While the word is written enedh in the Etymologies, it seems that Tolkien considered and reconsidered its form throughout his life. Late rough jottings (c. 1968), as well as the text of letter no. 168 and the fact that the toponym Enedwaith was never changed on the LotR map, seem to imply that ened is the (most) definitive form. See also the possibly related preposition ned , which has sometimes been suggested to mean "in" (while again a prefix nedh- is seen in the Etymologies)
Sindarin
enedh
noun. centre, middle, centre, middle; [N.] core
Cognates
- Q. endë “centre, middle, centre, middle; [ᴹQ.] core” ✧ VT48/25
Derivations
Element in
- ᴺS. enedhren “central, essential”
- S. Enedwaith “Middle-region, Middle-folk”
- S. lebenedh “middle finger”
- S. Lond Daer Enedh “Great Middle Haven” ✧ UT/264
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √HENET > ente > ened [ɣenet] > [enet] > [ened] ✧ VT41/16 √ened/l > eneð [ened] > [eneð] ✧ VT48/25 Variations
- Enedh ✧ UT/264
- ened ✧ VT41/16
- eneð ✧ VT48/25
ened
noun. centre
ened
noun. core, centre, middle
enedh
middle
enedh (core, center), pl. enidh
enedh
middle
(core, center), pl. enidh
enedh
center
1) enedh (core, middle), pl. enidh, 2) nest (heart, core), pl. nist
enedh
center
(core, middle), pl. enidh
enedh
core
1) enedh (middle, center), pl. enidh, 2) nest (heart, center), pl. nist
enedh
core
(middle, center), pl. enidh
nest
center
(heart, core), pl. nist
nest
core
(heart, center), pl. nist
@@@ Tolkien vacillated between enedh (< √ENED) and ened (perhaps < √ENET) in his later writings. In HSD/ened, it is suggested that ened is the likely “final” form based on Enedwaith as it appears in The Lord of the Rings and as discussed on Let/224. I prefer enedh for better compatibility with its Quenya cognate endë as in Q. enderi “middle-days” (LotR/1108, endë + ré “day”). If the Sindarin form were ened < √ENET, the corresponding Quenya form would instead be entë. Furthermore, in a general discussion of the uses of dh on VT42/20, Tolkien states that “Enedhwaith is misspelt”, possibly meaning that the normal spelling (Enedwaith) is not strictly correct.