serindë

feminine name. Broideress, Needlewoman

One of the names of Míriel, mother of Fëanor, adopted because of her surpassing skill in weaving and needlework (S/63). It is simply the noun serindë used as a name.

The phonetic development of this name has an interesting history. In Classical Quenya, it was pronounced †Therindë (PM/333). When the sound [[q|[θ] became [s]]] in the speech-feeling of the Noldor, Fëanor opposed this change, in part for practical reasons but also because it meant that the name of his mother was consistently mispronounced Serindë (PM/335).

This sound change was common among all Noldor except Fëanor and his sons, and may have played a part in Fëanor’s alienation from his kin (PM/336). It could therefore have contributed to the exile of the Noldor from Valinor and all the terrible events that followed. Somehow it seems particularlly Tolkienesque that such a critical juncture in the history of the Elves was intertwined with a seemingly minor linguistic change.

Serindë

broideress

Serindë (þ) fem. name; "Broideress" (Silm) or "Needlewoman" (PM:333). Original form Therindë, q.v.

serindë

noun. broideress, needlewoman, *seamstress

A sobriquet of Míriel, mother of Fëanor, variously glossed “broideress” (MR/257) and “needlewoman” (PM/333). It seems likely this word could also be used of an ordinary seamstress, a feminine agental form of the otherwise unattested verb ser- [þ] “✱to sew”. The root √THER or √SER “sew” appeared in notes from 1957, with Tolkien’s preference being the first of these because of its similarity to √TER “pierce” (PE17/33).