Olvar
Olvar was a [[Quenya] word for the plants and plant-life in the care of Yavanna. Unlike the kelvar, they are inanimate. Trees are the highest of the olvar.
Yavanna had sown seeds early in the Spring of Yavanna, and they sprouted and burgeoned quickly; mosses, grasses, great ferns and trees. Flowers and birds "waited still their time in the bosom of Yavanna; but wealth there was of her imagining" and they came later.[1]
After her husband Aulë created the Fathers of the Dwarves, she became concerned for the fate of both the kelvar (animals) and olvar (plants) at the hands of their descendants. She spoke of her fears to Manwë, who revealed that Eru intended that spirits should be sent to dwell among some of the olvar and protect them. This was the ultimate origin of the beings who came to be known as Ents.[2]
Etymology
Olvar is Quenya, glossed as "growing things with roots in the earth".[3]
There is a similarity to other relevant words (perhaps variants) such as olwa[4] and olba[5] which are however glossed as "branch".[6] In The Etymologies, olwa is derived from the root GÓLOB.
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Beginning of Days"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Aulë and Yavanna"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Index of Names"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry GÓLOB
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "XI. The Shibboleth of Fëanor", p.340
- ↑ Helge Fauskanger, "Quettaparma Quenyallo", Ardalambion (accessed 23 April 2024)
