fennas

noun. great door, doorway, gateway

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/307; PE17/45).

fennas

doorway

_ n. doorway. fennas nogothrim lasto beth lammen _'doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the words of my tongue'. >> fen

fennas

noun. doorway, gateway

fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen

doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the word of my tongue

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

fend

noun. door, door; [N.] threshold

A word appearing as fend “door” in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/136). In notes from December 1959 (D59), Tolkien gave it as fen “door” derived from the root √PHEN, with a Quenya equivalent as fenna indicating a primitive form of ✱phennā (PE17/181). In The Lord of the Rings proper, it was an element in the name Fen Hollen “Closed Door” (LotR/826; RC/550); perhaps fen is a reduced pseudo-prefixal form of fenn/fend.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. fenn “threshold” derived from ON. phenda under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN). In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s it appeared as fenn in Fenn Forn(en) and similar variants, all earlier names for Fen Hollen (WR/341).

Neo-Sindarin: I don’t think the senses “door” and “threshold” are likely to coexist, and for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would limit fend to “door”.

annon

noun. great door or gate

fen

noun. door, threshold

fen(n)

noun. door