The proper form of Fëanor if it were a true Sindarin name (MR/217, PM/343). This name is a combination of fae “spirit” and the suffixal form -nor of naur “fire”.
Sindarin
Faenor
noun. Faenor
faenor
masculine name. Spirit of Fire
Elements
Word Gloss fae “incarnate spirit, incarnate spirit, *soul” naur “fire, fire, [N.] flame”
fëanor
masculine name. Spirit of Fire
Greatest of the Noldor and crafter of the Silmarils (LotR/657). His Sindarin name is a partial adaptation of his mother-name Q. Fëanáro “Spirit of Fire”, as opposed to a pure Sindarin translation, which would have been Faenor (MR/217, PM/343). As such, it is a combination of Q. fëa “spirit” and the suffixal form -nor of S. naur “fire”.
Conceptual Development: The earliest mention of this name is in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, where ᴱQ. Feanor is explicitly marked Qenya, with a cognate G. Fionor (< Fionaur) “Goblet Smith” in Gnomish (GL/35). The language of the name Feanor in earliest Lost Tales is not specified, but it is probable that Tolkien re-imagined the name as Gnomish at an early stage, since both Feanor and his father Bruithwir were of the Noldoli (LT1/128, 145).
In the Silmarillion drafts and The Etymologies from the 1930s, the name N. Feanor is explicitly marked as Noldorin, with a Qenya equivalent ᴹQ. Feanáro, both developed from primitive ᴹ✶Phayanāro “Radiant Sun” (Ety/PHAY). However, the phonetic developments leading from ᴹ✶Phaya- to N. Fea- are obscure, and the combination [ea] does not occur in any other Noldorin word. This is likely the reason Tolkien developed the mix-language derivation discussed above, which appears in notes associated with the Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s.
Cognates
- Q. Fëanáro “Spirit of Fire” ✧ MR/257; MRI/Fëanor; PE17/039; PE17/118; PM/343; PMI/Fëanor; SA/nár; SI/Fëanor
Derivations
Elements
Word Gloss fëa “(indwelling or incarnate) spirit, soul” naur “fire, fire, [N.] flame” Variations
- Feänor ✧ PE17/118
spirit of fire (pure S of half S - half Q Fëanor); faer (“spirit”) + naur (“fire”) S form of Q Fëanáro.