Lopoldi
The lopoldi were an animal species named by the Númenóreans on the island of Elenna.
History[edit | edit source]
Their description is not known, but they appear to have been rabbits, which where unknown in the north-western regions of Middle-earth.[note 1][1] The lopoldi were voracious herbivores and multiplied easily quickly, so they were found in large numbers on Númenor. The Númenóreans did not view the lopoldi as food, leaving them to be the chief food source of Foxes, which were viewed as the best natural way to keep the lopoldi population levels under control. As a result of the abundance of the lopoldi, foxes never hunted animals domesticated by the Númenóreans.[2] The lopoldi most likely perished during the Downfall of Númenor.
Etymology[edit | edit source]
Lopoldi was the plural Quenya word for "Rabbits".[3]
In a linguistic manuscript dating from the 1930s, appears the Quenya gloss lopo ("rabbit") from the primitive lopō[4] and connected to the root LOP. In earlier Qenya, it was lapatte.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Within a side note, Carl F. Hostetter compares the lopoldi to European rabbits, which came to northwestern Europe at a late date.
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Three. The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants: XIII. Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor", note 1
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Three. The World, its Lands, and its Inhabitants: XIII. Of the Land and Beasts of Númenor", pp. 334-335
- ↑ Paul Strack, "Q. lopoldë n.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 18 September 2022)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenya Noun Structure", in Parma Eldalamberon XXI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Patrick H. Wynne and Arden R. Smith), pp. 8, 31
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon", in Parma Eldalamberon XII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 51
