remmen

adjective. meshed, netted, woven, (en)tangled

An adjectival element in (plural) galadhremmin “tree-tangled, tree-meshed” from the prayer A Elbereth Gilthoniel (LotR/1115; RGEO/64; PE17/20-21). In notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave the singular form as remmen < ✶rembinā and translated it as “meshed, netted, woven” (PE17/26). In notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from 1967-69, remmen was glossed “entangled” as an adjectival form of rem(m) “net (for catching)”, all based on the root √REB or √REM “entangle, snare, trap” (VT42/12).

In notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969, Tolkien spelled remen with a single m, a representation of the sound change whereby [[s|[mm] shortened]] in Sindarin (PE23/140). Elsewhere the spelling remmen is more common, but the pronunciation is still [remen] in those cases as well (LotR/1115). The m-sound is still treated as a consonant cluster for purposes of stress, however, so that the stress patten for galadhremmen is [gàlaðrémen] and not [galáðremen].

o galadhremmin ennorath

from tree-tangled middle-lands

galadhremmen

adjective. tree-meshed

An adjective meaning “tree-meshed” appearing in the A Elbereth Gilthoniel poem in its plural form galadhremmin (LotR/238). It was a combination of galadh “tree” and remmen “meshed” (PE17/25-26). This word is probably poetic, not in common use.