annon

noun. (great) gate, door

A word for a great and strong entrance, typically translated “gate” but also usable in reference to a “great door”, notably in Ennyn Durin “Doors of Durin”, the great doors at the entrance to Moria.

Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was G. {anda >>} anna “door, opening” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, appearing near adhwen “approach, avenue”, and so likely derived from ✱√AD (GL/17). In the Gnomish Lexicon Slips this become [a]nn “door” derived from ᴱ✶anda (PE13/110). ᴱN. ann “door” reappeared in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s from primitive ᴱ✶andond- and with a new plural form ennyn (PE13/137, 160).

This 1920s plural may have inspired a more elaborate form N. annon “great gate” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, which had the same plural ennyn and appeared under the root ᴹ√AD “entrance, gate” (Ety/AD). On drafts of Thror’s map from 1936, annon was used for “door” in the phrase lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast” (TAI/150). The longer form annon appeared in various names in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, include the first version of the Moria Gate Spell: N. annon porennin diragas·venwed (RS/451). From there it appeared in several names in the published version of The Lord of the Rings, as well as in the final version of the Moria Gate Spell: annon edhellen, edro hi ammen “Elvish gate open now for us” (LotR/307).

Notes on The Lord of the Rings provide further insights into Tolkien’s vision of this word’s later etymology, the clearest being notes from December 1959 (D59) where Tolkien said:

> The words for “door, gate”, [ancient Sindarin] annō, annon(d)- are derivatives of √ANA “to” and mean originally “entrances, approaches”. Cf. Q ando. Quite distinct is ANAD- “long”, Q andā, S ann/and rare except in old words or names as anduin, Q anduine (PE17/40).

In notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave S. ann(on) “gate” (PE17/90), perhaps indicating he considered restoring the shorter form ann from the 1910s and 20s.

annon

great door

pl1. ennyn _ n. _great door, gate. Q. ando. Ennyn Durin Aran Moria 'the doors (of) Durin King (of) Moria'. annon edhellen edro hi ammen! 'Elvish gate open now for us'. >> annon

annon

noun. great door or gate

annon-in-gelydh

place name. Gate of the Noldor

Entrance to a tunnel leading from Dor-lómin to Cirith Ninniach, translated “Gate of the Noldor” (S/238). It is a combination of annon “gate”, the plural in of the definite article i, and the plural Gelydh of Golodh “Noldo”.

Annon-in-Gelydh

noun. gate of the Noldor

annon (“great door or gate”) + in (pl. genitive article) + (n-)Gelyth (pl. of (n-)Golodh “Noldor”)

annon edhellen, edro hi ammen

Elvish gate open now for us

annon

great gate

annon (door), pl. ennyn

annon

great gate

(door), pl. *ennyn***

fend

door

(threshold), construct fen, pl. find, coll. pl. fennath, 2) fennas (gateway), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath, 3) annon (great gate), pl. ennyn

na

be

: The verb ”to be” is poorly attested. Apparently the root is na-. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund *”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps *leben tail brand i annon.

na

be

. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund ✱”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps ✱leben tail brand i annon.

fen

noun. door, threshold

fen

door

_ n. _door. Q. fenna. >> fennas

fen(n)

noun. door

fend

noun. door, door; [N.] threshold

A word appearing as fend “door” in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/136). In notes from December 1959 (D59), Tolkien gave it as fen “door” derived from the root √PHEN, with a Quenya equivalent as fenna indicating a primitive form of ✱phennā (PE17/181). In The Lord of the Rings proper, it was an element in the name Fen Hollen “Closed Door” (LotR/826; RC/550); perhaps fen is a reduced pseudo-prefixal form of fenn/fend.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. fenn “threshold” derived from ON. phenda under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN). In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s it appeared as fenn in Fenn Forn(en) and similar variants, all earlier names for Fen Hollen (WR/341).

Neo-Sindarin: I don’t think the senses “door” and “threshold” are likely to coexist, and for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would limit fend to “door”.

na-

verb. to be

no

verb. be!

and

gate

!and (door), pl. aind, coll. pl. annath. Note that and is more commonly the adj. "long".

and

gate

(door), pl. aind, coll. pl. annath. Note that and is more commonly the adj. "long".

annon

noun. great gate, door

annon

noun. great door or gate

annon porennin diragas·venwed

annon porennin diragas·venwed

lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh

five foot high the door and three may walk abreast

This phrase appeared on a preliminary sketch of Thrór’s Map from 1936. The final form of the map appeared in the first edition of The Hobbit without the phrase. Rhona Beare copied the phrase from a display of the sketch in the British Museum, and the phrase was first published in 1989 in Parma Eldalamberon #6 and Vinyar Tengwar #7 (PE6/38, VT7/7). The sketch itself appears in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator edited by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull (TAI/92, illustration #85), and a rendition of the phrase appears in a footnote (TAI/150, note #6).

Hammond and Scull interpreted the phrase in the footnote mentioned above. An analysis of the phrase also appeared in an article by Didier Willis titled “Une phrase elfique dans « J. R. R. Tolkien, Artist & Illustrator »” (PED-TAI) and in David Salo’s A Gateway to Sindarin (GS/216-7). These three analyses are very close and form the basis for the version presented here.

Tolkien gave two translations of the phrase in the sketch. There is a Modern English translation “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast”, written in runes. There is also an Old English translation: “fif fota heah is se dura and þrie maeg samod þurghgangend”, in Modern English: “five foot high is the door and three may together through-go”.

The first part of the phrase is clear. The first word is lheben “five”, followed by the Noldorin plural form teil “feet” of tâl “foot”. The third word is brann, which is translated in The Etymologies as “lofty, noble, fine” (Ety/BARÁD) but here seems to mean “high”. The fourth word is the definite article i “the” and the fifth is annon “gate, door”. The sixth word ar is a Noldorin variant of later Sindarin a “and” (like its cognate ᴹQ. ar) followed by neledh “three”.

The remainder of the phrase is difficult to interpret. The eighth word is illegible. Rhona Beare thought it might be ?nelwhi or ?maohi (VT7/7). Hammond and Scull rendered it as neledhi, which they interpreted as a variant of neledh “three”, so that neledh neledhi means “three by three”. Willis and Salo suggested instead that neledhi means “to walk [in]” (PED-TAI, GS/217), the infinitive of an unattested verb ✱neledh- “to go in, enter” (GS/276). Willis further suggested that it was written over a rejected form neledie (also noted, but not interpreted, by Hammond and Scull), the Old Noldorin form of the word. Willis and Salo analyzed this verb as a combination of the prefix ✱ne- “in” (also seen in N. nestag- “stick in”) and a derivative of the root ᴹ√LED “go, fare, travel”. If the eighth word corresponds to English “walk [in]”, then this interpretation is quite plausible.

The ninth word gar seems to be a verb corresponding to English “may” in the sense “can, be able to”. Salo suggested that it is the Noldorin verb gar-, but this is translated “hold, have” in The Etymologies (Ety/GAR), which does not seem appropriate. Willis suggested that it is the (Early Noldorin?) verb ᴱN. gar “went” seen in the phrase ven Sirion gar meilien “towards (the river) Sirion went laughing”; Hammond and Scull also suggested it might be a verb meaning “go”. A third possibility is that it is a soft mutation of the verb car- “do, make” (Ety/KAR), perhaps lenited because it follows an infinitive form; the meaning of car- seems to me to be a bit closer in sense to “may”, but this is still just a guess.

The last word godrebh might correspond to English “abreast”, but Hammond, Scull, Willis and Salo all suggested that it means “together through”, matching the Old English “samod þurgh”. Willis and Salo both independently analyzed this word as the prefix go- “together” and a lenited prefixal form dre of trî “through”, with the final -bh (pronounced [v]) marking it as an adverb (PED-TAI, GS/217). The word godrebh was preceded by some deleted and unclear writing, rendered ?goldegoelend by Rhona Beare (VT7/7), perhaps two rejected forms ?golde >> goelend (?“together-go”), though Hammond and Scull transcribed the two rejected forms as golda >> goelend (TAI/150, note #6).

fend

noun. door, threshold

fenn

noun. door, threshold

andon

great gate

andon noun "great gate" (andond-, as in pl. andondi) (AD)

Tarannon

high-gift

Tarannon masc. name; ?"High-gift"? Or, if -annon is a Sindarin-influenced form of andon "great gate" rather than a masculinized form of anna "gift", "Lord of the Gate"??? (Appendix A)

ando

gate

ando (1) noun "gate", also name of tengwa #5 (AD, Appendix E). A deleted entry in the Etymologies gave Ando Lómen, evidently "Door of Night" (VT45:28; notice "Qenya" genitive in -n rather than -o as in LotR-style Quenya)

ea

verb. be

be

fende

noun. door

fendë

noun. door

A word appearing as {phende >>} fende “door” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/166 and note #112). The deleted variant probably indicates its primitive form.

Conceptual Development: The earliest “door” word was ᴱQ. posta in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root {ᴱ√PONO >>} ᴱ√BOÐO (QL/75). Another precursor was ᴹQ. fenda “threshold” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN). In notes from December 1959 (D59) Tolkien gave Q. fenna as a derivative of √PHEN and cognate to S. fen, all meaning “door” (PE17/181).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer 1969 fendë as the word for “door”, but I think [ᴹQ.] fenda “threshold” might remain viable as a separate derivative of the root.

fenna

door

fenna noun "door" (PE17:45, 181)

fenna

noun. door

phen

root. door

The root ᴹ√PHEN first appeared (unglossed) in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. fenda “threshold” and N. fenn “threshold, door” (Ety/PHEN). The root √PHEN “door” reappeared in etymological notes from 1959 as the basis for Q. fendë/S. fen “door” (PE17/181). The most notable name associated with this root was S. Fen Hollen “Closed Door” from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/826; RC/550) along with its precursors in LotR drafts: N. Fenn Forn(en) and N. Fenn Uiforn (WR/338, 341).