OR

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This article is about the Elvish root. For the Quenya word, see or.

OR (also ORO and ) is a Primitive Quendian root signifying "rise, mount". The reverse root is said to be NŪ, NDŪ ("sink, go down").[1]

In a letter, Tolkien noted the root ŌR/RO, signifying "rise up, go high".[2]

Derivatives

Quenya óre ("heart (inner mind)", Telerin ōre, and Sindarin gûr, are said to be associated with Common Eldarin OR,[note 1] although probably not "semantically connected".[3]

Other versions

In the Qenya Lexicon appears the roots ORO (with the descendant Qenya form oro- "rise") and RŌ, ROHO (with the descendant Qenya rōna- "arise, rise, ascend").[4]

In the Etymologies appears the roots ORO- ("up; rise; high") and RŌ- ("rise"). Among the derivatives are:[5]

  • ORO-
    • Quenya: óre ("rising"); orta- ("rise, raise")
    • Noldorin: or ("above"); ortho ("raise"); erio ("rise")
    • ÓROT- ("height, mountain")
    • ÓR-NI- ("high tree")
      • Quenya: orne
      • Noldorin: orn
      • Doriathrin: orn

See also

Notes

  1. Editor Carl F. Hostetter links the mention of "√OR" to the base ORO- appearing in the Etymologies.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), pp. 63-4, 112, 171 (roots appearing as "√OR-", "ORO", "RŌ", "√OR/RŌ")
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 347, (dated 17 December 1972), p. 426 (root appearing as "√ŌR/RO")
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Notes on Óre" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 41, July 2000, p. 11 (root appearing as "√OR")
  4. 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)
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", pp. 379, 384