Middle Primitive Elvish
thor(on)
root. come swooping down
Derivatives
Element in
Variations
- THOR ✧ Ety/THOR; Ety/THOR
- THORON ✧ EtyAC/THOR
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
Tolkien used similar Elvish words for “eagle” for much of this life. The first appearance of its root was ᴱ√ŠORO⁽⁾ “eagle” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. sorne “eagle” and ᴱQ. sornion “eyrie” (QL/86). Gilson, Hostetter, Wynne and Smith suggested that the Š may represent more ancient Þ, and Gnomish derivatives from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. thorn “eagle” and G. thrond “eyrie, pinnacle” confirm that the actual early root was ✱ᴱ√ÞORO (GL/73). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√THOR or ᴹ√THÓRON “come swooping down” with derivatives like ᴹQ. soron/N. thoron “eagle” and N. thôr “swooping, leaping down” (Ety/THOR). In a 1972 letter to Richard Jeffery, Tolkien gave primitive form ✶thorono “eagle” as the basis for Q. sorno/S. thoron, testifying to the enduring nature of this root (Let/427).