Q. niqu- v. (u-verb) “to be chill, cold, freeze (of weather), snow” (Category: to Freeze)
A verb in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 glossed “be chill, cold (of weather)” (WJ/417). It also appeared in some etymological notes from around 1959 as a derivative of the root √NIK(W) and with the glosses “to snow, it is chill, it freezes” (PE17/168). In this 1959 note Tolkien gave several inflected forms making it clear nicu- was an impersonal verb: nīqua “it is freezing”, nicune “it snowed, froze”.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d mostly use nicu- as an impersonal verb for cold weather: nique “it is cold, it is freezing”. For the freezing of water or similar substances, I’d use ᴺQ. hel-. For “to snow” I’d use ᴺQ. hris-, a modernization of archaic †hriz-.
References ✧ PE17/168; WJ/417
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| nique | aorist | “it is cold, it freezes” | ✧ WJ/417 |
| nĭque | aorist | “it snows or freezes” | ✧ PE17/168: 3[rd] sg. |
| nicune | past | “it snowed, froze” | ✧ PE17/168 |
| nīqua | present | “it is freezing” | ✧ PE17/168 |
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √NIK > niku- | [nikw-] | ✧ PE17/168 |