gwanu

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

gwanu

verb. pp

_ v. pp. _departed. >> gwawn. This gloss was rejected.

gwawn

verb. pp

_ v. pp. _departed. >> gwanu. This gloss was rejected.

gwanunig

noun. twin

gwanunig

noun. a twin (one of a pair of twins)

gwanûn

noun. a pair of twins

gwanûr

noun. pair of twins

n. pair of twins.

gwanu

death

(i ’wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract):

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying)

gwanuren

adjective. of same kindred, akin

A neologism coined by Paul Strack in 2018 specifically for Eldamo, an adjectival form of N. gwanur “kinsman, kinswoman”, serving as a replacement for G. gonothri(n) and used of more distant relatives.

gwanunig

twin

gwanunig (i **wanunig**), a singular formed from:

gwanur

pair of twins

(in gwanur), also gwanûn (in gwanûn) (WJ:367)

gwanur

kinsman, kinswoman

gwanur (i **wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr**). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanur

kinswoman)

gwanur (i **wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr**). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanur

kinsman)

gwanur (i **wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr**). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanunig

twin

(i ’wanunig), a singular formed from:

gwanur

kinsman

(i ’wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanur

kinsman, kinswoman

(i ’wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanur

kinswoman

(i ’wanur) (brother), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

gwanûn

pair of twins

(in gwanûn) (WJ:367). Also gwanur (in gwanur) (LotR Appendix A). Note: a homophone of gwanur means ”brother; kinsman or kinswoman”

gwanûn

pair of twins

1) gwanûn (in gwanûn) (WJ:367). Also gwanur (in gwanur) (LotR Appendix A). Note: a homophone of gwanur means ”brother; kinsman or kinswoman” 2) gwanur (in gwanur), also gwanûn (in gwanûn) (WJ:367), 3) gwenyn (PM:353, 365)

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.

gurth

noun. death

The usual Sindarin word for “death”, derived from the root √ÑGUR of similar meaning (UT/39; Ety/ÑGUR).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/43), anchored by well established names like Gurthang or Gurtholf(in), the name of Túrin’s sword. Tolkien experimented with various alternate forms over the years, such as G. urthu (GG/14), G. gurthu (GL/43), ᴱN. gurdh (PE13/146) and N. guruth (Ety/ÑGUR), but kept coming back to gurth as the basic form.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word for death in general and especially violent death, as opposed to the more euphemistic [N.] gwanath or gwanu “death”, more literally “departure”.

guru

noun. death, death (abstract)

A Sindarin word for “death” derived from primitive ✶ñgurū (PE17/87), unusual in that its primitive ancient vowel u did not vanish. In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had variant forms [N.] gûr and gurw “death” marked with a “?”, both derived from Old Noldorin nguru and indicating some uncertainty on the exact phonetic developments (EtyAC/ÑGUR). Elsewhere in The Etymologies Tolkien said that [N.] guru was “Death as state or abstract”, as opposed to [N.] gwanw or gwanath for the “act of dying” (Ety/GWAN).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume guru was for death as an abstraction or principle, and for the death of individuals I would use either gurth or gwanu/gwanath; see those entries for discussion.

gwanath

death

1) (act of dying) gwanath (i **wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith), 2) (act of dying, especially the ”death” of Elves by fading or weariness) gwanu (i **wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract): 3) gûr (i ngûr = i ñûr, o n**gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir), 4) gurth (i ngurth = i ñurth, o n**gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth), 5) guruth (i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n**guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth** = i ñgyryth)

honeg

little brother

(i choneg, o choneg), pl. honig (i chonig), also used as a play-name for the middle finger. (VT47:6, 16-17) 2) In older sources Tolkien listed different ”Noldorin” words for ”brother”: muindor (i vuindor), analogical pl. muindyr (i muindyr). Archaic/poetic †tôr (i** dôr, o thôr, construct tor), pl. teryn (i** theryn), coll. pl. toronath. In ”Noldorin”, the pl. was terein. 3) “Brother” in extended sense of “relative”: gwanur (i ’wanur) (kinsman, also kinswoman), pl. gwenyr (in gwenyr). Note: a homophone of the sg. means ”pair of twins”.

Nûrnen

place name. Death

_ topon. _Death, dead water. >> guru

adaneth

noun. (mortal) woman

arwen

noun. noble woman

bess

noun. (young) woman

bess

noun. wife

covannen

verb. pp

v. pp. of covad- met, art brought together.Late S. for covan(n)  in mae-govannen 'well meet'.

gurth

noun. death

guru

noun. death

_ n. _death. guru << gûru.

gwenyn

noun. twins

hanar

noun. brother

hanar

noun. brother

A word for “brother” coined by Tolkien in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, based on the root √KHAN of the same meaning and replacing the archaic form of the word †hawn (VT47/14). Remnants of this archaic form can be seem in the diminutive/affectionate form honeg “[little] brother” (VT48/6); Tolkien considered and apparently rejected alternates of the diminutive: honig and hanig (VT47/14; VT48/17).

Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. tôr “brother” from the root ᴹ√TOR (Ety/TOR), and the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. hethos “brother” from the early root ᴱ√HESE [HEÞE] (GL/48-49; QL/40). See those entries for discussion.

hawn

noun. brother

hawn

noun. brother

honeg

noun. "litte brother"

Given as honig in VT/47:14, but see VT/48:17 n. 13 for discussion

honeg

noun. middle finger (Elvish play-name used by and taught to children)

Given as honig in VT/47:14, but see VT/48:17 n. 13 for discussion

adaneth

mortal woman

(pl. edenith), also firieth (pl. firith).

bess

woman

bess (i vess, construct bes) (wife), pl. biss (i miss). The word etymologically means ”wife”, but the meaning was generalized.

bess

woman

(i vess, construct bes) (wife), pl. biss (i miss). The word etymologically means ”wife”, but the meaning was generalized.

dess

young woman

(i ness, o ndess, constuct des), pl. diss (i ndiss).

gurth

death

(i ngurth = i ñurth, o n’gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth)

guruth

death

(i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n’guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth = i ñgyryth)

gwador

sworn brother

(i ’wador), pl. gwedyr (in gwedyr). In ”N”, the pl. was gwedeir (LR:394 s.v. TOR)

gwaith

troop of able-bodied men

(i ’waith) (manhood, manpower, host, regiment, people, region; wilderness), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gwaith).

gwanath

death

(i ’wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith)

gwenyn

pair of twins

(PM:353, 365)

gwenyn

pair of twins

gwenyn (PM:353, 365)

gûr

death

(i ngûr = i ñûr, o n’gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir)

hanar

brother

1) hanar (i chanar, o chanar), pl. henair (i chenair) (VT47:14). A more archaic term is *haun (spelt ”hawn” in source) (i chaun, o chaun), pl. hoen (i choen), coll. pl. honath.

hanar

brother

(i chanar, o chanar), pl. henair (i chenair) (VT47:14). A more archaic term is ✱haun (spelt ”hawn” in source) (i chaun, o chaun), pl. hoen (i choen), coll. pl. honath.