sahóra

place name. the South

Name for “the South” in the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa from the 1910s (QL/81; PME/81), where it appeared under the root ᴱ√SAH(Y)A “be hot” derived from the primitive form ᴱ✶saχ+þōra (QL/81). In the contemporaneous Qenya Phonology, however its primitive form was revised from ᴱ✶þaχþōđa >> ᴱ✶saχsōđa (PE12/18), and ᴱ✶saχ-sōđa was given the gloss “house of fire”.

The primitive forms ᴱ✶þōra, ᴱ✶þōđa and ᴱ✶sōđa would all produce ᴱQ. sóra. The closest equivalent is ᴱQ. sóra “seat”, but that word was derived from the root ᴱ√ÐORO “sit” (QL/85). It is unclear whether Tolkien intended any relationship between the two, but SOŘO (= ✱SOÐO) did appear as a rejected variant of this root (QL/86), hinting that such a relationship is at least a possibility.

@@@ variant forms and their etymologies