gwanwen

adjective. departed, departed, *gone, lost [to time], past

A word for “departed” in the Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay from 1959-60 (WJ/378), clearly derived from the root √WĀ “away”. It might be related to the verb gwae- from Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) of 1959 (PE17/148). That verb had an irregular passive participle gwawn or gwanu. The word gwanwen may be a modification of (archaic?) gwanu from DLN to more strongly resemble other passive participles like govannen (LotR/209) or onnen (WJ/387). Alternately, it could be a simple adjective, the Sindarin equivalent of Q. vanwa.

Neo-Sindarin: I would assume that, like its Quenya equivalent, gwanwen has the added connotation of “✱gone, lost [to time], past” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. haim or haithin “gone, departed, lost”, the latter based on the verb G. haitha- “hie, go, fare, walk” (GL/47).

gwanwen

proper name. Departed

A term the Sindar used for the Elves who left Beleriand for Aman, derived from the same root as Q. vanwa: √WĀ/AWA (WJ/366, 378). Another variation was Gwanwel (WJ/378), perhaps incorporating †Ell “Elf”.

Conceptual Development: Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 had a similar form Gwenedhel, with deleted variants {gwenieðel} and {gweineðel} ultimately revised to Caleðel “✱Light Elf” (PE17/140).

gwanwen

departed

1) (past participle) gwanwen (lenited wanwen; pl. gwenwin), also as noun: a ”departed” one, one of the Elves of Aman: Gwanwen (i **Wanwen), pl. Gwenwin (in Gwenwin) (WJ:378), 2) gwann (dead), lenited wann; pl. gwain**;

gwanwen

departed

(lenited ’wanwen; pl. gwenwin), also as noun: a ”departed” one, one of the Elves of Aman: Gwanwen (i ’Wanwen), pl. Gwenwin (in Gwenwin) (WJ:378)

gwanwen

noun. Elves that left Beleriand for Aman (lit. "the departed")

pl. gwenwin; cf. Q vanwa >> gwanwel

gwanwel

elf of aman

(”departed” Elf), pl. gwenwil (in gwenwil), coll. pl. gwanwellath. (WJ:378) Also gwanwen; see

gwann

departed

(dead), lenited ’wann; pl. gwain

gwae-

verb. to go, depart, to go [away], 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 past inflections 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.

alph

noun. swan

alph

noun. swan

n. Zoo. swan.

alph

noun. swan

The Sindarin noun for “swan” derived from primitive ✶alkwā (NM/378; UT/265; Ety/ÁLAK), where first the [[at|ancient [kw] became [p]]] and then the [[os|[lp] became [lf] (spelled lph)]].

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, this word appeared as {alcwi >>} alfa (GL/18), which is perhaps the moment that Tolkien decided that labialized velars became labials in the Sindarin branch of Elvish (though in Gnomish this sound change applied only medially). In Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying this document, the word became alf (PE13/109), and Tolkien stuck with this form thereafter, though eventually revising the spelling to alph once he decide that final [f] was spelled ph. In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. alf “swan” appeared under the root ᴹ√ALAK “rushing” (Ety/ÁLAK).

edhel

noun. Elf

eledh

noun. Elf

elen

noun. Elf

ell

noun. Elf

penedh

noun. Elf

alph

swan

alph (pl. eilph)

alph

swan

(pl. eilph)

avar

non-eldarin elf

pl. Evair, also called

banath

noun. beauty

beinas

noun. beauty

calben

elf of the great journey

(i galben, o chalben), pl. celbin (i chelbin).

dúnedhel

elf of beleriand

(i Núnedhel), pl. *Dúnedhil*** (i Ndúnedhil*). (WJ:378, 386)*

edhel

elf

(pl. edhil). Coll. pl. Edhelrim (or Edhellim) (UT:318). Also †eledh, pl. elidh, coll. pl. eledhrim (Letters:281), also elen, pl. elin, also with coll. pl. eledhrim (elen + rim with the regular change nr > dhr). (WJ:363, 377-78; the shorter coll. pl. Eldrim > *Elrim*** may also occur). But since elin** also means "stars", other terms for "Elf" may be preferred.

edhelharn

elf-stone

(pl. edhelhern) (SD:128-31).

elleth

elf-woman

(pl. ellith) (WJ:363-64, 377)

ellon

elf-man

(pl. ellyn)

elvellon

elf-friend

(pl. elvellyn, coll. pl. elvellonnath (WJ:412);

laegel

green-elf

pl. laegil; coll. pl. laegrim or laegeldrim (WJ:385). These forms from a late source would seem to supersede the ”N” forms listed in LR:368 s.v. LÁYAK: *Lhoebenidh* or *Lhoebelidh*. The Green-elves of Beleriand were also called Lindel (pl. Lindil), also Lindedhel (pl. Lindedhil)  *(WJ:385)*.

lefn

elf left behind

pl. lifn.

miniel

first elf

(i Viniel), pl. Mínil (i Mínil), coll. pl. Miniellath. (WJ:383)

mornedhel

dark elf

(i Vornedhel), pl. Mornedhil (i Mornedhil). Conceivably the entire word could be umlauted in the pl.: ?Mernedhil. **(WJ:409) Another term for ”Dark Elf” is Dúredhel (i Dhúredhel), pl. Dúredhil (i Núredhil**).

mân

departed spirit

(i vân, construct man), pl. main (i main)

peredhel

half-elf

(pl. peredhil) (PM:256, 348).

send

grey-elf

(i hend, o send, construct sen) (probably a term only used by the Noldor, borrowed from Quenya Sinda), pl. sind (i sind), coll. pl. Sendrim (the only attested form).

gwann

adjective. departed, dead

alf

noun. swan

alf

noun. swan

penedh

noun. Elf

penn

noun. Elf

alkwā

noun. swan

alpa

noun. swan

ella

noun/adjective. Elf

ello

noun. Elf

alqua

noun. swan

swan

alqua

swan

alqua noun "swan" _(ÁLAK [there spelt _alqa, as in LT1:249/LT2:335], SA:alqua, UT:265, VT42:7). The alternative form alquë ("q") mentioned in early material (LT1:249) may or may not be valid in LotR-style Quenya.

alqua

noun. swan

The Quenya noun for “swan” derived from primitive ✶alkwā (NM/378; PE18/100; UT/265; Ety/ÁLAK).

Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. alqa dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it was a derivative of the early root ᴱ√ḶKḶ (QL/30), though it had a variant form alqe in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/18). Other than this one exception, Tolkien stuck with alqua throughout his life. In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. alqa “swan” appeared under the root ᴹ√ALAK “rushing” (Ety/ÁLAK).

vanessë

beauty

vanessë noun "beauty" (LT1:272, PE17:56). Also vanië.

vanessë

noun. beauty

vanië

beauty

vanië noun "beauty" (PE17:56), apparently formed from vanya #1. Synonym vanessë.

vanië

noun. beauty

ealc

noun. swan

Primitive form given as alk-wâ, derived from a stem ÁLAK "rushing" (LR:348); alk-wâ would seem to be an adjectival formation (ending -wâ), so the primitive word probably had the same meaning as the stem: "rushing", later used as a noun "rushing (one)" and applied to an animal. According to Tolkien's later conception, kw should probably have come out as p rather than c in Nandorin; see cwenda.

Primitive a becoming ea is a strange shift with no direct parallels even where it might have been expected, but compare eo from i in meord (and from e in beorn), as well as ie from a in sciella. Perhaps we are to understand that the liquids l, r trigger such changes in a preceeding vowel, but then we might expect for instance *ealm instead of alm as the word for "elm-tree".