Quenya
nan(do)
noun. (wide) valley, vale, (wide) valley, vale; [ᴹQ.] water-mead, watered plain; [ᴱQ.] woodland
Cognates
- S. nan(d) “vale, valley, vale, valley, [ᴱN.] dale; [N.] wide grassland; [G.] field acre” ✧ NM/351
Derivations
- √NAD “hollow (of structures or natural features more or less concave with rising sides)” ✧ NM/351
Element in
- Q. Laurelindórenan “(Land of the) Valley of Singing Gold” ✧ Let/308; NM/351; PE17/080; UT/253
- Q. Laurenandë “Valley of Gold” ✧ UT/253
- Q. Nand’ Ondoluncava “Stonewain Valley” ✧ PE17/028
- Q. Nan-tasarion “Vale of Willow[s]” ✧ PE17/080
- Q. Noirinan “Valley of Tombs” ✧ UT/166
- Q. Ondoluncanan(do) “Stonewain Valley” ✧ PE17/028
- Q. Tasarinan “Willow-vale” ✧ RC/384
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √NAD > -nan [-nando] > [-nand] > [-nan] ✧ NM/351 Variations
- nan ✧ Let/308; RC/384
- -nan ✧ NM/351
- nando ✧ PE17/080
- nanda ✧ PE17/080
- nandë ✧ UT/253 (nandë)
A common Quenya word for “vale” or “valley”, cognate of S. nan(d) and derivative of the root √NAD (Ety/NAD; NM/351). In one place, Tolkien indicated this word was used more specifically for wide valleys (PE17/80). A narrow valley might be better described with a word like Q. imbe “deep valley”, ᴹQ. cirisse “cleft” or ᴹQ. yáwe “ravine”.
This word appears as nan(d) in numerous compounds (Let/308, UT/253, RC/384). The independent form of this word is more difficult to determine. It variously appeared as nanda (Ety/NAD, PE17/80), nando (PE17/28, 80) and nandë within the compound Laurenandë (UT/253). This entry uses nando because it looks more noun-like than nanda while avoiding conflict with [ᴹQ.] nande (ñande) “harp”, but any of these forms could be correct.
Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this word was as ᴱQ. nan (nand-) “woodland” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s from the early root ᴱ√NAŘA [NAÐA] (QL/64), but its use in actual names in this period indicates the actual meaning was “land”, such as ᴱQ. Hisinan “Land of Twilight” (QL/40) and ᴱQ. Tasarinan “Land of Willows” (LT2/140). It appeared as ᴹQ. nanda “water-mead, watered plain” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√NAD (Ety/NAD), but this meaning also seems to be an aberration since it still appeared in ᴹQ. Tasarinan “Land of Willows” in this period (LR/261; TI/417). In later writings, the various nand- variants were regularly glossed “valley”, as reflected in the new gloss for Q. Tasarinan as “Willow-vale” (RC/384).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d limit this word to nando “valley”, ignoring its earlier meanings and alternate forms. For “water mead[ow]”, I’d restore the Early Qenya word ᴱQ. nendo instead.