The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1 - J. R. R. Tolkien [161]
Murmuran See Murmenalda. GL gives the Gnomish form corresponding to Qenya Murmuran as Mormaurien ‘abode of Lúriel’, but this seems to be of different etymology: cf. Malmaurien="Olórë" Mallë, the Path of Dreams, maur ‘dream, vision’.
Nandini On an isolated paper that gives a list of the different clans of ‘fays’ the Nandini are ‘fays of the valleys’. QL gives a root NARA with derivatives nan(d) ‘woodland’, nandin ‘dryad’ GL has nandir ‘fay of the country, Q. nandin’, together with nand ‘field, acre’ (plural nandin ‘country’), nandor ‘farmer’, etc.
Nauglath GL gives the following words: naug and naugli ‘dwarf’, naugla ‘of gives the dwarves’ nauglafel ‘dwarf-natured, i.e. mean, avaricious’ (see p. 236). QL has nothing corresponding, but in GL the Qenya equivalent of naug is said to be nauka.
Neni Erúmëar (On the ‘World-Ship’ drawing, where I have translated it ‘Outermost Waters’, p. 85.) QL under root NENE ‘flow’ has nen ‘river, water’, and the same form occurs in Gnomish. Erúmëa ‘outer, outermost’ is given in AL as a derivative of ERE ‘out’, as in Eruman. Cf. Koivië-néni.
Nermir In the list of fays referred to under Nandini the Nermir are ‘fays of the meads’. QL has an isolated entry Nermi ‘a field-spirit’, and GL has Nermil ‘a fay that haunts meadows and river-banks.’.
Nessa This name does not appear in the dictionaries.—In the Valar name-list she is called Helinyetillë and Melesta. In QL, among the very early entries, helin is the name of the violet or pansy, and Helinyetillë is glossed ‘Eyes of Heartsease’ (that being a name of the pansy); cf, y´ta ‘look at’. But in QL this is a name of Erinti. There was clearly much early shifting among the goddesses of Spring, the ascription of names and rôles (see Erinti). Melesta is doubtless from root MELE ‘love’ (meles(së) ‘love’, melwa ‘lovely’, etc.; Gnomish mel- ‘to love’, meleth ‘love’, melon, meltha ‘beloved’, etc.).
Nielíqui In QL this name (Nieliqi, also Nielikki, Nyelikki) is derived from the root NYEHE ‘weep’ (see Nienna). Where her tears fell snowdrops (nieninqë, literally ‘white tear’) sprang. See the poem Nieninqë in J. R. R. Tolkien, The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, 1983, p. 215. For ninqë see Taniquetil.
The second element of Nielíqui is presumably from the root LIQI, whence linqë ‘water’, liqin ‘wet,’ liqis ‘transparence’, etc. (see Ulmo).
Nielluin This name of the star Sirius is translated in the text (p. 182) as ‘the Bee of Azure’ (see Ingil). The first element is from the root NEHE, whence nektë ‘honey’, nier (< neier < neier) ‘honey-bee’, nierwes ‘hive’. The name of Sirius is given in QL as Niellúnë or Nierninwa; both ninwa and lúnë are Qenya words meaning ‘blue’. In Gnomish the name of the star is Niothluimi, = Qenya Nielluin: nio, nios ‘bee’ and many related words, luim ‘blue’.
Nienna In QL Nyenna the goddess is given under a root NYE(NE) ‘bleat’, whence nyéni ‘she-goat’, nyéna- ‘lament’, etc.; but there is a note ‘or all to root NYEHE’. This means ‘weep’: nië‘tear’ (cf.Nielíqui), nyenyë ‘weeping’. In GL the forms of the name are Nenni(r), Nenir, Nenir, without etymological connections given, but cf. nîn ‘tear’.
Noldoli The root NOL ‘know’ in QL has derivatives Noldo ‘Gnome’ and Noldorinwa adjective, Noldomar ‘Gnomeland’, and Noldorin ‘who dwelt awhile in Noldomar and brought the Gnomes back to Inwenórë. It seems that Noldomar means the Great Lands. But it is very curious that in these entries, which are among the earliest, ‘Gnome’ is an emendation of ‘Goblin’ cf. the poem Goblin Feet (1915), and its Old English title Cumaþ Þá Nihtielfas (p. 32).
In Gnomish ‘Gnome’ is Golda (‘i.e. wise one’); Goldothrim ‘the people of the Gnomes’, Goldogrin their tongue, Goldobar, Goldomar ‘Gnomeland’. The equivalent of Noldorin in GL is Goldriel, which was the form antecedent to Golthadriel in the text before both were