fen

noun. door, threshold

fen

door

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

fen(n)

noun. door, door; [N.] threshold

A word for “door” in the name Fen Hollen “Closed Door” (LotR/826; RC/550). In notes from December 1959 (D59), Tolkien based it on the root √PHEN and gave its Quenya equivalent as fenna, indicating a primitive form of ✱phennā (PE17/181). If so, its ordinary form should be fenn, and this was indeed the form in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (WR/341). Perhaps fen is a reduced pseudo-prefixal form.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. fenn “threshold” derived from ON. phenda under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN).

Neo-Sindarin: I don’t think the senses “door” and “threshold” are likely to coexist, so for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would limit fenn to “door” and would use ᴺS. fend < ✱phenda for “threshold”, following the principle that nd remained “at the end of fully accented monosyllables” in Sindarin (LotR/1115).

Cognates

• Q. fendë “door” ✧ PE17/045; PE17/181

Derivations

• √PHEN “door” ✧ PE17/181

Element in

• S. Fen Hollen “Closed Door, Shut Door” ✧ PE17/045; PE17/098; RC/550
• S. fennas “great door, doorway, gateway” ✧ PE17/045

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√PHEN > fen	[pʰenna] > [ɸenna] > [fenna] > [fenn]	✧ PE17/181

Variations

• fen ✧ PE17/045; PE17/098; PE17/181
• Fen ✧ RC/550

(a)moth

noun. fen, marsh

both

noun. fen, marsh, fen, marsh; [N.] puddle, small pool

The word N. both first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “puddle, small pool” as a derivative of the root ᴹ√MBOTH (Ety/MBOTH). It reappeared in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 as a derivative of √MOT “fen, marsh”, apparently of the same meaning, along with variants moth and amoth. For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use the form both and retain the 1957 and 1930s senses as derivations of slightly different roots.

Cognates

• Q. motto “fen, marsh, fen, marsh; [ᴹQ.] blot” ✧ PE17/165

Derivations

• √MOT “fen, marsh” ✧ PE17/165

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MOT > mbotto > both	[mbotto] > [mbottʰo] > [mboθθo] > [boθθo] > [boθθ] > [boθ]	✧ PE17/165

Variations

• moth ✧ PE17/165
• amoth ✧ PE17/165

duinen

noun. flood, high tide

lisg

noun. reed, reed, [G.] sedge

A word appearing as an element in the name Lisgardh “Land of Reeds” (UT/34).

Conceptual Development: An earlier version of this name was G. Arlisgion or Garlisgion “Place of Reeds” (LT2/153; GL/67), which contained G. lisg or lisc “reed, sedge” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/54). This became ᴱN. lhesg “sedge” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/148).

Cognates

• ᴹQ. liske “reed, reed, [ᴱQ.] sedge”

Derivations

• √LISKI “?reed”

Element in

• S. Lisgardh “Land of Reeds” ✧ UT/034

(h)law

noun. flood

annon

noun. great door or gate

hlô

noun. flood

n. flood.

lô

flood

n. flood.

fend

door

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

lisc

reed

lisc, no distinct pl. form.

lisc

reed

no distinct pl. form.****