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Q. cala n. “light” (Category: Light)

Q. cala, n. “light; ⚠️[ᴱQ.] daytime (sunlight), 12 hours” (Category: Light)
Q. cálë “light”

This is the most common Quenya word for “light”, derived from the root √KAL of similar meaning (RGEO/62; PE17/84). It appears in numerous compounds, either in its full form or in a reduced form cal-.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. kala appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “daytime (sunlight), 12 hours” and derived from the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), but it had the sense “light” in the phrase ᴱQ. i·kal’antúlien “Light hath returned” (LT1/184), and it was given as the cognate of G. gala “light, daylight” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/37).

ᴹQ. kala “light” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KAL “shine” (Ety/KAL). Somewhat curiously in that document its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶k’lā́ (EtyAC/KAL), a form that also appeared in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) from the 1930s (PE18/38). Tolkien may have used this variant form to explain N. glaw “radiance” (< ᴹ✶g’lā́), but in later writings S. glaw “sunshine” was derived from √LAW.

References ✧ PE17/84, 143; RGEO/62; VT39/14

Glosses

Variations

Inflections

calo genitive “light” ✧ PE17/143; VT39/14

Element In

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

CAL > Cala [kala] ✧ PE17/84

ᴹQ. kala n. “light” (Category: Light)

See Q. cala for discussion.

Reference ✧ Ety/KAL ✧ “light”

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ✶k’lā́ > kala [kala] ✧ Ety/KAL

ᴱQ. kala¹ n. “light, daytime (sunlight), 12 hours” (Category: Light)

See Q. cala for discussion.

References ✧ GL/37, 39; LT1/184; QL/44

Glosses

Variations

Inflections

kal’ elided “light” ✧ LT1/184

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

ᴱ✶kalā > kala [kalā] > [kala] ✧ GL/39
ᴱ√KALA > kala [galā] > [gala] > [kala] ✧ QL/44