már

home, house, dwelling

már (mar-) (2) noun "home, house, dwelling" (also "house" in the sense of family as in Mardil, q.v.). See mar above for references. In Mar-nu-Falmar, Mardil, and as final element in Eldamar, Fanyamar, Valimar, Vinyamar..

farnë

dwelling

#farnë (2) noun "dwelling", in orofarnë (as translated in Letters:224, but in other notes of Tolkiens the word was interpreted "any growing thing or plant", PE17:83)

har-

verb. dwell, abide, reside permanently

marda

dwelling

marda noun "dwelling" (PE17:107)

mélamar

home

mélamar noun "home", Exilic Quenya word of emotional sense: place of ones birth or the familiar places from which one has been separated (PE17:109). Mélamarimma noun "Our Home", an expression used by Exilic Noldor for Aman.

bar

noun. dwelling, home

bar

noun. inhabited land

bar

noun. house, dwelling, home

bâr

noun. house, dwelling, home, house, dwelling, home; [N.] earth

The basic Sindarin word for “house, dwelling, home” derived from the root √MBAR “settle, dwell” (PE17/109; PE17/164). This Sindarin word (unlike its Quenya counterpart már) can also be used to refer to the “house” of a clan or family, as in Bar Bëora “House of Bëor” (WJ/230) and Narn e·mbar Hador “✱Tale of the House of Hador” (MR/373). It could also mean “-home (for a people)” in compound names for regions as in Eglamar “Home of the Eglain” and Brithombar (WJ/379; S/120), but it seems this use was archaic and in more recent names the trend was to use dôr “land” (PE17/164).

This word appears as both bâr with long â and bar with short a. As a general rule, it has a long â when used as an independent word, following the general Sindarin principle whereby short vowels (usually) lengthened in monosyllables. It has a short vowel when appearing in compounds or as a “pseudo-prefix” in names like Bar-en-Danwedh “House of Ransom” (S/203).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where (adverbial?) G. bar appeared as a variant of G. barthi or barai “at home, home” (GL/21). In the Gnomish Lexicon its noun form seems to be G. bara “home” (GL/21), but in the contemporaneous Gnomish Grammar it was bar “home” (GG/8). These Gnomish words were all derived from the early root ᴱ√MBARA “dwell, live” (QL/63).

In Gnomish Lexicon slips, Tolkien modified the word to G. bawr “house” derived from primitive ᴱ✶mbāră (PE13/116). In the Name-list to the Fall of Gondolin Tolkien had G. bar “dwelling” (PE15/21). In the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s it was ᴱN. bâr “house”, though a change in its mutated form {i·bhar >>} i·mâr indicates some vacillation on its primitive form (PE13/120 and note #2). In Early Noldorin word-lists of this period it was bar “house” (PE13/138).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was N. bár “home” written in the margin next to the root ᴹ√MBAR “dwell, inhabit” (EtyAC/MBAR), but it also meant “Earth” in the name N. Barthan “Earth-smith” (Ety/TAN). In later notes (date unknown) this name was S. Barthan “World-artificer” (LT1A/Talka Marda). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s it was †băr “home”, which became bār after vowels lengthened in monosyllables (PE22/36).

In notes from the 1960s, Tolkien described this word in some detail, first saying:

> In Sindarin bar [< ✱mbăr-] (pl. bair) was used for a single house or dwelling, especially of the larger and more permanent sort; barð [< ✱mbardā̆] was much as English “home”, the (proper) place for one (or a community) to dwell in (PE17/164).

Here it seems bar = “house, dwelling” but bardh = “home”. However, in a later iteration of these notes Tolkien said:

> There were thus tendencies both (a) for Noldorin terms for things peculiar to their culture to be translated into Sindarin forms or imitated ... Examples ... were (a) the use of Sindarin bâr (< ✱mbăr(a)) for “house” a settled built dwelling of a family, larger or smaller: in true Sindarin use it only denoted a small area in which some group had at last settled more or less permanently (PE17/164).

This was revised slightly to read:

> There was thus a tendency: (a) for Noldorin words and terms for things peculiar to their culture to be translated into Sindarin, or imitated ... Examples of these processes are: (a) the use of Sindarin bâr (< ✱mbăr(a)) for “house”: the permanent building serving as the home of a family, larger or smaller, though in genuine older Sindarin use this word referred to a (small) area, in which some group had at last settled, more or less permanently (PE17/164).

Both these later paragraph imply that the original sense of Sindarin bâr was something like “✱settlement (of a group or community)” but came to mean “house, dwelling” under the influence of Quenya már.

Of its uses in compounds Tolkien said:

> This was also in old compounds used (like Q -mar) for a region, but not in ordinary language ... Only in old names was -bar used like Q -mar for a region inhabited by a people. For this Sindarin used usually -dor (< ndor) “land” (PE17/165).

Cognates

• Q. már “home, dwelling, habitation, home, dwelling, habitation; [ᴹQ.] house; earth” ✧ PE17/164; SA/bar
• Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/164

Derivations

• ✶mbar(ă) “dwelling, habitation” ✧ PE17/109; PE17/109; PE17/163; PE17/164; SA/bar
  • √MBAR “settle, dwell; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision, settle; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision; dwell, [ᴹ√] inhabit, [ᴱ√] live”

Element in

• ᴺS. aemar “rookery, colony of birds”
• S. alae! ered en Echoriath, ered e·mbar nín “[?behold!] the mountains of Echoriath, the mountains of my home!” ✧ UT/040; UT/054
• S. aran Gondor ar Arnor ar Hîr i Mbair Annui “king of Gondor and Arnor and Lord of the Westlands” ✧ AotM/062; SD/129
• S. Baravorn “Hamfast”
• S. Bar Bëora “House of Bëor”
• S. bardor “home land, native land” ✧ PE17/164
• S. Bar-en-Danwedh “House of Ransom” ✧ S/203; SA/bar
• S. Bar-en-Nibin-noeg “House of the Petty Dwarves” ✧ UT/100
• S. Bar Erib “*House of the Lonely Ones”
• S. Bar-goll “Hollow Dwelling” ✧ WJ/414
• S. Bar-in-Mŷl “Home of the Gulls” ✧ WJ/379
• S. Bar-in-Gwael ✧ WJ/418
• S. Barthan “World-artificer”
• S. Brithombar “*Brithon Home” ✧ SA/bar
• S. Dimbar “*Sad Home” ✧ SA/bar
• S. Edelbar “*Elf-home”
• S. Eglamar “Home of the Eglain”
• S. Bar Haleth
• S. i mbair en Ndengin “the houses of the Slain” ✧ PE17/097
• S. milbar “dear home, beloved dwelling [place]” ✧ PE17/164
• S. Narn e·mbar Hador “*Tale of the House of Hador” ✧ MR/373
• S. Ogolmar
• S. Othramar “?Stranger Home”
• ᴺS. thorombar “eagle’s nest, eyrie”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mbar(ă) > bâr	[mbara] > [mbar] > [bar]	✧ PE17/109
✶mbar(ă) > bâr	[mbara] > [mbar] > [bar]	✧ PE17/109
✶mbar > bar	[mbara] > [mbar] > [bar]	✧ PE17/163
✶mbā̆r > bar	[mbara] > [mbar] > [bar]	✧ PE17/164
✶mbā̆r > bair	[mbarī] > [mbari] > [bari] > [beri] > [beir] > [bair]	✧ PE17/164
✶mbár > bar	[mbar] > [bar]	✧ SA/bar

Variations

• bar ✧ PE17/163 (bar); PE17/164; PE17/164; SA/bar
• Bar ✧ S/203; UT/100; WJ/379; WJ/414; WJ/418

bardh

noun. home

A word for “home” appearing in draft notes from the 1960s discussing the root √MBAR, where it was contrasted with bâr “house, dwelling”:

> In Sindarin bar [< ✱mbăr-] (pl. bair) was used for a single house or dwelling, especially of the larger and more permanent sort; barð [< ✱mbardā̆] was much as English “home”, the (proper) place for one (or a community) to dwell in (PE17/164).

It was also contrasted with milbar “dear home” which was used for the “emotional senses ‘home’ as the place of one’s birth, or desire, or one’s home returned to after journey or exile” (PE17/164). In later versions of these notes on √MBAR, Tolkien mentioned bâr and milbar but not bardh (PE17/109).

Neo-Sindarin: Given its absense from the final version of the √MBAR notes, it is possible Tolkien abandoned bardh “home”. However, I prefer to retain it for purposes of Neo-Sindarin for the ordinary sense of “home”, and reserve milbar for one’s “emotional home” or “✱true home” from which one is currently separated, as opposed to the home that you are living now = bardh. I would use bâr primarily in the sense “house, dwelling”.

Cognates

• Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/164

Derivations

• ✶mbarda ✧ PE17/164

Element in

• ᴺS. bardhon “inhabitant, native”
• ᴺS. bardhor “habitable”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mbardā̆ > barð	[mbarda] > [barda] > [barða] > [barð]	✧ PE17/164

Variations

• barð ✧ PE17/164

bardh

home

{ð}_ n. _home, the (proper) place for one (or a community) to dwell in.

bâr

dwelling

bâr (house, home, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds

bâr

dwelling

(house, home, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds

bâr

home

bâr (dwelling, house, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds.

bâr

home

(dwelling, house, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds.

dortha

dwell

dortha- (i northa, i ndorthar) (stay)

dortha

dwell

(i northa, i ndorthar) (stay)

dôr

dwelling place

(i nôr, construct dor) (land, region), pl. dŷr (i ndŷr) (WJ:413).

gobel

enclosed dwelling

(i ’obel) (walled house or village, ”town”), pl. gebil (i ngebil = i ñebil). Archaic pl. göbil.

grôd

underground dwelling

(i ’rôd, construct grod) (cave, delving, excavation), pl. grŷd (in grŷd) (WJ:414)

rhûd

dwelling underground

(construct rhud, with article ?i thrûd or ?i rûd – *the lenition product of rh- is uncertain) (artificial cave, rockhewn hall, mine), pl. rhuid (?idh ruid) (PM:365)*.

ṃbar

noun. ṃbar

Derivations

• √MBAR “settle, dwell; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision, settle; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision; dwell, [ᴹ√] inhabit, [ᴱ√] live”

Derivatives

• Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ PE17/104; PE17/104
• Os. ambar “fate, doom” ✧ PE17/104

Variations

• ṃbară ✧ PE17/104

mbar

root. settle, dwell; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision, settle; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision; dwell, [ᴹ√] inhabit, [ᴱ√] live

This root was connected to the sense “dwell” for all of Tolkien’s life. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s it appeared as ᴱ√MBARA “dwell, live”, though in Qenya it was blended with ᴱ√ŊWAÐA “tarry, linger” since [[eq|initial [ŋʷ] became [m]]] (QL/60). In Gnomish the two roots remained distinct: G. bar “home” (GL/21) vs. G. gwadh- “dwell” (GL/46). However, other Gnomish derivatives hint at an unstrengthened variant ᴱ√MARA: G. mar “Earth, ground, soil” and G. Môr “The Earth”, of which Tolkien said “mar and môr probably conceal two roots and a confusion; mbara” (GL/56). The source of this confusion might be ᴱ√MARA “ripe” (QL/59, 63).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√MBAR “dwell, inhabit” (Ety/MBAR); an earlier version of this entry had the extra gloss “build” (EtyAC/MBAR). In The Etymologies, it seems this root was a strengthened form of ᴹ√BAR “raise” (Ety/BAR), but the root ᴹ√MBARAT “fate” seems to be unrelated at this point (Ety/MBARAT). The root mbar- was mentioned in the Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1930s (PE19/36) and again as √MBAR “{house >>} dwell” in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) from around 1950 (PE18/92).

The root √MBAR still had the basic sense “dwell” in Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/64); in those notes it seems it was distinct from both √BAR “raise” and √MAR(AT) or √MBART “doom, fate” (PE17/66). But in notes on Fate from 1968 (NM/226-231; PE17/104-109), Tolkien shifted the meaning of the root:

> English “settle” in its various branches of meaning closely resembles the development of the meanings of √MBAR: thus settlement can mean the act of colonizing or taking up an abode, or the area or place so occupied (by a family or community); or (the terms of) an agreement fixed after debate. The development was not, however, the same: the senses of settle proceed from a sense “place in or take up” a firm position, especially in a place that seems suitable; from which the sense of settling affairs that were in confusion or doubt arose. √MBAR meant basically to make a decision, and the meanings relating to dwelling or occupying land proceeded from that (PE17/105).

This new definition for √MBAR was to support a more direct connection between this root and words like Q. umbar “fate”, hence establishing an etymological relationship to extended √MBARAT for the first time, for example with √MBAR > ✶mbartā- “to define, decree, destine” (PE17/104).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think this late 1960s meaning “settle, decide, establish; (by extension) dwell” is probably the best.

Derivatives

• ✶ambar(a) “the settlement, establishment, the world” ✧ NM/228; PE17/104; PE17/105; PE17/124
  • Q. Ambar “The World, Earth, (lit.) Habitation, Settlement” ✧ NM/228; PE17/104; PE17/105; PE17/124
  • S. amar “world, the Earth, (lit.) settlement, the great habitation” ✧ NM/228; PE17/104; PE17/105; PE17/124
  • T. ambar “the world, the great habitation” ✧ NM/228
• ✶asmarō “*neighbor”
  • Q. armaro “*neighbor” ✧ VT48/20
  • S. sammar “*neighbor” ✧ VT48/20
• ✶mbar- “to dwell” ✧ PE22/131
  • Q. mar- “to abide, be settled or fixed, to abide, be settled or fixed, [ᴱQ.] dwell, live”
• ✶ṃbar
  • Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ PE17/104; PE17/104
  • Os. ambar “fate, doom” ✧ PE17/104
• ✶mbar(ă) “dwelling, habitation”
  • Q. már “home, dwelling, habitation, home, dwelling, habitation; [ᴹQ.] house; earth” ✧ PE17/106; PE19/076; SA/bar
  • Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/164
  • S. bâr “house, dwelling, home, house, dwelling, home; [N.] earth” ✧ PE17/109; PE17/109; PE17/163; PE17/164; SA/bar
• √M(B)ARAT “doom, fate”
  • ✶mbartā- “to define, decree, destine”
  • Q. marta- “to define, decree, destine, to define, decree, destine; [ᴱQ.] to happen (impers.), chance” ✧ PE17/104
  • S. amarth “fate, doom” ✧ PE17/104
  • S. amartha- “to define, decree, destine” ✧ PE17/104
  • Q. marto “tower” ✧ NM/228
  • Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ PE17/066
  • S. amarth “fate, doom” ✧ PE17/066
  • S. barad “tower, great towering building, tower, great towering building, [N.] fort, fortress” ✧ NM/228
• ✶mbartā- “to define, decree, destine” ✧ PE17/104
  • Q. marta- “to define, decree, destine, to define, decree, destine; [ᴱQ.] to happen (impers.), chance” ✧ PE17/104
  • S. amarth “fate, doom” ✧ PE17/104
  • S. amartha- “to define, decree, destine” ✧ PE17/104
• ✶ṃbart(ă) “fate, doom; (orig.) permanent establishment” ✧ NM/228; PE17/124
  • Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ NM/228; PE17/123; PE17/124; PE18/092; PE19/077
  • S. amarth “fate, doom” ✧ NM/228; PE17/124; PE18/092; VT41/10
• Q. Ambar “The World, Earth, (lit.) Habitation, Settlement” ✧ NM/226; PE17/064; PE17/066; PE17/078; PE17/090; PE17/163
• Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/064
• ᴺQ. marindo “settler”
• ᴺQ. marya- “to found, establish, settle (as dwelling)”
• Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ PE17/104; PE17/105
• S. amar “world, the Earth, (lit.) settlement, the great habitation” ✧ NM/226
• S. amarth “fate, doom” ✧ NM/226; PE17/104
• ᴺS. bar- “to live, dwell, stay”
• ᴺS. barna- “to till (land), *cultivate; (orig.) to dwell in (a land)”
• ᴺS. baron “tilled, inhabited”
• T. ambar “the world, the great habitation” ✧ NM/226

Element in

• √M(B)ARAT “doom, fate” ✧ NM/228
• ✶tura-mbar “master of fate” ✧ PE17/104
• Q. armaro “*neighbor”
• Q. colbamarië “gestation, *(lit.) womb-residence”
• Q. Hröambari “Incarnate[s]”
• Q. martan “dwelling-house” ✧ PE17/105
• Q. ombari “company, dwellers together”
• Q. Turambar “Master of Doom, Master of Fate” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. umbar “fate, doom, curse” ✧ PE17/163

mbar(ă)

noun. dwelling, habitation

Derivations

• √MBAR “settle, dwell; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision, settle; establish, fix, decide, determine, make a decision; dwell, [ᴹ√] inhabit, [ᴱ√] live”

Derivatives

• Q. már “home, dwelling, habitation, home, dwelling, habitation; [ᴹQ.] house; earth” ✧ PE17/106; PE19/076; SA/bar
• Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/164
• S. bâr “house, dwelling, home, house, dwelling, home; [N.] earth” ✧ PE17/109; PE17/109; PE17/163; PE17/164; SA/bar

Element in

• ✶mbarda ✧ PE17/106
• ✶mbar-ndor “home land, native land” ✧ PE17/164
• ✶Mbartanō “World-artificer”
• ✶mēlā̆-mbar “beloved dwelling” ✧ PE17/164
• S. Angmar “*Iron Home” ✧ RC/020

Variations

• mbără ✧ PE17/106
• mbăr(a) ✧ PE17/106
• mbar ✧ PE17/163 (mbar)
• mbā̆r ✧ PE17/164
• mbar- ✧ PE19/076; RC/020
• mbár ✧ SA/bar

dortha-

verb. to dwell, stay