hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.
Quenya
híni ilúvataro
Children of Ilúvatar
Variations
- Híni Ilúvatáro ✧ PE21/83
Ilúvatar
all-father
hína
child
hína
noun. child
A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.
Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. ar mi cemen rainë i hínin “and on earth peace, good will toward men” ✧ VT44/35; VT44/35; VT44/35
- Q. Eruhin “Child of Eru (God)” ✧ SA/híni
- Q. Híni Ilúvataro “Children of Ilúvatar” ✧ PE21/83; SI/Children of Ilúvatar
- Q. Melkorohíni “Children of Melkor”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √KHIN > hīn(i) [kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni] ✧ PE17/157 ✶khīnā/khinā > hína [kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna] ✧ WJ/403 Variations
- hina ✧ WJ/403
onna
noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature
A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).
Derivations
- √NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170
Element in
- Q. Aulëonnar “Children of Aulë” ✧ PM/391
- ᴺQ. heconna “child born out of wedlock, bastard”
- Q. nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya “*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
- Q. nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya “*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
- Q. Onnalúmë “Time of the Children”
- Q. Onnarië “Time of Children”
- Q. onya “my child”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ON/NO > onwe [onwe] ✧ PE17/170 √ONO/NŌ > onna [onna] ✧ PE17/170 Variations
- onwe ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170; PE17/170
onwë
child
onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)
onwë
noun. child
selda
child
selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)
seldo
child
seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)
seldë
child
seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.
sén
noun. child
Element in
- Q. Erusēn “Children of God” ✧ MR/423
- Q. Melkorsēni “Children of Melkor”
- Q. senya “*my child”
Ilúvatar masc. name "All-father", God (SD:401, FS, IL; Ilúv-atar, ATA, Iluvatar with a short u, SD:346). Often in combination with the divine name as Eru Ilúvatar, "Eru Allfather", cf. MR:112. "Qenya" genitive Ilúvatáren "of Ilúvatar" in Fíriel's Song, LR:47 and SD:246, the genitive ending is -en instead of -o as in LotR-style Quenya. Cf. the later genitive Ilúvataro in the phrase Híni Ilúvataro (see "Children of Ilúvatar" in the Silmarillion Index)