Middle Primitive Elvish
sel(d)
root. child, child; *daughter
Derivatives
Element in
- ᴹ✶Tindōmiselde “Nightingale, (lit.) Daughter of Twilight” ✧ Ety/SEL-D; Ety/TIN
- N. -iel “daughter; feminine suffix” ✧ EtyAC/YEL
Variations
- SEL-D ✧ Ety/SEL-D (
SEL-D); Ety/SEL-D; EtyAC/TIN- SEL ✧ Ety/TIN
- SELD ✧ EtyAC/YEL
yel
root. daughter
Derivatives
Variations
- YEL ✧ Ety/SEL-D; Ety/YEL (
YEL)
yen
root. daughter
Changes
YEN→ INI “female” ✧ EtyAC/ƷANDerivatives
Variations
- yēn ✧ Ety/YŌ
- YEN ✧ EtyAC/ƷAN (
YEN)
yend
noun. daughter
Derivations
- ᴹ√YEN “daughter” ✧ Ety/YŌ
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. yen(de) “daughter” ✧ Ety/YŌ
A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s, initially glossed “daughter” but later “child” with derivatives ᴹQ. selde, ᴹQ. seldo, ᴹQ. selda = female, male and neuter “child” (Ety/SEL-D). In Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien gave sel-de “daughter” (PE17/170), while S. sel(l) = “daughter” appeared in both the King’s Letter from the late 1940s (SD/129) as well as the Túrin Wrapper from the 1950s (VT50/5). The diminutive form for “daughter” appeared as Q. selyë in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/10).
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer √YEL for “daughter” as a variant of ᴹ√SEL(D) under the influence of √YON “son”, mostly so I can still use the 1930s “child” words for other genders, at least in the Quenya branch. I would still use Q. seldë and S. sell for “daughter”, however, with a bit of semantic drift, with “girl” words becoming Q. nettë and S. neth.