ter

through

ter (1), also terë, prep. "through", "throughout" (Notes on CO, UT:317, TER/TERES, Narqelion, VT44:33, 35, VT49:41, 42). The preposition is used both with spatial and temporal reference: ter i·aldar "through the trees" (Narqelion, cf. VT49:42), ter coivierya "throughout his/her life", ter yénion yéni "through years of years" (VT49:42, VT44:33, 35)

ter

preposition. through

Derivations

• √TER “pierce”

Element in

• Q. et sillumello ter yénion yéni tenn’ ambarmetta “*from this hour, through years of years until the ending of the world” ✧ VT44/35
• Q. nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya “*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
• Q. nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya “*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
• Q. tercáno “herald”
• ᴺQ. tercara “thorough, elaborate, comprehensive”
• Q. tercen “insight, *(lit.) through-sight”
• ᴺQ. tercénima “transparent”
• ᴺQ. tercol- “to endure, carry through”
• Q. termar- “to stand, *endure, last, (lit.) through-abide” ✧ UT/317
• ᴺQ. tervanta- “to traverse”
• Q. terpellië “*temptation”
• Q. terfantië “*temptation”

lér

man

**lér noun "man" (NI1; hypothetical Q form of PQ dēr; the form actually used in Quenya was nér)

nér

man

nér (1) (ner-, as in pl. neri) noun "man" (adult male elf, mortal, or of other speaking race) (MR:213, VT49:17, DER, NDER, NI1, VT45:9; see also WJ:393)

nér

noun. man

ur(u)-

prefix. hard, difficult

Cognates

• S. gor- “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154
• S. gor “horror, dread, fear” ✧ PE17/172

Derivations

• √GUR “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

• Q. urnótima “*difficult to count” ✧ PE17/172; PE17/172
• Q. urucárima “hard to make / do” ✧ PE17/154; PE17/154
• Q. urucarin “made with difficulty” ✧ PE17/154
• ᴺQ. uruhanyaima “complicated, enigmatic, cryptic, hard to understand”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√GUR > ur(u)	[gur-] > [ɣur-] > [ur-]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• ur(u) ✧ PE17/154
• ur- ✧ PE17/172 (ur-)

vëo

man

†vëo noun "man" (WEG; etymologically connected to vëa "manly, vigorous"; the more neutral word for "man" is nér. According to VT46:21, Tolkien indicated that vëo is an archaic or poetic word.) Tolkien at a later point defined the word as "living creature" (PE17:189). Cf. variant wëo, q.v.

dîr

noun. man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix

A word for “man” as a male person, attested only as an element in compounds or as (archaic?) ndir (PE17/60). This word likely refers to male individuals of all races including Elves, Men, Dwarves and so forth, much like its Quenya cognate Q. nér. This word must have been derived from the primitive subjective form ✶ndēr of the root √N(D)ER “male person”, where the ancient long ē became ī, and the initial cluster nd- became d-, though the ancient cluster would still be reflected in mutated forms, such as in i nîr “the man” rather than ✱✱i dhîr.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursor to this word is (archaic) G. †drio “hero, warrior” with variants driw, driodweg and driothweg, a cognate of ᴱQ. nēr (GL/22). This Gnomish word was derived from primitive ᴱ✶n’reu̯, where the initial nr- became dr-. At this early stage, the root was unstrengthened ᴱ√NERE (QL/65), as reflected in (archaic) ᴱN. nîr “hero, prince, warrior-elf” in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s (PE13/164).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root became ᴹ√DER “adult male, man” of any speaking race and the derived form was N. dîr (Ety/DER). However, in this document Tolkien said:

> EN †dîr surviving chiefly in proper names (as Diriel older Dirghel [GYEL], Haldir, Brandir) and as agental ending (as ceredir “doer, maker”) ... In ordinary use EN has benn [for “man”] (properly = “husband”).

Thus in the scenario described in The Etymologies, dîr “man” was archaic and used only as an element in names or as a suffix. In ordinary speech it was replaced by N. benn, which used to mean “husband” but now meant “man”, while the word for “husband” became N. hervenn (Ety/BES). It is unlikely Tolkien imagined this exact scenario in later Sindarin, however, since the 1930s root for benn was ᴹ√BES “wed”, but by the 1960s the root for husband/wife/marry words had become √BER.

Neo-Sindarin: Since the status of N. benn is questionable given ᴹ√BES >> √BER, many Neo-Sindarin writers prefer to use S. ✱dîr as the Sindarin word for man. I am of the opinion that both dîr and benn are acceptable for “man, male person”. This is because I prefer to retain ᴹ√BES as the root for “marry, wed”, since it is the best basis for attested husband/wife words in (Neo) Sindarin.

Derivations

• ✶ndē̆r “man”
  • √N(D)ER “male (person), man”

Element in

• S. Borondir “?Steadfast-man”
• S. Brandir “*Noble Man”
• S. condir “mayor, *(lit.) chief-man”
• S. curunír “wizard, wizard, [N.] man of craft”
• S. dagnir “slayer, bane”
• S. Dírhael “*Wise Man”
• S. dírnaith “wedge-shaped battle-formation, (lit.) man-spearhead”
• S. Emeldir “Manhearted, *Manly-mother”
• S. Haldir
• S. Handir
• S. Hathaldir
• S. Hatholdir “*Axe-man”
• S. herdir “master”
• S. Lindir
• S. Othrondir “?Stronghold Man”
• S. randir “wanderer, wandering man, pilgrim” ✧ PE17/060
• S. Thorondir “*Eagle-man”

Variations

• ndir ✧ PE17/060

dîr

adjective. hard, difficult

Derivations

• ✶dērā “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154
  • √DER “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

• S. dirbedui “hard to utter, difficult to pronounce” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶dērā > dîr	[dērā] > [dēra] > [dīra] > [dīr]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• dîr ✧ PE17/154

tir-

verb. to look (towards), watch (over), guard, to look (towards), watch (over), guard; [G.] to look (out) for, watch for, await, expect

Derivations

• √TIR “watch (over), look at, observe, gaze at, watch (over), look at, observe, gaze at; [ᴹ√] guard” ✧ Let/427

Element in

• S. amdir “hope [based on reason], (lit.) looking up, hope [based on reason], *expectation, (lit.) looking up” ✧ MR/320
• S. a tiro nin, Fanuilos “o guard me, Elbereth” ✧ LotR/0729; PE17/095; RGEO/64
• S. ethir “spy”
• S. Gwahaedir “?Far Watcher”
• S. Talath Dirnen “Guarded Plain” ✧ S/168
• S. tirnen “guarded” ✧ S/168

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√TIR > tĭro	[tir-]	✧ Let/427

drû

noun. wild man, Wose, Púkel-Man

In PE/11:31, an older Gnomish word drû, drui meant "wood, forest", and in PE/13:142, the early Noldorin word drú was assigned the meaning "dark". Drû pl. Drúin later came to be used for the name of the Woses, with other derivatives (Drúadan, etc.). "Wose" is actually the modernization of an Anglo-Saxon word wasa only found in the compound wudu-wasa "wild man of the woods", cf. UT/385 sq. In the drafts of the "Ride of the Rohirrim" in WR/343-346, the Woses first appeared as "the dark men of Eilenach". Though internally said to derive from drughu in their own tongue, Tolkien's choice for the Sindarin name of the Woses was apparently influenced by earlier meanings assigned to this word

godref

adverb. through together

adanadar

noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men

drúadan

noun. wild man, one of the Woses

adan

noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)

gor-

prefix. hard, difficult

Cognates

• Q. ur(u)- “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• √GUR “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

• S. gorbedui “only to be said with horror or grief, lamentable to tell” ✧ PE17/154
• ᴺS. gorchanui “complicated, enigmatic, cryptic, hard to understand”
• S. gornodui “hard to count” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√GUR > gor-	[gur-] > [gor-]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• gor- ✧ PE17/154; PE17/154

cened

noun. looking, looking, *seeing

Element in

• S. cenedril “mirror, looking-glass, (lit.) looking-crystal” ✧ PE17/037

Elements

Word	Gloss
cen-	“to see, perceive, look”
-ed	“gerund”

Variations

• Cened ✧ PE17/037 (Cened)

adanath

noun. men

Dúnadan

noun. Man of the west, Númenórean

glintha-

verb. to glance at

henn

noun. glance

Derivations

• √KHEN “base of eye-words, base of eye-words; [ᴹ√] look at, see, observe, direct gaze”

dîr

man

1) (adult male of any speaking race) dîr (dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”. 2) (mortal human as opposed to Elf) Adan (pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.

dîr

man

(dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”.

tîr

glance

(noun) tîr (i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance) (view, looking), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

glance

(i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance) (view, looking), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

looking

(noun) tîr (i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (view, glance), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

looking

(i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (view, glance), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

view

(noun) tîr (i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

view

(i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

firion

mortal man

(pl. firyn).

curunír

man of craft

(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.

tre

through

(adverbial prefix, sometimes = ”completely”) tre-, tri-. For an example of this prefix, see TELL TO END.

tre

through

tri-. For an example of this prefix, see

adan

man

(pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.

bôr

trusty man

(boron-) (i vôr, construct bor) (steadfast man, faithful vassal), pl. *b**ŷr* for older beryn, i meryn (archaic böryn, i möryn). In ”Noldorin”, the older pl. forms were berein, beren.

glind

glance

(noun) !glind (i **lind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in glind), coll. pl. glinnath**. (WJ:337; the spelling used in the primary source is ”glinn”.)

glind

glance

(i ’lind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in glind), coll. pl. glinnath. (WJ:337; the spelling used in the primary source is ”glinn”.)

trî

through

(prep.) trî ;

trî

through

;

rhavan

wild man

(?i thravan or ?i ravan – the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). – The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:

thalion

dauntless man

(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”. 

dúnadan

man of the west

(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).

beorn

noun. man

The shift of e to eo is strange and has no direct parallels, but compare eo from i in meord "fine rain" (< primitive mizdê). Normally final -ô becomes -â in Nandorin (see golda), but here it is simply lost instead of producing *beorna. C.f. meord the other word where we might have expected to see a final -a (in that case from -ê); it may be that final vowels are lost in words that would otherwise come to have more than two syllables. - The shift of primitive s to r in besnô > beorn may be ascribed primarily to the blending with ber(n)ô, but r from z is seen in meord < mizdê; perhaps the s of besnô first became z and then r. Such developments are common in Quenya.

der

root. hard, difficult

A root in linguistic notes from 1959 used for the sense “hard, difficult” in Sindarin because other roots like √GUR > S. gor- gained a very negative sense due to collision with the roots √ÑGOR “horror” and √ÑGUR “death” (PE17/154). Tolkien first gave this root as √DIR before switching it to √DER. There is no indication of its use in Quenya, so it is probably a Sindarin-only innovation.

Changes

• DIR → DER ✧ PE17/154

Derivatives

• ✶dērā “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154
  • S. dîr “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154
• ✶dirnā “tough” ✧ PE17/154
  • S. dern “tough, thrawn” ✧ PE17/154

Variations

• DIR ✧ PE17/154 (DIR)

dērā

adjective. hard, difficult

Changes

• dīrā → dērā ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• √DER “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Derivatives

• S. dîr “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Variations

• dīrā ✧ PE17/154 (dīrā)

ndē̆r

noun. man

Derivations

• √N(D)ER “male (person), man”

Derivatives

• S. dîr “man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix”

tirlā

adjective. looking

Derivations

• √TIR “watch (over), look at, observe, gaze at, watch (over), look at, observe, gaze at; [ᴹ√] guard”

Element in

• Q. cilintilla “looking-glass, looking-glass, *mirror” ✧ PE17/037

Variations

• -tirlā ✧ PE17/037

srak

root. hard, difficult

dîr

noun. man, referring to an adult male (elf, mortal, or of any other speaking race)

dîr

noun. man, adult male; agental suffix

Cognates

• ᴹQ. nér “man, adult male” ✧ Ety/DER

Derivations

• ᴹ√(N)DER “adult male, man; bridegroom” ✧ Ety/BARÁD; Ety/BES
• On. dîr “adult male, man (elf/mortal/other speaking race)” ✧ Ety/DER
  • ᴹ√(N)DER “adult male, man; bridegroom” ✧ Ety/DER; Ety/NĪ¹

Element in

• N. Díriel ✧ Ety/DER
• N. bauglir “tyrant, oppressor” ✧ Ety/MBAW
• N. Brandir “*Noble-man” ✧ Ety/BARÁD; Ety/DER
• N. ceredir “doer, maker, doer, maker, *crafter (m.)” ✧ Ety/DER
• N. curunir “a man of craft, wizard” ✧ Ety/KUR
• N. feredir “hunter”
• N. Haldir “Hidden Hero” ✧ Ety/DER
• N. haldir “fur-hunter” ✧ EtyAC/SKEL (haldir)
• N. Handir
• N. Hathaldir
• N. meldir “friend [m.]”
• N. rhandir “wanderer, pilgrim”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. dîr > dîr	[dīr]	✧ Ety/DER

Variations

• dīr ✧ Ety/BARÁD
• dír ✧ Ety/BES

godrebh

adverb. through together

tri

prefix. through (but denoting completeness when prefixed to verbs, cf. English idioms like "talk something through")

tre-

prefix. through (but denoting completeness when prefixed to verbs, cf. English idioms like "talk something through")

tre-

prefix. through

Derivations

• On. trī “through” ✧ Ety/TER
  • ᴹ√TER “pierce” ✧ Ety/TER

Element in

• N. trevad- “to traverse”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. tre- > tre-/tri	[tre-]	✧ Ety/TER

Variations

• tre-/tri ✧ Ety/TER

trî

preposition. through

trî

preposition. through

Cognates

• ᴹQ. ter “through” ✧ Ety/TER

Derivations

• On. trī “through” ✧ Ety/TER
  • ᴹ√TER “pierce” ✧ Ety/TER

Element in

• N. godrebh “abreast; *together-through”
• N. tre- “through” ✧ Ety/TER
• N. trenarn “account, tale” ✧ Ety/NAR²

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. trī > trī	[trī]	✧ Ety/TER

Variations

• trī ✧ Ety/TER

forodrim

noun. Northmen

forodwaith

noun. Northmen

forodweith

noun. Northmen

forodwaith

noun. the lands of the North

forodweith

noun. the lands of the North

benn

noun. man, male