Q. hón (hom-) n. “heart (physical organ)” (Category: Heart)
The word for the “heart” as a physical organ, as opposed to more metaphorical words like Q. órë and Q. indo. Its stem form was hom- in Tolkien’s later writings (NM/176, PE19/97).
Conceptual Development: The base word for “heart” was quite stable in Tolkien’s mind, but its exact stem form varied. It first appeared as ᴱQ. hon (hond-) “heart” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√HONO, above a longer form hondo (QL/40). It became honde “heart” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/137), but in the contemporaneous Early Noldorin Word-lists, it was londo (PE13/149, 162).
In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s it was ᴹQ. hón “heart” with stem form hom- (PE21/23), but in The Etymologies written around 1937 it was derived from the root ᴹ√KHŌ-N “heart (physical)” (Ety/KHŌ-N). In 1968 notes on gender, hón the “physical organ heart” again had a stem form hom-, and in green ink addendums to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from around 1970, Tolkien gave the primitive form as ✶khō̆m (PE19/97 and 98 note #142). In this last note, Tolkien said it “is not the physical heart, but ‘the interior’ used of the whole range of emotions or feelings”; this seems to be the only place Tolkien indicated this word was metaphorical in nature rather than referring to the physical organ.
References ✧ NM/176
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| hom | stem | ✧ NM/176 |
Element In
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √khom > hón | [kʰōm] > [xōm] > [hōm] > [hōn] | ✧ NM/176 |
ᴹQ. hón (hom-) n. “heart (physical)” (Category: Heart)
References ✧ Ety/KHŌ-N; LR/63, 72; PE21/19, 23, 52, 62
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Inflections
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√KHŌ-N > hōn | [kʰōn] > [xōn] > [hōn] | ✧ Ety/KHŌ-N |
ᴱQ. hon² (hond-) n. “heart” (Category: Heart)
References ✧ PE13/149, 162; PE15/32; PE16/137; QL/40
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Inflections
| hondor | plural | “*hearts” | ✧ PE15/32 |
| hond- | stem | ✧ QL/40 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ√HONO > hon | [xondo] > [xondǝ] > [xond] > [hond] > [hon] | ✧ QL/40 |