Though attested in LotR, this word might relate to ae.1 , with the regular change from ai to ae between Noldorin and Sindarin
Sindarin
ai
interjection. 'hail!'
ai
interjection. hail; ha, there you are, hail, there you are; [ᴱN.] cry of pain or woe, [G.] oh!
ai
interjection. ah!
ai
pronoun. *those who
ai
pronoun. for those who
ai na vedui dúnadan
Ah! at last, Dúnadan!
sui mín i gohenam di ai gerir úgerth ammen
as we forgive those who trespass against us
The eighth line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word is the preposition sui “as”. The second word has the same form as mín “our” but seems to function as men “us” (as it appeared in the first draft of this sentence). The third word is i “who”, followed by gohenam, the 2nd-pl inflection of the verb gohena- “to forgive” with its direct object di, the lenited form of the pronoun ti “them”.
The function of the sixth word ai (“those who”) is difficult to decipher. See the entry for that word for further discussion.
The seventh word gerir is a lenited form of cerir (as it appeared in the draft), which itself is the plural of the verb car- “to do”. This followed by úgerth, the plural of úgarth “trespass, ✱misdeed” and ammen “to us”, a combination of an “to, for” and men “us”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> sui mín i gohena-m di [← ti] ai gerir [← cerir] úgerth am-men = “✱as us who forgive-we them who do-(plural) trespasses to-us”
The sense of this phrase seems to be: “as us, who forgive those who do trespasses to us”.
Conceptual Development: Tolkien wrote a draft version (I) before producing a revised version (II) of this phrase (VT44/22, note on line 8). For “as we [us]”, Tolkien used the preposition sui “as” in both versions, but for “us” Tolkien wrote mín >> men in the draft, and then mí ni >> mín in the revision. Of these, men “us” seems to me to be the most consistent with Tolkien’s use of this pronoun elsewhere. Bill Welden discussed possible interpretations of this pronoun usage on VT44/28.
For “forgive”, Tolkien first wrote dihenam in the draft, which is another form of the verb díhena- “forgive” used in the previous line of the prayer. Tolkien replaced this with góhenam in the draft, which appeared as gohenam in the revised phrase. As pointed out by Bill Welden (VT44/29), it isn’t clear whether Tolkien intended to replace díhena- with gohena- generally as the Sindarin verb for “forgive”, or whether both verbs were valid with slightly different connotations.
See the entry for the word ai “✱those who” for a discussion of the development of that word (ayath >> ay >> ai).
Tolkien reversed the order of úgarth “trespass” and cerir “do-(plural)” between the draft and revised versions, which required changing cerir to its lenited form gerir (which Tolkien first wrote mistakenly as garer in the revised version before correcting it to gerir).
In the draft version, Tolkien wrote ann for “against us”, but as Bill Welden points out (VT44/22), Tolkien almost certainly intended ammen as it appeared in the revised version and elsewhere in the prayer, and simply failed to complete this form in the draft.
| I |II| |sui| |{mín >>} men|{mí ni >>} mín| |i| |{dihenam >>} góhenam|gohenam| |di| |{ayath >> ay >>} ai|ai| |ugerth|{garer >>} gerir| |cerir|úgerth| |ann|ammen|
ai!
hail
! (interjection) ai! _(according to one interpretation of Glorfindel_s cry ai na vedui, Dúnadan!)
ai!
hail
(according to one interpretation of Glorfindel’s cry ai na vedui, Dúnadan!)
govannen
Ai na vedui Dúnadan
pp. of govan-. Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'. Tolkien notes that the explanation with the stem ba(n) "Won't really do".
sai
pronoun. those
dangen
adjective. slain
An adjective for “slain” derived from primitive ✶dankĭnā (PE17/133), best known from its (mutated plural) appearance in the name Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain” (S/197). N. dangen “slain” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NDAK “slay” (Ety/NDAK). This adjective is likely the passive participle of the verb dag- “to slay”.
Conceptual Development: A similar adjective ᴱN. danc “killed in battle” appeared in the Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s, also related to ᴱN. dag- “slay” (PE14/66).
rim
noun. cold pool or lake (in mountains)
dag
slain
(passive participle of dag- "slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin (i ndengin; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare SLAY.
dag
slain
"slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin* (i ndengin*; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare
han
that
pl1. hain _pron. _that, the thing previously mentioned. Tolkien notes "hain = heinn (< san-)" (PE17:42). Im Narvi hain echant 'I Narvi made them'.
ti
those
(or ”they”?): possibly *ti (attested in lenited form di in the phrase di ai… ”those/they who…”) (VT44:23)
i
that
(+ soft mutation), basically in in the plural, but often loses the n which is then replaced by nasal mutation of the next consonant (e.g. gyrth i chuinar ”dead that live [cuinar]”, Letters:417). Sometimes i (+ soft mutation) is used in the singular as well. – The form ai (following by lenition) occurs in the phrase di ai gerir ✱”those who do” (VT44:23). Possibly it is a form of the relative pronoun that is used when the previous word ends in -i. Whether ai is both sg. and pl. is unclear; in its one attestation it is followed by a plural verb that is lenited.
ti
those
(attested in lenited form di in the phrase di ai… ”those/they who…”) (VT44:23)
lhaew
ill
*lhaew (sick, sickly), lenited ?thlaew or ?laew (the lenition product of lh is uncertain); no distinct pl. form. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” thloew, flaew.
lhaew
ill
(sick, sickly), lenited ?thlaew or ?laew (the lenition product of lh is uncertain); no distinct pl. form. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” thloew, flaew.
san
pronoun. that
aedh
noun. nest
ael
pool
- ael (aelin-, pl. aelin) (lake, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin. 2)
alae!
ah
! (interjection) alae!
am
upon
(prep.) am (probably followed by soft mutation)
loeg
pool
loeg (no distinct pl. form: loeg is also atttested with plural meaning) (VT45:29). 4) nên (water, lake, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.
lîn
pool
lîn (lake), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #**liniath (isolated from Hithliniath**, WJ:194). 3)
nae
alas
(interjection) nae
taw
that
(demonstrative pronoun) ?taw. _Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v. _
a
interjection. o
interj. o. A Elbereth Gilthoniel 'O Elbereth Who lit the Stars'.
a
interjection. O!
ae
interjection. O!
cidinn
?. [unglossed]
cinnog
?. [unglossed]
hand
noun. [unglossed]
loeg
noun. pool
loeg
noun. pool
lîn
noun. pool
madu
?. [unglossed]
maud
?. [unglossed]
a
o
; O Elbereth Gilthoniel A Elbereth Gilthoniel. The alternative form ae may be used when the next word begins in a: Ae Adar nín, O my Father (VT44:23). By another theory, ae represents a + the definite article i (✱a i Adar nín "o the Father of mine").
ael
pool
(aelin-, pl. aelin) (lake, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin.
alae!
ah
am
upon
(probably followed by soft mutation)
both
small pool
(i moth, construct both) (puddle), pl. byth (i mbyth). David Salo would lengthen the vowel and read ✱bôth in Sindarin.
loeg
pool
(no distinct pl. form: loeg is also atttested with plural meaning) (VT45:29). 4) nên (water, lake, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.
lîn
pool
(lake), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #*liniath*** (isolated from Hithliniath**, WJ:194). 3)
nae
alas
sa
pronoun. that
taw
pronoun. that
taw
that
. Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v.
interj. 'hail!', or less formally 'ha there you are'. Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'.