topon. 'Land of Pines'. Noldorized S. form.
Sindarin
Dorthonion
noun. land of pines
Dorthonion
place name. 'Land of Pines'
dorthonion
place name. Land of Pines
A forested region in northern Beleriand, meaning “Land of Pines”. After its corruption by the forces of Morgoth, the region was renamed to Taur-nu-Fuin.
Possibly Etymology: The name contains the elements S. dôr “land” and thôn “pine”, but its final element -ion is harder to explain. It could be the suffix -ion “-land” appearing in names like Eregion and Rhovanion, but then both the first and final elements of Dorthonion would mean “land”, which seems unlikely.
In one note (PE17/81), Tolkien said that this word was “Sindarin Noldorized”, so perhaps the final element is the Quenya genitive plural -ion, so that -thonion is Quenyarized Sindarin for “of Pines”. In the same note, Tolkien gives Dor i Thuin, apparently as the proper Sindarin name of the region. Since Dorthonion is where many Noldor settled after their arrival in Beleriand, this scenario is plausible.
Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the early 1930s, this name first appeared as Taur Danin (SM/107), later revised to Taur-na-Danion “Forest of Pines” (SM/296, LR/145) with variants -Thanion, -Donion, -Thonion. It became Dorthanion >> Dorthonion in Silmarillion drafts from the mid-1930s (LR/145, 257), the last of these forms being used thereafter.
In The Etymologies, Tolkien specified that the name was from the Ilkorin language, Ilk. Dorthonion “Land of Pines”, while its Noldorin form was N. Dor-na-Thuin (Ety/THŌN). Since the Ilkorin language also used -(i)on for is genitive plural, this is an earlier parallel of the Quenyarized Dorthonion versus proper Sindarin Dor i Thuin discussed above.
Elements
Word Gloss dôr “land, land, [N.] region where certain people live, [ᴱN.] country; [G.] people of the land” thôn “pine-tree” -ion “-region, -land”
Dor I thoen
place name. 'Land of Pines'
topon. 'Land of Pines'. . This gloss was rejected.
thôn
noun. pine-tree
The Sindarin word for “pine-tree”, most notably as an element in the names Dorthonion “Land of Pines” and Orod-na-Thôn “Mount of the Pine Tree(s)”. Tolkien gave it as thôn < ✶stŏna in a 1955 letter to David Masson (PE17/82) and as {thaun >>} thôn in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, derived from {✶stāna >> ✶thānĭ- >>} ✶thŏno (PE17/81).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. thaun “pine-tree” under the root ᴹ√THŌN of the same meaning (Ety/THŌN). Likely the vowel in this root was a fronted ǭ, which became au in both Sindarin and Noldorin.
In the 1910s and 20s, the “pine-tree” word was ᴱN./G. aigos, first glossed {“cheshnut tree”} in Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/17), with a variant form G. aiguis in the Gnomish Lexicon Slips (PE13/108), and simply as ᴱN. aigos “pine-tree” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/136, 158). It was replaced by thaun/thôn in Tolkien’s later writing, as noted above.
Changes
thaun→ Thôn “pine” ✧ PE17/081Cognates
Derivations
- ✶thŏno “pine” ✧ PE17/081; PE17/081; PE17/082
Element in
- S. Dor i Thuin ✧ PE17/081 (
Dor i thoen); PE17/081- S. Dorthonion “Land of Pines” ✧ PE17/081; PE17/081; RC/384; SA/thôn
- S. Orod-na-Thôn “Mount of the Pine Tree(s)” ✧ LotR/0469; PE17/082; RC/384
- S. Thonador
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶thānĭ- > thaun [tʰāni] > [tʰāne] > [θāne] > [θǭne] > [θaune] > [θaun] ✧ PE17/081 ✶thānĭ- > thoen [tʰānī] > [tʰāni] > [θāni] > [θǭni] > [θoin] > [θoen] ✧ PE17/081 ✶thŏno > Thôn [θono] > [θon] > [θōn] ✧ PE17/081 ✶thŏno > thuin [θoni] > [θuni] > [θuin] ✧ PE17/081 Variations
- thaun ✧ PE17/081 (
thaun)- Thôn ✧ PE17/081; RC/384
Dorthonion
place name. Land of the Pine Trees
thôn
pine-tree
thôn (pl. thŷn, coll. pl. ?thonath). In the linguistic scenario of the Etymologies, the ”Noldorin” word for ”pine-tree” was thaun pl. thuin, and thôn was rather ”Ilkorin”. However, when Tolkien revised his legendarium so that Sindarin replaced Ilkorin as the native Elven-tongue of Beleriand, names like Dorthonion ”Land of Pines” must be interpreted as containing a Sindarin word for pine. Adj. #thonion ”having pine trees” (isolated from the name Dorthonion), pl. thonyn
thôn
pine-tree
(pl. th**ŷn, coll. pl. ?thonath). In the linguistic scenario of the Etymologies, the ”Noldorin” word for ”pine-tree” was thaun pl. thuin, and thôn was rather ”Ilkorin”. However, when Tolkien revised his legendarium so that Sindarin replaced Ilkorin as the native Elven-tongue of Beleriand, names like Dorthonion ”Land of Pines” must be interpreted as containing a Sindarin word for pine. Adj. #thonion ”having pine trees” (isolated from the name Dorthonion), pl. thonyn**
(n-)dôr (“land, dwelling-place”) + thôn (“pine-tree”) + ion ([HKF] Dor. plural gen. suffix)