hísë (þ) (stem #hísi- because of the primitive form ¤khīthi, cf. hísilanya, Hísilómë) (1) noun "mist, fog" (KHIS/KHITH). According to VT45:22, hísë is also the name of Tengwa #11 in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, but Tolkien would later call #11 harma/aha instead.
Quenya
hísë
noun. mist, mist, [ᴹQ.] fog, [ᴱQ.] haze; dusk; bleared
Cognates
- S. hîth “mist”
Derivations
- √KHITH “mist, mist, [ᴹ√] fog”
Element in
hísë
mist, fog
hísë
dusk
hísë (2) noun "dusk" (LT1:255). A "Qenya" form possibly obsoleted by #1 above.
hísë
blinking
hísë (3) adj.? "blinking" (?) (MC:214) A "Qenya" form possibly obsoleted by #1 above.
hísen
of mist
hísen noun in pre-classical genitive? "of mist" (þ) (MC:221; this is "Qenya", but it connects with hísë #1.)
hísië
mist, mistiness
hísië (þ) noun "mist, mistiness" (Nam, SA:hîth, PE17:73), also hísë.
histë
dusk
histë noun "dusk" (LT1:255)
hísilanya
mist thread
hísilanya (þ noun "mist thread", warp (Sindarin hithlain). Cf. hísë. PE17:60
lómë
dusk, twilight
lómë noun "dusk, twilight", also "night"; according to SD:415, the stem is lómi- (contrast the "Qenya" genitive lómen rather than **lómin in VT45:28). According to PE17:152, lómë refers to night "when viewed favourably, as a rule, but it became the general rule" (cf. SD:414-415 regarding lōmi as an Adûnaic loan-word based on lómë, meaning "fair night, a night of stars" with "no connotations of gloom or fear"). In the battle-cry auta i lómë "the night is passing" (Silm. ch. 20), the "night" would however seem to refer metaphorically to the reign of Morgoth. As for the gloss, cf. Lómion masc. name "Child of Twilight [dusk]", the Quenya name Aredhel secretly gave to Maeglin _(SA). Otherwise lómë is usually defined as "night" (Letters:308, LR:41, SD:302 cf.414-15, SA:dú)_; the _Etymologies defines lómë as "Night [as phenomenon], night-time, shades of night, Dark" (DO3/DŌ, LUM, DOMO, VT45:28), or "night-light" (VT45:28, reading of _lómë uncertain). In early "Qenya" the gloss was "dusk, gloom, darkness" (LT1:255). Cf. lómelindëpl. lómelindi "nightingale" _(SA:dú, LR:41; SD:302, MR:172, DO3/DŌ, LIN2, TIN). _Derived adjective #lómëa "gloomy" in Lómëanor "Gloomyland"; see Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna...
nienaitë
bleared
nienaitë adj."bleared" (MC:214), *"tearfully"??? (see cildë) (MC:221; this is "Qenya")
usque
noun. dusk
dusk
usque
noun. dusk, twilight
A word for “mist” appearing as an element in several names. It is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writings, but ᴹQ. híse “mist, fog” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶khīthi, indicating a stem form of hísi- [†híþi-] (Ety/KHIS). Its continued appearance in words like Q. Hísilómë “Land of Mist” (S/118) and Q. hísilanya “mist thread” (PE17/60) indicates its ongoing validity.
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. hīse appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√HISI alongside a variant ᴱQ. histe, but there it was glossed “dusk” (QL/40). In drafts of the Oilima Markirya written circa 1930 it was glossed “haze” (PE16/62) or “mist” (PE16/75; MC/221), but in the final 1931 iteration of the poem it appeared only in the very-loosely translated phrase ᴱQ. úri nienaite híse “a bleared sun”, perhaps literally “✱sun [with a] tearful mist” (MC/214). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s it was “mist” (PE21/32) and in The Etymologies of the late 1930s “mist, fog” as noted above, so Tolkien seems to have stuck with the meaning “mist” thereafter.