ëar

sea

ëar noun "sea" (AYAR/AIR [gives also dat. sg. ëaren],WJ:413; see Letters:386 for etymology). Not to be confused with the pl. form of the verb ëa "be, exist". Pl. ëari "seas" (FS, LR:47); Eär "the Great Sea" (cf. ëaron "ocean"), ablative Eärello "from the Great Sea", et Eärello "out of the Great Sea" (EO). Eärë noun "the open sea" (SD:305). Compound ëaruilë noun "seaweed" (UY). Found in proper names like Eärendil "Sea-friend", Eärendur masc. name, *"Sea-servant"; in effect a variant of Eärendil(Appendix A). Eärendur was also used ="(professional) mariner" (Letters:386).Fem. name Eärwen "Sea-maiden" (Silm); Eärrámë "Sea-wing", "Wings of the Sea", name of Tuor's ship (RAM, AYAR/AIR, SA)

ëaron

ocean

ëaron noun "ocean" (PE17:27), also airon. Cf. ëar.

airen

noun. sea

airë

sea

airë (2) noun "sea" (the form airen is given, intended as a genitive singular when Tolkien wrote this; in LotR-style Quenya it would rather be a dative sg.) (AYAR/AIR; cf. airon)

airë

noun. sea

An archaic word for “sea” which fell out of use to due conflict with “holy” words like aira or airë; it was a noun form of primitive ✶gaı̯ră (PE17/27). The more common modern word for “sea” is ëar.

Conceptual Development: ᴹQ. aire “sea” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√AYAR (Ety/AY); it appeared beside a form ᴹQ. airen that might be a genitive form, or might be a longer form; see the entry on ᴹQ. airon for discussion.

Cognates

• S. gaear “sea” ✧ PE17/027

Derivations

• ✶gayār “sea, the terrifier” ✧ PE17/027
  • √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400

Element in

• Q. airon “ocean” ✧ PE17/027

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶gaı̯ră > aire	[gaira] > [ɣaira] > [aira]	✧ PE17/027

Variations

• aire ✧ PE17/027 (aire)

váya

sea

váya noun "sea" (considered as "waters, motion"). The wording of the source indicates that Tolkien only tentatively considered such a word (PE17:33)

vëa

sea

vëa (3) noun "sea" (MC:213, 214, 216; possibly obsoleted by #1 and #2 above, though some argue that the initial element of the late names Vëantur and Vëandur [q.v.] could be vëa #3 rather than #2 (it can hardly be #1) . In any case, the normal word for "sea" in LotR-style Quenya seems to be ëar.) Inflected vëan "sea" (MC:220), vëar "in sea" (a "Qenya" locative in -r, MC:213), vëassë "on sea" (MC:220). Cf. also vëaciryo.

waya

noun. ocean

airon

ocean

airon noun "ocean" (PE17:27). Also ëaron, q.v.

airon

noun. ocean

An (archaic) word for “ocean”, an augmentative form of airë mentioned in a couple of later notes (PE17/27, 149). A more modern form is ëaron.

Conceptual Development: The form ᴹQ. airen appeared in parenthesis beside ᴹQ. aire “sea” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/AY). Helge Fauskanger suggested that it might be a genitive form (QQ/airë), but in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s, aire “sea” >> airen (PE22/23 note #70), suggesting it is an alternate (augmentative?) form. If so, it is probably a precursor to airon.

Cognates

• S. gaearon “ocean, (lit.) great sea” ✧ PE17/027; PE17/149

Derivations

• ✶airō “ocean” ✧ PE17/149
  • √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/149
  • √AY(AR) “sea” ✧ PE18/097

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶airō > airon	[airon]	✧ PE17/149

aear

noun. sea

Tolkien changed this word several times, see gaear

aear

Sea

_n. _Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Q. ear. nef aear, sí nef aearon lit. 'beyond the Sea, here beyond the Great Sea'. >> gaear, gaer

aear

noun. sea

gaear

noun. sea

gaear

Sea

_n. _Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Shorter form gaer. Q. ear. >> aear, gaer

gaear

noun. sea

A word for “sea” variously attested as gaear (PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400), gaer (PE17/27; PE17/149), and aear (Let/386; RGEO/65) in later writings. Of these, I prefer gaear for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, reduced to gaer in compounds.

Possible Etymology: The presence or absence of the initial g- depends on whether the word’s root is √AY(AR) (as it appears in The Etymologies and some later writings) or √GAY(AR) (as it appears in other later writings). See the entry of the root √GAY(AR) for a discussion of this vacillation. Similarly, the form gaer appears primarily as an element in compounds, and can be explained as a reduced form of gaear in that context. For these reasons, this entry uses gaear as the ordinary Sindarin word for “sea”. This has the additional advantage of disambiguating it from the adjective gaer “dreadful”.

Conceptual Development: This word appeared as N. oer or oear “sea” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, reflecting the Noldorin sound change of ai to oe (Ety/AY). However name for the “Great Sea” was N. {Belegar >>} Belegaer in the narratives of this period (LR/19), and the name N. Rhûnaer “Eastern Sea” appeared in draft Lord of the Rings maps from 1943 (TI/307). The element N. oer did appear in the day-of-the-week name N. Aroeren “✱Sea-day” in drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices, but this was revised to S. Oraeron (PM/130, 138).

Cognates

• Q. airë “sea” ✧ PE17/027
• Q. ëar “sea, great sea, sea, great sea, [ᴹQ.] open sea; water” ✧ Let/386; PE17/027; PM/363; RGEO/65; SA/ëar; WJ/400

Derivations

• √AY(AR) “sea” ✧ Let/386
• √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/027; PE17/149; SA/gaer
• ✶gayār “sea, the terrifier” ✧ PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400
  • √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400

Element in

• S. Aerandir “Sea-wanderer”
• S. Belegaer “Great Sea” ✧ PM/363; SA/ëar; SA/gaer
• S. gaearon “ocean, (lit.) great sea” ✧ PE17/027; PE17/149; PM/363; RGEO/65
• S. Gaerdil “*Sea-lover” ✧ PE17/027
• ᴺS. gaeruil “seaweed”
• S. Gaerys “Ossë” ✧ SA/gaer
• ᴺS. gaessarn “pearl, (lit.) sea-pebble”
• S. nef aear, sí nef aearon “here ... beyond the Sea, beyond the wide and sundering Sea” ✧ LotR/0238; PE17/027; RGEO/63; RGEO/64
• S. Tirith Aear “Sea-ward Tower”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶gaı̯ră > gaer	[gaira] > [gair] > [gaer]	✧ PE17/027
✶Gayar- > gaear	[gaiara] > [gaiar] > [gaear]	✧ PM/363

Variations

• aear ✧ Let/386; RGEO/65
• gaer ✧ PE17/027; PE17/149; SA/ëar; SA/gaer

aer

noun. sea

Tolkien changed this word several times, see aear , gaear

aearon

noun. great sea, ocean

Tolkien changed this word several times, see gaearon

aearon

ocean

_n. _ocean. Augmentative form of _aear _Sea. Q. earon, airon. nef aear, sí nef aearon lit. 'beyond the Sea, here beyond the Great Sea'. >> aear

gaer

noun. sea

gaer

Sea

_n._Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Shorter form of gaear.Q. aire (obsolete). >> aear, gaear

gaer

noun. sea

gaer

ocean

_ n. _ocean.

gaearon

noun. great sea, ocean

gaearon

ocean

_n. _ocean. Augmentative form of _gaear _Sea. Q. earon, airon. >> gaear

gaeron

noun. great sea, ocean

gaeron

noun. ocean

_ n. _ocean.

belegaer

noun. ocean

_ n. _ocean.

belegaer

place name. Great Sea

Name of the “Great Sea” lying between Middle-earth and Valinor (S/37). This name is a compound of beleg “mighty” and gae(a)r “sea” (SA/beleg, gaer; PM/363).

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name first appeared as N. Belegar (LR/14), soon revised to Belegaer (LR/19). In The Etymologies, it appeared as Belegoer (Ety/ÁLAT, AY, BEL), a reflection of Tolkien’s uncertainty on whether the diphthong [[n|[ai] became [oe] or [ae]]]. In the later Silmarillion revisions from the 1930s, he used Belegaer consistently following the [[n|revision of [oe] to [ae]]].

Elements

Word	Gloss
beleg	“great, mighty; large, big, great, mighty; large, big, [ᴱN.] huge”
gaear	“sea”

Variations

• belegaer ✧ PE17/149

aear

sea

aear (ocean); pl. aeair. The shorter form aer (for N oer) is maybe best avoided since it can be confused with aer "holy", unless the latter is actually a lenited form of gaer. Forms with g-, representing an alternative concept of the word for ”sea”: gaear (i **aear) (ocean), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair = i ñaeair) (PM:363), also gaer (i **aer, no distinct pl. form except with article: i ngaer = i ñaer), but homophones of the latter mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "dreadful, awful, fearful; holy".

aear

sea

(ocean); pl. aeair. The shorter form aer (for N oer) is maybe best avoided since it can be confused with aer "holy", unless the latter is actually a lenited form of gaer. Forms with g-, representing an alternative concept of the word for ”sea”: gaear (i ’aear) (ocean), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair = i ñaeair) (PM:363), also gaer (i ’aer, no distinct pl. form except with article: i ngaer = i ñaer), but homophones of the latter mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "dreadful, awful, fearful; holy".

aear

ocean

aear (sea), pl. aeair.

aear

ocean

(sea), pl. aeair.

gaear

ocean

gaear (i **aear) (sea), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair** = i ñaeair).

gaear

ocean

(i ’aear) (sea), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair = i ñaeair).

gaearon

great ocean

(i ‘Aearon), pl. Gaearyn (i Ngaearyn = i Ñaearyn) if there is a pl.

gaiar

noun. Great Sea

Cognates

• Q. ëar “sea, great sea, sea, great sea, [ᴹQ.] open sea; water” ✧ PM/363

Derivations

• ✶gayār “sea, the terrifier” ✧ PM/363
  • √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400

azra

noun. sea

The Adûnaic word for “sea” (SD/429), appearing as azar in some early texts (SD/305). It is fully declined on SD/431.

Element in

• Ad. azra-zâin “sea-lands, maritime regions” ✧ SD/429; SD/435
• Ad. azrîya du-phursâ akhâsada “that [the] seas should gush into [the] chasm” ✧ SD/247
• Ad. azrē nai {phurusam >>} phurrusim akhās-ada “seas might-flow Chasm-into” ✧ SD/311
• Ad. Azrubêl “Sea-lover, Friend of the Sea” ✧ PM/373; SD/305; SD/429

Variations

• azar ✧ PM/373; SD/305

pharaz

noun. sea

A draft word for “sea”, deleted and replaced with azar (SD/305), which later become azra. This word reappeared later with a different meaning: pharaz “gold”.

Changes

• pharaz → azar “sea” ✧ SD/305

Element in

• Ad. Pharazîr “Sea-lover” ✧ SD/305 (Pharazîr*)

Variations

• pharaz ✧ SD/305 (pharaz)

ay(ar)

root. sea

Changes

• AY(AR) → GAY(AR) ✧ PE17/027

Derivatives

• ✶airō “ocean” ✧ PE18/097
  • Q. airon “ocean” ✧ PE17/149
• Q. ëar “sea, great sea, sea, great sea, [ᴹQ.] open sea; water” ✧ Let/386
• S. gaear “sea” ✧ Let/386

Element in

• Q. ailin “a large lake, (large) lake, [ᴹQ.] pool” ✧ PE17/160
• Q. Eärendil “Lover of the Sea” ✧ Let/386
• S. ael “lake, pool”

Variations

• AYAR ✧ Let/386; PE18/097
• AYA(R) ✧ PE17/149; PE17/160

airō

noun. ocean

Changes

• airē → airō ✧ PE17/149

Derivations

• √GAY(AR) “awe, dread; astound, make aghast; sea” ✧ PE17/149
• √AY(AR) “sea” ✧ PE18/097

Derivatives

• Q. airon “ocean” ✧ PE17/149

Variations

• airē ✧ PE17/149 (airē)
• air- ✧ PE18/097

aer

noun. sea

oear

noun. sea

oear

noun. sea

oer

noun. sea

oer

noun. sea

Cognates

• ᴹQ. aire “sea” ✧ Ety/AY
• ᴹQ. ear “(open) sea; water” ✧ Ety/AY

Derivations

• ᴹ√AY(AR) “sea” ✧ Ety/AY; Ety/AY; Ety/UY

Element in

• N. Airlond “(?sea-stead)”
• N. Belegoer “Great Sea” ✧ Ety/AY
• N. oeruil “seaweed” ✧ Ety/UY
• N. Oeros “Osse”
• N. Aroeren “Sea-day”
• N. Rhûnaer “Eastern Sea” ✧ TI/307

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√ÁYAR > oear	[ajar] > [aiar] > [oear]	✧ Ety/AY
ᴹ√AI̯R > oer	[ajr] > [air] > [oer]	✧ Ety/AY

Variations

• oear ✧ Ety/AY
• aer ✧ TI/307 (aer)

belegoer

place name. Great Sea

Changes

• Belegar → Belegaer ✧ LR/019
• Belegar → Belegaer “Great Sea” ✧ SMI/Belegar

Cognates

• ᴹQ. Alataire “Great Sea” ✧ Ety/ÁLAT; Ety/AY

Elements

Word	Gloss
beleg	“great, large”
oer	“sea”

Variations

• Belegar ✧ LR/014; LR/019; LRI/Belegar; SMI/Belegar
• Belegaer ✧ LR/019; LRI/Belegar