Dan. Leikvir coll.

Dan. Leikvir coll.

The name of the East Danians who remained beyond the Blue Mountains (LR/188). David Salo first suggested a connection of this name to an “Old Icelandic” style Elvish Language in 1996 (Tolklang/21.66): given the unusual combination [kv], it is very likely this name is from the East Danian language itself, since non-initial [w] became [v] in East Danian. If so, its resemblance to primitive ᴹ✶laikwā cannot be a coincidence, since this was the source of their Quenya name Laiqendi “Green-elves”. According to the Comparative Tables, medial [kw] could become [kv] in East Danian (PE19/23). Those same tables also indicated that the primitive diphthong ✶[ai] would survive in that language (PE19/25), but perhaps Tolkien imagined a different development when he coined this name, so that: [ai] > [ei].

References ✧ LR/188; LRI

Derivations