gwae

noun. wind

The normal Sindarin word for “wind”, usually appearing as gwae but sometimes as gwaew, most frequently derived from √WAY “blow” but also 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”.

gwae

wind

_ n. _wind. Tolkien also notes "WAKH in wagme > gwaew, gwae" (PE17:34). Q. vea. >> gwaew

gwaeren

adjective. windy

A word appearing in the rejected name Côf Gwaeren Bel “Windy Bay of Bel” (VT42/15), an adjectival form of gwae “wind”. Despite this rejection, I think ᴺS. gwaeren “windy” is perfectly viable for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

Conceptual Development: A likely precursor is G. {gwavwed >> gwanwed >>} gwavwed “windy” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, an adjectival form of G. gwâ “wind” (GL/43).

gwae-

verb. to go, depart

This highly irregular verb appeared in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 as the Sindarin equivalent of Q. auta- “go (away), depart”, itself very irregular, both verbs derived from the invertible root √WĀ/AWA (PE17/148). The Sindarin verb has a present tense form gwaen “I go” and past forms 1st. sg. anwen “✱I went” and 3rd. sg. anu/awn “✱he/she went”, with these past forms apparently based on an ancient nasal-infixed strong past ✶anwē (from which the archaic Q. strong past †anwe “went” was derived). It has two more forms gwanu/gwawn. These seem to be the equivalent of Q. vanwa “lost” < ✶wanwā.

The present tense form gwaen “I go” is especially peculiar. Compare this to the more regular present tenses cewin “I taste” < kawin(e) (PE22/152) and galon “I grow” < galān(e) (PE17/131). I think the likeliest explanation is that gwaen is derived from an ancient aorist form wa-i-nĭ, with ai becoming ae as was usual of Sindarin’s phonetic developments. If so, the presents of this verb would be based on √WA and the pasts based on √AW.

A final twist is that in the note from DLN Tolkien mentions u-intrusion, a sound change parallel to the more common i-intrusion, whereby a final u moved before a preceding consonant. The forms awn and gwawn are thus the u-intruded results of anu and gwanu. This u-intrusion would not occur in forms with further suffixes, like anwen “I went”.

A probably related form gwanwen “departed” appears in the Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay from 1959-60 (WJ/378). This could be an independent adjective, but could also be a passive participle of gwae- (or some variant of it), possibly a strengthened or elaborated form of gwanu/gwawn. Note that Q&E also states that:

> The only normal derivative [of AWA] is the preposition o, the usual word for ‘from, of’. None of the forms of the element ✱awa are found as a prefix in S, probably because they became like or the same as the products of ✱wō, ✱wo (WJ/366).

Some people believe this indicates that Tolkien rejected other derivatives like gwae-, but since Q&E also contains gwanwen, I think this statement only applies to direct derivatives of AWA, as opposed to gwae- and gwanwen which are derived from the inverted root WĀ.

Neo-Sindarin: How to handle this verb in the context of Neo-Sindarin is unclear. Given the extreme irregularity of this verb, it is tempting to discard it. Unfortunately, we have no other attested Sindarin verbs for “to depart”. Furthermore, common verbs like “go” tend to be irregular in many languages (such as English as “go” vs. “went”), so it makes sense the same would be true of Sindarin. As such, I propose the following conjugation for this verb (hat tip to Gilruin for most of this paradigm; he suggested much better forms than my original ideas):

• Present tense ✱gwae “go” < primitive ✶gwa-ĭ, with inflections added to this form: gwaen “I go”, ✱gwael “you go”, etc.

• Past tense awn “went” < ✶anwē with u-intrusion. Inflected forms are based on non-intruded anw-: anwen “I went”, ✱anwel “you went”, etc.

• Past/passive participle gwanwen “departed”, an elaboration of the older (archaic?) perfective participle gwanu/gwawn.

• Future ✱gwatha “will go”, ✱gwathon “I will go”, < ✶wa-thā, wa-thā-nĭ.

• Gerund ✱gwaed (< ✶wa-itā) and active participle ✱gwaul (< ✶wa-ālā) “departing”.

• Imperative ✱gwaw “go!” < ✶wa-ā, as with baw “don’t!” < ✶bā (WJ/371-2).

Finally, this verb means “go” specifically in the sense “depart”, that is: “go away”. For “go (generally and in any direction)”, use the verb men-.

If you dislike this irregularity of gwae- or you believe that Tolkien’s note in Q&E (see above) indicates this verb was rejected along with (most) Sindarin derivatives of AWA, then the neologism haena- “to leave, depart” gives an alternative verb.

gwael

noun. ?wind

A word appearing only in the untranslated name Bar-in-Gwael (WJ/418), possibly the cognate of Q. vailë and thus related to gwae “wind”, which is the much better attested form and is thus preferable to use.

gwaew

noun. storm; blow

A Sindarin word in notes from around 1957, derived from primitive ✶wagmē, the equivalent of Q. vangwë “storm” (NM/237). It is not entirely clear whether Tolkien intended the Sindarin word to have the same meaning, as elsewhere gwaew was typically glossed “wind”. But in the same paragraph, gwae also appeared (likewise unglossed), which is the more usual Sindarin word for “wind”, so I think gwaew = “storm” is a reasonable assumption. The same form and derivation of gwaew < ✶wagme appeared in Quenya Notes also from 1957, but there its Quenya equivalent (also vangwe) was glossed “blow”.

gwaew

wind

_ n. _wind. Tolkien also notes "WAKH in wagme > gwaew, gwae" (PE17:34). >> gwae

gwaeron

noun. March, *Windy-one

gwaen

adjective. stained

gwael

noun. gull

gwaen

adjective. stained

gwaen

suffix. I go

('waen) _ v. pres. & pron. suff. _I go. >> anwen. This gloss was rejected.

gwaeren

adjective. windy

gwaeron

noun. march (month)

gwaeda

enfold

gwaeda- (VT46:21)

gwaedh

bond

1) (a ”bond” of loyalty) gwaedh (i **waedh) (troth, compact, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh**), 2) _(apparently referring to physical ”bonds”, cf.

gwaedh

bond

(i ’waedh)  (troth, compact, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh)

gwaedh

compact

(i ’waedh) (bond, troth, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh)

gwaedh

oath

1) gwaedh (i **waedh) (bond, troth, compact), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh). 2) gwest (i **west, in gwist)

gwaedh

oath

(i ’waedh) (bond, troth, compact), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh).

gwaedh

troth

gwaedh (i **waedh) (bond, compact, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh**)

gwaedh

troth

(i ’waedh) (bond, compact, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh)

gwael

gull

(i ’wael), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwael)

gwaen

stained

is gwaen (lenited waen; no distinct pl. form)

gwaeren

windy

(lenited ’waeren; pl. gwaerin)

gwaeren

windy

gwaeren (lenited waeren; pl. gwaerin)

gwaeren

windy

gwaeren (lenited waeren; pl. gwaerin)

gwaeron

march

Gwaeron (na **Waeron**)

gwaew

storm

1) gwaew (i **waew) (wind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaew**), 2)

gwaew

storm

(i ’waew) (wind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaew)

gwaew

wind

1) gwaew (i **waew) (storm), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaew), 2) sûl (i hûl), pl. suil (i suil**). Note: a homophone means ”goblet”.

gwaew

wind

(i ’waew) (storm), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaew)

gwaeren

adjective. windy

gwael

noun. sheath, case, cover; pod

gwaelphilin

noun. quiver, (lit.) case of arrows

gwaeda

enfold

(VT46:21)

gwaef

noun. wrap, binding

gwaen

stained

(lenited ’waen; no distinct pl. form)

gwaeron

march

(na ’Waeron)

gwaihir

masculine name. Windlord

Lord of the eagles, translated “Windlord” (LotR/261) or “Lord of the Storm” (LR/301). It is a combination of gwae “wind” and hîr “lord” (PE17/33). It appears that in this name, the older diphthong [ai] was preserved from the primitive ✶waiwa(y) > S. gwae.

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name first appeared as N. Gwaewar (LR/301), and so appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (TI/134), though in one place it appeared as Gwaiwar (TI/151). Tolkien eventually changed it to N. Gwaehir >> Gwaihir (TI/430), and it mostly kept this form thereafter, though it occasionally appeared as Gwaehir (MR/410), which would be more in keeping with the usual [[n|revision of [ai] to [ae]]].

sûl

noun. wind, [strong] wind, *gust

A noun for “wind” appearing in names like Amon Sûl, derived from the root √SŪ “blow, move with audible sound (of air)” (NM/237; PE17/124).

Conceptual Development: A precursor to this word is G. saul “great wind” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/67), derived from the early root ᴱ√SUHYU “air, breath, exhale, puff” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Súlimo; QL/86).

Neo-Sindarin: Given its connection to the sound of wind, I think sûl would be used mostly for strong or noisy wind, including (but not limited to) gusts of wind, as opposed to more ordinary (and less noisy) gwae “wind”. This notion is supported by its Gnomish precursor G. saul “great wind”.

gowest

compact

1) gowest (i **owest) (contract, treaty), pl. gewist (i ngewist = i ñewist). Archaic pl. göwist. 2) gwaedh (i **waedh) (bond, troth, oath), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaedh)

maew

gull

1) maew (i vaew), no distinct pl. except with article (i maew), coll. pl. maewrim; 2) gwael (i **wael), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwael), 3) mŷl (i vŷl, construct myl), no distinct pl. form except with article (i mŷl**).

maew

noun. gull

A noun for “gull” first appearing as N. maew in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√MIW “whine” (Ety/MIW). It appeared in later notes as an archaic genitive plural maewion in the phrase S. †glim maewion “(the) voices of gulls” (PE17/97). Its class plural mewrim seems to have appeared in S. Ras Mewrim “✱Cape of the Gulls”, an alternate name for S. Bar-in-Mŷl “Home of the Gulls” (WJ/190). If so, the vowel e would be the result of the sound change whereby ae sometimes became e in polysyllables.

mŷl

noun. gull

mŷl

noun. gull

A word for “gull” in the name S. Bar-in-Mŷl “Home of the Gulls” (WJ/379); its singular and plural forms would be the same. It might be derived from ✱miulē < ᴹ√MIW “whine”, the basis for other “gull” words, since iu became ȳ in Sindarin. I’d recommend using the better attested S. maew “gull” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

sûl

noun. wind

alagos

storm of wind

(pl. elegys, coll. pl. alagossath)

cuen

small gull

(i guen, o chuen) (petrel), pl. ?cuin (?i chuin) (VT45:24)

gowest

compact

(i ’owest) (contract, treaty), pl. gewist (i ngewist =  i ñewist). Archaic pl. göwist.

gwass

stain

(noun) 1) gwass (i **wass, construct gwas), pl. gwais (in gwais), also gwath (i **wath), pl. gwaith (in gwaith), 2) (noun) maw (i vaw) (soil), pl. moe (i moe). Note: a homophone is an archaic word for ”hand”. 3) mael (i vael), no distinct pl. form except with article (i mael). Also as adj.

gwass

stain

(i ’wass, construct gwas), pl. gwais (in gwais), also gwath (i ’wath), pl. gwaith (in gwaith)

gwatha

stain

(verb) gwatha- (i **watha, in gwathar**) (soil)

gwatha

stain

(i ’watha, in gwathar) (soil)

gwest

oath

(i ’west, in gwist)

gwêdh

chain

(i ’wêdh, construct gwedh), pl. gwîdh (in gwîdh), 3) (ditto) nûd (construct nud, pl. nuid). 4) (the ”bond” of friendship) gwend (i ’wend, construct gwen) (friendship), pl. gwind (in gwind), coll. pl. gwennath. Note: a homophone means ”maiden”.

m

gull

ŷl (i vŷl, construct myl), no distinct pl. form except with article (i mŷl).

mael

stain

(i vael), no distinct pl. form except with article (i mael). Also as adj.

mael

stained

(lenited vael; no distinct pl. form). Note: a homophone means ”lust”. Another adj.

mael

stained

mael (lenited vael; no distinct pl. form). Note: a homophone means ”lust”. Another adj.

maew

gull

(i vaew), no distinct pl. except with article (i maew), coll. pl. maewrim

maw

stain

(i vaw) (soil), pl. moe (i moe). Note: a homophone is an archaic word for ”hand”.

paen

small gull

(i baen, o phaen) (petrel), no distinct pl. form except with article (i phaen). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” poen, VT45:24.

sûl

wind

(i hûl), pl. suil (i suil). Note: a homophone means ”goblet”.