Sindarin
-il
suffix. feminine suffix
-il
point
il
adjective. *all
til
point
till
noun. point, spike, (sharp) horn, tine, ending
A word meaning “tine, spike, point” (PE17/36) or “spike, sharp horn” (RC/775) as an element in names like S. Celebdil “Silvertine”. In a discussion of the word niphredil, Tolkien said til or -il meant “point, ending” (PE17/55).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. till “horn” as the cognate of ᴹQ. tilde “point, horn” under the root ᴹ√TIL “point, horn” (Ety/TIL).
aeg
noun. point
The adjective oeg "sharp, pointed, piercing" from Ety/349 is perhaps rejected: Tolkien later decided that no cognate of Quenya aica "fell, terrible, dire" was used in Sindarin, "though aeg would have been its form if it had occurred" (PM/347). On the other hand, we have words such as aeglos and aeglir , so there must be a noun aeg "point"
al-
prefix. no, not
baw
interjection. no, don't!
edhel
noun. Elf
eledh
noun. Elf
elen
noun. Elf
ell
noun. Elf
hên
noun. child (mostly used as a prefix in patronymics or metronymics)
hên
noun. child
A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN, more specifically from ✶khinā with short i which became e in Sindarin due to a-affection (WJ/403). It often appeared in its mutated plural form chîn in phrases like Narn i Chîn Húrin “Tale of the Children of Húrin” (WJ/160). This is pronounced with spirantal “ch” as in German Bach, not affricate “ch” as in English “church”.
Christopher Tolkien made the editorial decision to render this plural form as Hîn in The Silmarillion as published as well as in Unfinished Tales, where it “was improperly changed by me [Christopher Tolkien] to Narn i Hîn Húrin ... because I did not want Chîn to be pronounced like Modern English chin” (LR/322).
In the Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay of 1959-60, Tolkien said “S has hên, pl. hîn, mostly used as a prefix in patronymics or metronymics”, meaning this word was often used to mean “child of” in reference to one’s parents, for example Túrin hen-Chúrin [Húrin] or Túrin hen-Morwen [assuming nasal-mutation].
ilaurui
adjective. daily
lossen
adjective. snowy
lossen
adjective. snowy
A word for “snowy” mentioned in passing in The Road Goes Ever On, adjectival form of S. loss “snow” (RGEO/62).
mellon
noun. friend
mellon
noun. friend
_ n. _friend. Pedo mellon a minno! 'Say friend and enter'.
mellon
noun. friend
na-
verb. to be
A verb for “to be” based on the root √NĀ of the same meaning. This verb is barely attested in the Sindarin language, and the general consensus is that [for purposes of Neo-Sindarin at least] Sindarin omits the verb “to be” in most phrases, such as in naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving us” (LotR/299) or ✱orchal i adan “tall [is] the man”; see the entry on the copula for further discussion.
The clearest attestation of the verb na- is its imperative form no “be!” in the phrase no aer i eneth lín “hallowed be thy name, (lit.) ✱be holy the name your”, from the Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the 1950s (VT44/21). This imperative form was preceded by some hard-to-read deleted forms, perhaps {dôd >> dád >> hae >>} no (VT44/22). The d-forms might be eroded/mutated variants of na-. Compare đa in the phrase inn đa v’im “a mind there is in me = I have a good mind (to do so)” in notes from the late 1960s (PE22/165), where đa could be another eroded form of na-. This phrase was first written as inn no v’im (PE22/165 note #108); see the entry for đa for further discussion.
Another clear attestation of na “be” is an apparent future form natho in the untranslated phrase Sí il chem {na} en i naugrim en ir Ellath {natho} thor den ammen in the so-called “Túrin Wrapper” from the late 1950s (VT50/5). This future[?] form natho was deleted and replaced by thor, and a deleted {na} also appears earlier in the phrase, possibly a false start. Carl Hostetter suggested this phrase might mean something like “✱now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) us” (VT50/22-25). If so, it seems the future of na- “be” was constructed from the bare future suffix (a)tha-, manifesting as tho “✱will be”.
Neo-Sindarin: As noted above, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin the general consensus is that this verb is barely used, and is omitted from most “to be” phrases as in the example orchal i adan given above. The verb’s one widely accepted use is as an imperative, such as in no mae “be well”. Based the Túrin Wrapper, I posit that tho can also be used for a future form “will be”, as in i adan tho orchal “the man will be tall”. I likewise posit a (purely hypothetical) past form [ᴺS.] nî “was”, based on the primitive past-tense element ✶-nē with [[os|long [ē] becoming [ī]]], as in i adan nî orchal “the man was tall”. Neither tho or nî are widely accepted Neo-Sindarin, however.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the verb G. na- “is” (GL/58), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This irregular Gnomish verb had some inflected forms: plural nain, participle ol· and past form {ni >>} thi, the last of these being another inspiration for Neo-Sindarin nî “was”.
penedh
noun. Elf
pân
adjective. all, in totality
As no other word beginning in ph- is attested, it is assumed that a nasal mutation is triggered by the pronoun în.1 , hence the form observed in the "King's Letter"
pân
adjective. all, all, *complete, entire, full, the whole
@@@ extended meaning suggested on Discord 2022-03-11
sí il chem en i naugrim en ir ellath thor den ammen
*now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) to us
ú
prefix. no, not (negative prefix or particle)
û
interjection. no
adv. or interj. no, not (of fact).
û
adverb/interjection. no, not, no, not, [G.] nor
aeg
point
- aeg (peak, thorn). No distinct pl. form. Note: aeg is also used as adj. "sharp, pointed, piercing". 2) naith (spearhead, gore, wedge, promontory); no distinct pl. form. 3) nass (sharp end, angle, corner), construct nas, pl. nais. 4)
aeg
point
(peak, thorn). No distinct pl. form. Note: aeg is also used as adj. "sharp, pointed, piercing".
avar
non-eldarin elf
pl. Evair, also called
baw!
no
! (interjection expressing refusal or prohibition, not denying facts) baw! (dont!) Prefix
baw!
no
(don’t!) Prefix
calben
elf of the great journey
(i galben, o chalben), pl. celbin (i chelbin).
dúnedhel
elf of beleriand
(i Núnedhel), pl. *Dúnedhil*** (i Ndúnedhil*). (WJ:378, 386)*
ecthel
spear point
(pl. ecthil), literally "thorn point”
edhel
elf
(pl. edhil). Coll. pl. Edhelrim (or Edhellim) (UT:318). Also †eledh, pl. elidh, coll. pl. eledhrim (Letters:281), also elen, pl. elin, also with coll. pl. eledhrim (elen + rim with the regular change nr > dhr). (WJ:363, 377-78; the shorter coll. pl. Eldrim > *Elrim*** may also occur). But since elin** also means "stars", other terms for "Elf" may be preferred.
edhelharn
elf-stone
(pl. edhelhern) (SD:128-31).
elleth
elf-woman
(pl. ellith) (WJ:363-64, 377)
ellon
elf-man
(pl. ellyn)
elvellon
elf-friend
(pl. elvellyn, coll. pl. elvellonnath (WJ:412);
eruchen
children of the one
)
ganna
harp
(i nganna = i ñanna, in gannar = i ñgannar); also gannada (i ngannada = i ñannada, in gannadar = i ñgannadar).
gannel
harp
(i ngannel = i ñannel, o n’gannel = o ñgannel), pl. gennil (in gennil = i ñgennil), coll. pl. gannellath. Archaic †gandel.
gwanwel
elf of aman
(”departed” Elf), pl. gwenwil (in gwenwil), coll. pl. gwanwellath. (WJ:378) Also gwanwen; see
gú
no, not
also ú
gú
no, not
gú-, also ú-
hên
child
hên (i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). _(WJ:403) _CHILDREN OF THE ONE (Elves and Men as children of God) Eruchín** **(sg. *Eruchen)
hên
child
(i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). (WJ:403)
ilaurui
daily
(adj.) ilaurui (no distinct pl. form)
ilaurui
daily
(no distinct pl. form)
illad
noun. everything
ilnad
pronoun. everything
laegel
green-elf
pl. laegil; coll. pl. laegrim or laegeldrim (WJ:385). These forms from a late source would seem to supersede the ”N” forms listed in LR:368 s.v. LÁYAK: *Lhoebenidh* or *Lhoebelidh*. The Green-elves of Beleriand were also called Lindel (pl. Lindil), also Lindedhel (pl. Lindedhil) *(WJ:385)*.
lefn
elf left behind
pl. lifn.
lossen
snowy
lossen (pl. lessin, for archaic lössin). Adj.
mann
food
mann (i vann, construct man), pl. main (i main) (VT45:35).
mann
noun. food
mann
food
(i vann, construct man), pl. main (i main) (VT45:35).
math
noun. food
meldis
friend
(i veldis), no distinct pl. form except with article (i meldis), coll. pl. meldissath.
mellon
friend
- (masc.) mellon (i vellon) (lover), pl. mellyn (i mellyn), coll. pl. mellonnath. Also meldir (i veldir), no distinct pl. form except with article (i meldir). Also seron (i heron, o seron), pl. seryn (i seryn), coll. pl. seronnath. 2) (fem.) meldis (i veldis), no distinct pl. form except with article (i meldis), coll. pl. meldissath.
mellon
friend
(i vellon) (lover), pl. mellyn (i mellyn), coll. pl. mellonnath. Also meldir (i veldir), no distinct pl. form except with article (i meldir). Also seron (i heron, o seron), pl. seryn (i seryn), coll. pl. seronnath.
ment
point
(at the end of a thing) ment (i vent), pl. mint (i mint), coll. pl. mennath.
ment
point
(i vent), pl. mint (i mint), coll. pl. mennath**. **
miniel
first elf
(i Viniel), pl. Mínil (i Mínil), coll. pl. Miniellath. (WJ:383)
mornedhel
dark elf
(i Vornedhel), pl. Mornedhil (i Mornedhil). Conceivably the entire word could be umlauted in the pl.: ?Mernedhil. **(WJ:409) Another term for ”Dark Elf” is Dúredhel (i Dhúredhel), pl. Dúredhil (i Núredhil**).
naith
point
(spearhead, gore, wedge, promontory); no distinct pl. form.
narwain
january
nass
point
(sharp end, angle, corner), construct nas, pl. nais.
nasta
point
(verb) nasta- (i nasta, in nastar) (prick, stick, thrust)
nasta
point
(i nasta, in nastar) (prick, stick, thrust)
peredhel
half-elf
(pl. peredhil) (PM:256, 348).
pân
all
(adj.) *pân, pl. pain (only attested in mutated pl. form phain, SD:128-31). Not to be confused with the noun pân ”plank”.
pân
all
pl. pain (only attested in mutated pl. form phain, SD:128-31). Not to be confused with the noun pân ”plank”.
rafn
extended point at the side
(wing, horn), pl. raifn (idh raifn).
salph
liquid food
(i halph, o salph) (soup, broth), pl. seilph (if the word goes like alph ”swan”), with article i seilph.
send
grey-elf
(i hend, o send, construct sen) (probably a term only used by the Noldor, borrowed from Quenya Sinda), pl. sind (i sind), coll. pl. Sendrim (the only attested form).
tharn
withered
tharn (sapless, stiff, rigid), pl. thern
tharn
withered
(sapless, stiff, rigid), pl. thern
thela
spear point
(-thel), pl. ?thili, 3) aith; no distinct pl. form.
till
point
till (i dill, o thill, construct til; also -dil, -thil at the end of compounds) (spike, tine, sharp horn, sharp-pointed peak), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thill). Archaic †tild. 5)
till
point
(i** dill, o thill, construct til; also -dil, -thil at the end of compounds) (spike, tine, sharp horn, sharp-pointed peak), no distinct pl. form except with article (i** thill). Archaic †tild. 5)
órui
noun. daily
A fairly common feminine suffix appearing as -il in Sindarin, either formed on its own or as a variant of the feminine suffix -iel. This suffix was also common Noldorin words in The Etymologies of the 1930s, along with an alternate form -ril that seems to be a feminine agental suffix, the equivalent of masculine -(r)on, seen in pairs like N. melethril/melethron “lover” and N. odhril/odhron “parent” (Ety/MEL, ONO). The -il suffix and its -ril variant are seen all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s in pairs like G. gwadhril/gwadhron “inhabitant” (GL/47) and G. ainil/ainos “god”, female and male respectively (GL/18). So it seems this feminine suffix was well established in Tolkien’s mind.