The normal Sindarin word for “wind”, usually appearing as gwae but sometimes as gwaew, most frequently derived from √WAY “blow” but also from a bewildering variety of other roots (NM/237; PE17/33-34, 189); see the entry for √WĀ for further discussion.
Conceptual Development: The earliest form of this word was G. gwâ “wind” from both Gnomish Grammar and Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GG/14; GL/43). The form ᴱN. gwá “wind” reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s (MC/217), but in the Nebrachar poem from circa 1930 the form was gwaew “wind” (MC/217). It was N. gwaew “wind” in The Etymologies of the 1930s from the root ᴹ√WAIWA (Ety/WĀ), and appeared a number of times in later writings as both gwae and (more rarely) gwaew, as noted above.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I prefer using only gwae for “wind”, reserving gwaew for “storm”.
An element in the word gwahae, itself an element in Gwahaedir which was the Sindarin name of the palantír from drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices (PM/186 note #15). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the word N. gwahae was the equivalent of ᴹQ. (a)vahāya under the root ᴹ√KHAYA “far, distant, remote” (EtyAC/KHAYA), so likely meaning “✱far away”. Therefore, the prefix gwa- probably means “away” and is based on the root √AWA.
Note, however, that in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, Tolkien said:
> Sindarin. The only normal derivative [of AWA] is the preposition o, the usual word for “from, of”. None of the forms of the element ✱awa [“away”] are found as a prefix in S, probably because they became like or the same as the products of ✱wō, ✱wo [S. go-, gwa- “together”] (WJ/366).
Neo-Sindarin: Despite Tolkien’s later statement that √AWA was not used a prefix in Sindarin, I think it is worth retaining gwa- “away”, as we have no better alternatives. Of the two variants of the prefix go-/gwa- “together”, go- is much more common and gwa- appears only in a few older forms like gwanon “twin”, usually of obscured meaning. I think that leaves enough semantic space for the prefix gwa- “away”. I would also use ᴺS. gwa “away” as an adverb in Neo-Sindarin. I rationalize these choices as being derived from inverted WA rather than AWA, and thus not technically in conflict with Tolkien’s notes in Quendi and Eldar; compare gwanwen “departed” < WA also appearing in that essay (WJ/378).