Sindarin translation of the name Ingwe?

Mereth Aderthad #3960

I know there is some Sindarin translations of Quenya names like Elwe to Elu, Finwe to Finu. I'm curious what Ingwe's name might be in Sindarin? Is it Ingu or maybe Innu?

Ellanto #3962

The Sindarin cognate of Q. Ingwe would be Im.

This may seem to go against the pattern observed with Elu and Finu, but the phonological processes are consistent.

  • Q. Finwe derives from the primitive Elvish stem PHIN-wē: PHIN-wē > pʰinwe > ɸinwe > finwe > finw > Finu.

  • Q. Elwe derives similarly from EL-wē > ... elw > Elu.

Now Ingwe derives from IŊG-wē, and what separates it from the above is the ŋgw sequence, a labialised velar cluster. These underwent a significant change early on in the Telerin branch; for example, consider the Quenya, Telerin, and Sindarin words for "ten", derived from the primitive root KWAJ, and look at the initial consonants: Q. quean ⪤ T. pai(n) ⪤ S. pae. The same kind of process applies when deriving the Sindarin cognate of Ingwe:

  • IŊG-wē > imbē > imbe > imb> Im.

One more thing to note:

The above names are derived with the primitive suffix ✶-wē, meaning "person". At some conceptual stage Tolkien considered a different form, ✶-wegō, with a very similar meaning. The effect of this different form is that its derivatives in Q. and S. become more or less identical, and thus he could explain having e.g. Manwe in the same form in both languages. Finwe, too, is attested in the earlier drafts of Sindarin. For Q. Ingwe we still run into the problem of having to change labialised velars, but if the stem is assumed to be IŊG-wegō, then its Sindarin reflex would be Ime.

That being said, I believe that ✶-wegō was discarded in favour of the simpler ✶-wē in the later conceptual stages, as evidenced by the later attestations of both Elu and Finu. I only mention the alternative for the sake of completeness, I do not recommend it.