Primitive elvish
sir
root. flow
Derivatives
Element in
Variations
- sir- ✧ SA/sîr
sidā̆
adverb. hither
Derivatives
- Q. sir(a) “hither” ✧ VT49/18
árātō
noun. lord
Derivations
- √RĀ/ARA “noble, high, royal” ✧ PE17/118
Derivatives
- Q. aráto “champion, eminent man, noble, lord, king” ✧ PE17/118
te
pronoun. they
Derivatives
Variations
- TE ✧ VT48/24; VT48/25
- t(e) ✧ VT49/17
- te/se ✧ VT49/50
The root √SIR and similar roots meant “flow” for most of Tolkien’s life. The earliest form of this root was ᴱ√SIŘI [SIÐI] “flow” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variant sini and derived forms like ᴱQ. sindi “river” and ᴱQ. síre “stream” (QL/84). The latter word became “river” in Tolkien’s later writings, and words appearing in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon like G. sîr “river” and G. siriol “flowing” (GL/67-68) rather than ✱✱sidh- indicate Tolkien very early revised the root to ✱ᴱ√SIRI. Indeed, the root was ᴹ√SIR “flow” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, and the root appeared with this form and essential meaning several times in Tolkien’s later writings (PE22/127, 135).