Q. lótë n. “flower, single blossom” (Category: Flower)
The best known Quenya word for “flower”, which Tolkien used for most of his life. Most notably it was an element in Vingilótë “Foam-flower”, the name of Eärendil’s ship (S/246).
Conceptual Development: The word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. lōte was glossed “a flower, bloom (usually of large single flowers)” under the early root ᴱ√LO’O (QL/55). It appeared regularly in documents in the 1910s, 20s and 30s with glosses like “flower” and “blossom” (PME/56; MC/220; PE16/77; PE21/7). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. lóte “(large single) flower” under the root ᴹ√LOT(H) “flower” (Ety/LOT(H)).
The word continued to appear in Tolkien’s writings of the 1950s and 60s with glosses like “flower” or “a single blossom” and derived from √LOT (PE17/26, 160; VT42/18). In one place Tolkien said it meant “a flowering plant, especially one that produces (large) separate flowers of distinct shape; also used of any single bloom of such a plant” (PE17/160). However, generally it was used of individual (large) flowers. Smaller flowers could use other words like lotsë (PE17/\160; VT42/18), but I think lótë was the most general term for “flower”.
References ✧ PE17/26, 160; PM/346; SA/loth; VT42/18
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| lott- | stem | ✧ PE17/160 |
| lót- | stem | ✧ PE17/160 |
| -lot | suffix | ✧ PE17/160: used in compounds |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √LOT > lóte | [lōte] | ✧ PE17/26 |
| √LOT > lóte | [lōte] | ✧ PE17/160 |
| √LOT > lóte | [lōte] | ✧ VT42/18 |
ᴹQ. lóte n. “(large single) flower” (Category: Flower)
References ✧ Ety/LOT(H); PE21/7; PE22/124
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| lotsin | nominative plural | ✧ PE21/7 | |
| lótelin | nominative plural | ✧ PE21/7 | |
| lótin | nominative plural | “flowers” | ✧ PE22/124 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√LOT > lóte | [lōte] | ✧ Ety/LOT(H) |
ᴱQ. lóte n. “flower, bloom, blossom” (Category: Flower)
References ✧ LT1A/Lindelos, Wingilot; MC/220; PE13/104; PE16/60, 62, 72, 74, 77, 139; PME/56; QL/39, 44, 55
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| Lōter | plural | ✧ PE13/104 | |
| lósi | plural | ✧ PE16/139 | |
| lōt- | prefix | ✧ QL/55 | |
| lōte- | stem | ✧ QL/55 | |
| -lot | suffix | “a flower” | ✧ LT1A/Lindelos |
| -lot | suffix | ✧ LT1A/Wingilot; PME/56; QL/55 | |
| #-lot | suffix | ✧ QL/39; QL/44 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ√LO’O > lōte | [loɣtē] > [loɣte] > [lōte] | ✧ QL/55 |