(pl. nestaid if there is a pl.) Adj.
Sindarin
athae
noun/adjective. *healing herb, healing
Cognates
- Q. asëa “healing herb, athelas” ✧ PE17/049; PE17/148
Derivations
- ✶aþayā “beneficial‽” ✧ PE17/049
- √THĀ/ATHA “ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent, ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent; [ᴹ√] forward” ✧ PE17/049; PE22/165
- √THĀ/ATHA “ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent, ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent; [ᴹ√] forward” ✧ PE17/148
Element in
- S. athelas “kingsfoil, a healing herb” ✧ PE17/049; PE17/148
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶aþayā > athae [atʰajā] > [atʰaja] > [aθaja] > [aθaia] > [aθai] > [aθae] ✧ PE17/049 Variations
- athe ✧ PE17/049
nestad
healing
nestad
healing
nestad (pl. nestaid if there is a pl.) Adj.
nestadren
healing
pl. nestedrin
nesta
heal
#nesta- (i nesta, in nestar), only attested as a derived noun (gerund):
nesta
heal
(i nesta, in nestar), only attested as a derived noun (gerund):
A word appearing as an element in athelas “kingsfoil”, derived from primitive ✶aþayā based on the root √ATH “ease, comfort, heal” (PE17/49, 148). In the context of the compound athelas Tolkien represented it as athe, which is probably an example of how ae sometimes became e in polysyllables. The word athae may mean something like “✱healing herb“ or “✱healing”, and may be a noun or adjective or both. In notes from 1969 Tolkien said the Sindarin word was borrowed from Quenya, even though the related herbs were native to Middle-earth, since they was first discovered by the Noldor (PE22/166). It is unclear how this aligns with Aragorn’s statement that athelas was “a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth” (LotR/198); perhaps the herb was discovered in Beleriand, then given to the Men of Númenor who then spread it to the rest of Middle-earth.