_ n. doorway. fennas nogothrim lasto beth lammen _'doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the words of my tongue'. >> fen
Sindarin
fennas
noun. great door, doorway, gateway
Cognates
- ᴺQ. fendassë “doorway, gateway”
Element in
- S. fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen “doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the word of my tongue” ✧ LotR/0307; PE17/045; RGEO/67
Elements
Word Gloss fen(n) “door, door; [N.] threshold” -as “abstract noun” Variations
- Fennas ✧ LotR/0307; RGEO/67
fennas
doorway
fennas
noun. doorway, gateway
fennas
gateway
fennas (door), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath
fennas
gateway
(door), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath
fen
door
_ n. _door. Q. fenna. >> fennas
fend
door
(threshold), construct fen, pl. find, coll. pl. fennath, 2) fennas (gateway), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath, 3) annon (great gate), pl. ennyn
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
annon
noun. great door or gate
fen
noun. door, threshold
A word that Tolkien variously glossed as “great door”, “doorway”, and “gateway” (PE17/45; RGEO/67). It is an elaboration of fen(n) “door” (PE17/45). The word fennas appeared in the Moria Gate Spell: fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen “doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the word of my tongue” (LotR/0307; PE17/45).