A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “sister, associate”, the female equivalent of N. gwador “(sworn) brother, associate”, a combination of prefix N. gwa- “together” with the root ᴹ√THEL “sister” (Ety/THEL). It is used for metaphorical “sisters” by oath or association, and not by blood.
Noldorin
gwath
noun. stain
gwath
noun. shade
gwath
noun. shade, shadow, dim light
gwath
noun. stain
gwathfuin-daidelos
place name. Deadly Nightshade
gwathlo
place name. Greyflood
gwatha-
verb. to soil, stain
gwathel
noun. [sworn] sister, associate [f.]
gwatha-
verb. to soil, stain
gwathel
noun. sister, associate
heltha-
verb. to strip, to strip, *flay, peel skin; *to despoil, make bare
A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “strip” derived from primitive ᴹ✶skelta- under the root ᴹ√SKEL (Ety/SKEL; EtyAC/SKEL). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road Christopher Tolkien gave the form as helta (LR/386), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to heltha in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/14). According to Hostetter and Wynne the original form was haltha- “strip” from ᴹ√SKAL until Tolkien decide this A-root meant “screen, hide” instead.
Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s earlier writings he had a number of other words of similar meanings. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. daf- “strip, flay, peel skin” and G. dautha- or dauthra- “strip” (GL/29). It also had G. {falta- >>} faltha- “strip, despoil, rob, make bare” based on the early root ᴱ√fal- (GL/33), and G. pasta- or padhra- “skin, peel, flay”, probably based on the early root ᴱ√PARA [PAÐA?] (GL/63; QL/72). The Gnomish Lexicon Strips had {dautha- >>} dawtho “to flay” (PE13/112), while Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. gwath “to strip” (PE13/146).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would extend the use of heltha- to cover all of these earlier meanings: “to strip, ✱flay, peel skin”, and by extension “✱to despoil, make bare”.
thêl
noun. sister
A word for “sister” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√THEL or THELES of the same meaning, with an irregular plural thelei (Ety/THEL). It had a more elaborate form muinthel, the equivalent of muindor “(dear) brother”, with an initial element muin “dear”.
Neo-Quenya: In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien introduced a new word nethel for “sister” from the root √NETH (VT47/14). However, I think thêl and related words might be retained to mean a “metaphorical sister”, a close female associate who may or may not be related by blood, as with such words as gwathel “[sworn] sister, associate”. In this paradigm, I would assume muinthel still refers to a sister by blood, with an added connotation of strong affection. I think it’s best to assume the irregular Noldorin plural pattern was reformed to the normal Sindarin plural thîl.
math-fuin-delos
place name. Deadly Nightshade
gwass
noun. stain
cef
noun. soil
cef
noun. soil
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “soil” derived from the root ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth” (Ety/KEM). It had a rather unusual plural form ceif which shows i-intrusion but not the usual i-raising of e to i; under ordinary phonetic developments the expected plural would be ✱cif. I can think of no good reason for this abnormal plural, but it would be ^caif if adapted to Sindarin. It is mostly moot since this word is very unlikely to be used in the plural.
dae
noun. shadow
daew
noun. shadow
deldúwath
place name. Deadly Nightshade
dolt
adjective. obscure
gwaew
noun. wind
gwaew
noun. wind
gwass
noun. stain
hmael
noun/adjective. stain
hmael
noun/adjective. stained
hmaw
noun. soil, stain
lhum
noun. shade
lhum
noun. shade
A word appearing as N. lhum “shade” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√LUM, most notably an element in the name N. Hithlum (Ety/LUM). It was the cognate of ᴹQ. lumbe, and thus derived from primitive ✱lumbē, which explains why the final m survived as a reduction of mb.
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was G. lôm {“pool, sl...” >>} “gloom, shade” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, based on primitive ᴱ✶lou̯me (GL/54) and probably derived from the early root ᴱ√LOMO as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Hisilómë). In this early document, G. lum or glum was “a cloud” (GL/55), likely a derivative of ᴱ√LUVU for “✱dark weather” as also suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Luvier). In Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱN. {lom >>} lhom “shadow” (PE13/149). This became N. lhum “shade” in The Etymologies, as noted above.
Neo-Sindarin: In later writings, Hithlum was designated North Sindarin and its final element was based on a loan from Q. lómë “dusk”, with the m surviving only because it was from the North dialect (PE17/133; WJ/400). However, the root √LUM “shadow, darkness” also survived in later writings (PE17/168), so I think N. lhum “shade” can be salvaged, though if adapted to Neo-Sindarin it would need to become ᴺS. lum as suggested in HSD (HSD). Given the later use of Q. lumbo for “(dark) cloud”, I think the Gnomish sense G. lum “[dark] cloud” can be salvaged as well.
mael
noun/adjective. stain
mael
noun/adjective. stained
maw
noun. soil, stain
muinthel
noun. sister
muinthel
noun. sister
thêl
noun. sister
An earlier name for S. Deldúwath appearing in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, glossed “Deadly Nightshade” (LR/133) or “Night of Dread’s Shadow” (LR/406). It is a combination of gwath “shade”, fuin “night” and Daedhelos “Shadow of Fear”.