ᴹ√SYAL root. “*resound”
An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. hyalma “shell, conch, horn of Ulmo” and N. half “seashell” (Ety/SYAL). The verbs ᴱQ. hyal- “ring, resound” and ᴱQ. hyalta- “strike, make ring” from Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s might be related. If so, the meaning of the root may be “*resound”, and the shell-words might have originally meant “*a resounding thing” based on the noise they made from blowing through them.
Reference ✧ Ety/SYAL
Derivatives