1910s he had ᴱQ. laure as the mystical or magical name of gold as opposed to ordinary “gold” which was ᴱQ. kulu (LT1/100). The word ᴹQ. kulu “gold” survived until The Etymologies of the 1930s, but there its root ᴹ√KUL was redefined to refer to the color “golden-red” (Ety/KUL). Tolkien introduced a new word {malta >>} ᴹQ. malda for “gold (as metal)” derived from the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” (Ety/SMAL; EtyAC/SMAL). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s Tolkien had the form ᴹQ. malta “gold” (PE22/50), and he seems to have kept that form thereafter. At some point he revised the root to √MALAT “gold” as well (PM/366).
References ✧ LotR/1123; PE17/50-51, 125, 159
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| malat- | stem | ✧ PE17/51 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
ᴹQ. malta n. “gold (as metal)” (Category: Gold)
References ✧ Ety/SMAL; EtyAC/SMAL; PE22/50, 103
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶smaldā > malda | [smaldā] > [m̥aldā] > [maldā] > [malda] | ✧ Ety/SMAL |
| ᴹ✶smaltā > malta | [smaltā] > [m̥altā] > [maltā] > [malta] | ✧ EtyAC/SMAL |