Eldamo : Middle Quenya : ambor

ᴹQ. ambor n. “breast” (Category: Front of Chest)

⚠️ᴹQ. ambor, n. “breast, *chest” (Category: Front of Chest): ᴺQ. ^ambos “breast, *chest”

The word ᴹQ. ambor “breast” appeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, derived from ᴹ✶amƀus (PE21/33). This word shows the Early Qenya sound change whereby final [s] became [r]; in Tolkien’s later writings this change applied mainly to intervocalic [s]. This word also had the unusual development of u to o in final syllables, a sound change Tolkien used for Quenya in the Declension of Nouns but nowhere else.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien gave ᴱQ. ambar “breast” with stems ambar- or ambas- (QL/30); the word also appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa, but only with the stem ambas- (PME/30). ᴱQ. ambos was glossed “breast” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/136), and in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, ᴱQ. ambos (ambost-) appeared as a word related to both ᴱN. bost “back, from shoulder to shoulder” and ᴱN. amoth “shoulder” (PE13/137, 139, 159), the latter with primitive forms ᴱ✶a-mbod-t’ (PE13/137) or ᴱ✶a-mbos-t (PE13/159).

ᴱQ. ambar reappeared in the phrase ᴱQ. níve qímari ringa ambar “the pale phantoms in her cold bosom” from the Oilima Markirya poem written around 1930. Early 1930s ᴹQ. ambor seems to be the last published iteration of this word, as discussed above.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would adapt this word as ᴺQ. ambos (ambor-) “breast, chest” to fit better with later Quenya phonology. It might be an ancient combination of √AM “up” and ᴹ√OS “around”, perhaps with the original sense “upper enclosure (of the body)”.

References ✧ PE21/33

Glosses

“breast” ✧ PE21/33; PE21/33

Variations

ambor ✧ PE21/33; PE21/33

ambor “breast” vs. Q. súma “hollow cavity, bosom”
ambor “breast” as opposed to a single breast which is ᴺQ. tittë “breast [of a woman], ⚠️teat”

Inflections

amborullo	ablative	✧ PE21/33
†ambullo	ablative; assimilated	✧ PE21/33
ambora	accusative	✧ PE21/33
ambosta	allative; assimilated	✧ PE21/33
†ambusta	allative; assimilated	✧ PE21/33
amboren	dative	✧ PE21/33
amboro	genitive	✧ PE21/33
ambornen	instrumental	✧ PE21/33
amboresse	locative	✧ PE21/33
†ambusse	locative; assimilated	✧ PE21/33
ambor	nominative	✧ PE21/33
amborunt	nominative dual	✧ PE21/33
amborin	nominative plural	✧ PE21/33
amborwa	possessive	✧ PE21/33
amborundon	similative	✧ PE21/33
†ambusson	similative	✧ PE21/33

Derivations

< ᴹ✶amƀus “breast” ✧ PE21/33

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ✶amƀus- > ambor

[amβus] > [ambus] > [ambur] ? [ambor]

✧ PE21/33

ᴱQ. ambos (ambost-) n. “breast” (Category: Front of Chest)

See ᴹQ. ambor for discussion.

References ✧ PE13/137, 139, 159; PE16/136, 146

Glosses

“breast” ✧ PE16/136

Variations

ambos ✧ PE13/139; PE13/159; PE16/136

Inflections

ambostuva	adjectival	✧ PE16/146
ambost-	stem	✧ PE13/137; PE13/159

Element In

ᴺQ. !russambos “robin”
ᴱQ. unlunke naiqe yu vaile·na ar elle ha men ambostuva “*he pulled his sword from the sheath and drove it into the breast” ✧ PE16/146

Cognates

ᴱN. amoth “shoulder” ✧ PE13/137; PE13/159
ᴱN. bost “back from shoulder to shoulder” ✧ PE13/139

Derivations

< ᴱ✶a-mbod-t’ ✧ PE13/137; PE13/159 (a-mbos-t)

Phonetic Developments

ᴱ✶a-mbod-t’ > ambos	[ambodt] > [amboðt] > [ambozt] > [ambost] > [ambos]	✧ PE13/139
ᴱ✶a-mbos-t > ambos	[ambost] > [ambos]	✧ PE13/159

ᴱQ. ambar² (ambas-) n. “breast, bosom” (Category: Breast of Woman)

See ᴹQ. ambor for discussion.

References ✧ MC/213; PME/30; QL/30, 48

Glosses

“bosom” ✧ MC/213
“breast” ✧ PME/30; QL/30

Variations

ambar ✧ MC/213; PME/30; QL/30; QL/48 (#ambar)

Inflections

ambar-	stem	✧ QL/30
ambas-	stem	✧ PME/30; QL/30

Element In

ᴱQ. ambasse “breast-plate, hauberk, byrne, cuirass” ✧ QL/30
ᴱQ. karneambar “robin, (lit.) red-breast” ✧ QL/48
ᴱQ. níve qímari ringa ambar “the pale phantoms in her cold bosom” ✧ MC/213

Cognates

G. am² “breast, front (chest)”