§ Galbedirs (WR.47)
§ Lamorni, Ornómar (WR:50)
§ Ornómi (WR:52)
§ Huorns (WR:30)
These are earlier names for the trees of Fangorn which are able to move. In English they are referred to as ’Talking Trees’ – according to Treebeard they still have voices, and can speak with the Ents […], but they have become queer and wild (LotRIII, ch.9). In the final version they are called Huorns (ibid., WR:30, RC:425).
An analysis of the earlier forms was done by Philipp Marquart in Lambengolmor message #913 [1] and I shall give a summary:
Initial gal- of Galbedir must be derived from GÁLAD- ’tree’ or GALA- ’thrive (prosper, be in health – be glad)’. The suffix -bedir is most probably lenited #pedir *’speaker’ from KWET- ’say’. This word itself could contain †dîr *’man’ (DER-) surviving chiefly in proper names […] and as agental ending. The example ceredir ’doer, maker’ is associated with this note. But on the other hand the name Gelir as a translation of ’Merry’ (SD:129) seems to have been formed from GYEL- (yielding e.g. N. gell ’joy, triumph’) with the sole suffix -ir. Thus there appear to be two possibilities: *ped-dîr > #pedir or *kwet-iro > #pedir *’speaker’.
Lamorni is Quenya; it seems to contain #lam- ’sound’ (LAM-) and orni, plural of orne ’tree, high isolated tree’ (ÓR-NI-, UT:168).
Ornómar consists out of orne (#orn-) and óma ’voice’ (OM-), pluralized with -r.
The same orne or #orn- is part of Ornómi. The latter element could be most easily explained here as a direct plural #ómi from the stem OM- as bal-ī > Vali from BAL- beside Valar; but it could also be that Tolkien imagined a different formation – *óme ’voice’, pl. *ómi instead of óma, pl. #ómar. Compare for instance Q. nóte ’number’ (NOT-).
For Huorn PE17:86 cites a couple of scribbled forms. At first Q. hú, S. hû noun ?’hound’ (?’heart’) < khōgo – this seems to be ultimately related to KHUG- ’bark, bay’ with Q. huo ’dog’, N. hû. The application of this root here may be due to the fact that the Huorns do not speak a proper language (lambe), but rather an animal-like speech. Also associated are khōn-, *Q. hôn, *S. hûn *’heart’ (compare KHŌ-N- ’heart (physical)’ with the same derivatives) and hō ?’spirit, shadow’ or ?’speak, show’. This application might express something like ’trees that are alive’ – who have a spirit or heart.