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).
Sindarin
fennas
noun. doorway, gateway
fennas
doorway
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
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
annon
noun. great door or gate
fennas
gateway
fennas (door), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath
fennas
gateway
(door), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath
fend
door
(threshold), construct fen, pl. find, coll. pl. fennath, 2) fennas (gateway), pl. fennais, coll. pl. fennassath, 3) annon (great gate), pl. ennyn
_ n. doorway. fennas nogothrim lasto beth lammen _'doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the words of my tongue'. >> fen