sarn

noun. stone (as a material)

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn

noun. small stone

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn

noun/adjective. (small) stone, pebble; stony (place), (small) stone, pebble; stony (place); [N.] stone as a material

A Sindarin noun for a small individual stone or pebble (RC/327; VT42/11) in contrast to S. gond for large blocks of stone or rock (Ety/GOND) or stone as a material (PE17/28). However, sarn also functioned as an adjective “stony”, and when used unqualified could also refer to a “stony place” (RC/163). It was a derivative of the root ᴹ√SAR (Ety/SAR).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where Tolkien had G. sarn “a stone” (GL/67), and it was also an element in the negative word ᴱN. orsarn “stoneless” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/156). It appeared as N. sarn, a derivative of ᴹ√SAR, in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but in this document it was glossed “stone as a material”, and also functioned as an adjective, apparently a blending of ✱sarnē and ᴹ✶sarnā (Ety/SAR), in contrast to N. gonn which in this document was only “a great stone or rock” (Ety/GOND). In later writings sarn could still function as an adjective “stony” (RC/163) but as a noun generally referred to an individual (small) stone, as in the name S. Edhelharn “Elfstone” (SD/128).

Cognates

• Q. sar “stone (small)”

Element in

• S. Edhelharn “Elfstone”
• ᴺS. gaessarn “pearl, (lit.) sea-pebble”
• S. Sarn Athrad “Ford of Stones” ✧ RC/163; RC/775; SA/sarn
• ᴺS. sarneg “pebble”
• S. Sarn Gebir “Stone-spikes” ✧ RC/327; RC/775; SA/sarn
• S. Serni “Pebble Bank” ✧ SA/sarn
• S. serni “shingle, pebble bank” ✧ UTI/Serni; VT42/11

Variations

• Sarn ✧ RC/775
• sern ✧ VT42/11

gond

stone

_n. _stone, rock. Archaic S. gond > gonn. Q. ondo. >> Gondor

gond

noun. great stone, rock

gondren

adjective. (made) of stone

sarn

stone

1) (small stone, or stone as material) sarn (i harn, o sarn), pl. sern (i sern); also used as adj. ”stony, made of stone”. 2) gôn (i **ôn, construct gon); pl. gŷn, coll. pl. #**gonath as in Argonath. 3) (larger stone) gond (i **ond, construct gon) (great stone or rock), pl. gynd (i ngynd = i ñynd), coll. pl. gonnath** (Letters:410).

sarn

stone

(i harn, o sarn), pl. sern (i sern); also used as adj. ”stony, made of stone”.

sarn

made of stone, stony

(lenited harn; pl. sern); also used as noun ”small stone, pebble, stone [as material]”; as adj. also = ”stony”.

gond

stone

(i ’ond, construct gon) (great stone or rock), pl. gynd (i ngynd = i ñynd), coll. pl. gonnath (Letters:410).

gondren

made of stone, stony

(stony), lenited ’ondren, pl. gendrin. Archaic pl. göndrin (TI:270).

gôn

stone

(i ’ôn, construct gon); pl. gŷn, coll. pl. #gonath as in Argonath.

gondrath

street of stone

(i ’ondrath) (causeway, raised stone highway), pl. gendraith (i ngendraith = i ñendraith). Archaic pl. göndreith. (WJ:340)

gonhir

master of stone

(i ’Onhir), no distinct pl. form except with article (i Ngonhir = i Ñonhir), maybe primarily used as a coll. pl. Gonhirrim  (WJ:205, there spelt ”Gonnhirrim”)