conj. and. a/adh before vowel, with soft mutation. Q. ar. >> a, ada, adh
Sindarin
-ad
suffix. noun-suffix
-ad Archaic
suffix. dual
-ad
suffix. gerund
ad
conjunction. and
ad
again
(as prefix) ad-, also meaning "back, second, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".
ad
against
(prep.) 1) ad (probably followed by soft mutation), 2)
ad
back
(as prefix) ad-, also meaning "second, again, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".
ad
re-
(as prefix) ad-, also meaning "back, again, second"
ad
second
(as prefix) ad-, also meaning "back, again, re-", e.g. aderthad "Reunion", and also in the term for
ad
again
also meaning "back, second, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".
ad
against
(probably followed by soft mutation)
ad
back
also meaning "second, again, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".
ad
re
also meaning "back, again, second"
ad
second
also meaning "back, again, re-", e.g. aderthad "Reunion", and also in the term for
a
conjunction. and
See ah for the form that this conjunction might take before a vowel
a
and
a
and
conj. and. About his mutation, see PE17:145.
a
conjunction. and
conj. and. Pedo mellon a minno! 'Say friend and enter'. Q. ar
ada
conjunction. and
adh
conjunction. and
ah
conjunction. and
ar
conjunction. and
See ah for the form that this conjunction might take before a vowel
ar
conjunction. and, and, [G.] too, besides
Ídh
and
{ð}_ conj. _and. It was not mutated before vowels. >> a
Ídh
and
Ídh
and
{ð} conj. and. About his mutation, see PE17:145.
a
and
a, or ah when the next word begins in a vowel: Finrod ah Andreth, Finrod and Andreth. In some sources, Tolkien uses ar as the conjunction "and", but a(h) would seem to be the proper Sindarin form.
a
and
or ah when the next word begins in a vowel: Finrod ah Andreth, Finrod and Andreth. In some sources, Tolkien uses ar as the conjunction "and", but a(h) would seem to be the proper Sindarin form.
tadui
second
(adjective) 1) tadui (lenited dadui; no distinct pl. form), 2) edwen (pl. edwin).
-ed
suffix. gerund
a
conjunction. and; †by, near, beside
In The Lord of the Rings, the Sindarin conjuction for “and” was a, as seen in the famous phrase from the Moria Gate Inscription: pedo mellon __a__ minno “speak, friend, and enter” (LotR/305).
Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s earlier writings, the word for “and” was usually ar, consistent with the usual Quenya form of this word: Q. ar. The first appearance of this form of the word was in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, which had G. ar “and, too” (GL/20). This version of “and” appeared in numerous phrases from the 1920s-50s, that latest being the Sindarin version of the Lord’s Prayer: Ae Adar Nín from the mid-1950s (VT44/21).
In Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s, however, Tolkien introduced a “and” in the initial versions of the gate inscription (TI/182). He gradually transitioned to the a version over the next few years.
Possible Etymologies: It is not obvious what Tolkien intended the etymology of S. a “and” to be when he first introduced it. He did revisit the question in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, where he considered two primitive forms: ✶as(a) and ✶ad(a) (PE17/41). In both cases, the consonant of the primitive word would vanish if the following word began with a consonant, either as > ah > a or ad > að > a. However, there would be remnants of the primitive consonant before words beginning with a vowel, such as ah Edhel or að Edhel “and an Elf”. This is similar to how the English indefinite article “a” is “a” before a consonant but “an” before a vowel.
In the previously mentioned note Tolkien eventually settled on a(ð), and this was also the etymology of “and” in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 (PE17/145). In writings elsewhere Tolkien seems to have used a(h). For example, ah appeared in the phrase Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth “The Debate of Finrod and Andreth” written around 1959 (MR/329). In notes from 1968, Tolkien had Common Eldarin as “and” producing S. ah which became a before consonants (VT43/30).
Possible Mutations: In notes from 1969, Tolkien said that conjunctions like “and, or” induced mutation in Sindarin (PE23/142). The exact mutation would depend on the etymology of the word. The a(ð)-variant would induce stop mutation and the a(h)-variant would induce sibilant mutation, as described in Tolkien’s notes on the etymology of this word mentioned above (PE17/41).
One complication for the etymology of a was the phrase Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annûn “Frodo and Sam, princes of the west” (LotR/953). Here the name Perhael “Samwise” clearly undergoes soft mutation. Tolkien noticed this in his notes on the phrase, saying: “a·Berhael. ‘And’ cannot therefore be [derived from] arĭ! aŋa. ā̆. {an >>} ŋ̃a [and later in the same context] ‘And’ ad(a). Q ar. N [sic., should be S] a(ð). a, að before vowel. with soft mutation” (PE17/102).
However, there are no signs of soft mutation after a in other phrases like pedo mellon __a__ minno [rather than vinno] (LotR/305) or si loth __a__ galadh lasto dîn [rather than ’aladh] (LB/354). The earlier ar-variant also seems not to have induced mutation in some documents, such as the King’s Letter [ar Hîr; ar Meril] (SD/128) or Ae Adar Nín [ar díheno] (VT44/21, 28-29).
In the previously mentioned notes on Daur a Berhael, Tolkien seems to have considered another explanation where Daur “Frodo” was also a mutation, with an unmutated form Taur (PE17/102). If so, it may be that the mutations in Daur a Berhael are the result of some other grammatical operation rather than the normal mutation of a “and”.
Other than Daur a Berhael, the only clear example of consonant mutation after the conjunction “and” is ar·phent Rían... “✱and Rían said” from the Túrin Wrapper from the early 1950s (VT50/5). This seems to be an example of liquid mutation for the ar-version of this word.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I prefer the a(h)-variant for Sindarin “and”, with sibilant mutation before consonants and ah before vowels. This variant appears in notes from 1968 (VT43/30) and the sibilant mutation occurs only before words beginning with p, t, c, h (→ ph, th, ch, ch) and l, r (→ lh, rh). That means conflict with unmutated examples is minimized. In earlier versions of Eldamo I recommended ignoring mutation entirely for a(h), but since PE23 made it clear that conjunctions induce mutation I now recommend the “least disruptive” mutation: sibilant mutation.
This means a separate explanation is required for Daur a Berhael. For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I assume that soft mutation is used as a marker for Sindarin direct objects, even when those objects do not immediately follow the verb. Thus I assume Daur a Berhael are soft mutations of Taur “Frodo” and Perhael “Samwise” because they are the objects of the verb eglorio “glorify” in the phrase Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annûn, eglerio “Frodo and Sam, princes of the west, glorify (them)”.
There is some evidence that a “and” is omitted in lists of items in Sindarin; see Vyacheslav Stepanov’s article on How to List the Children of Master Samwise Properly for discussion.
Bear in mind that this system is based on a very small number of examples, and could be overturned by new publications.
ad-
prefix. back, again, re-
ah
preposition/conjunction. and, with
The title Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth is translated as "converse of Finrod and Andreth", but some scholars actually believe this word to be unrelated with the conjunction a.1 , ar "and", and they render it as "with". Other scholars consider that "and" and "with" (in the comitative sense) are not exclusive of each other, and regard ah as the form taken by this conjunction before a vowel. That a, ar and ah are etymologically related has finally been confirmed in VT/43:29-30. Compare also with Welsh, where the coordination "and" also takes different forms whether it occurs before a vowel or a consonant (respectively ac and a). In written Welsh, a often triggers the aspirate mutation: bara a chaws "bread and cheese". This usage is seldom applied in colloquial Welsh (Modern Welsh §510)
athrabeth finrod ah andreth
The Debate of Finrod and Andreth
canad
cardinal. four
The Sindarin word for “four” based on the root √KANAT of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/24; VT48/6; Ety/KÁNAT).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. cant “four” (GL/25). Some rough notes from the 1960s had a variant form cened “four”, but this seems to have been a ephemeral concept according to Patrick Wynne (VT47/41 note #69).
dan
preposition. against
dan
preposition. etym. back
edwen
ordinal. second
edwen
ordinal. second
naur dan i ngaurhoth
*fire [be] against the wolf-horde
@@@ for gloss, compare to naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for rescue/saving us” (PE17/38).
tadeg
ordinal. second
tadui
ordinal. second
tadui
ordinal. second
The Sindarin word for “second”, an adjectival form of tâd “two” in notes from the late 1960s using the adjectival suffix -ui (VT42/25).
Conceptual Development: Earlier in these same 1960s notes, Tolkien had tadeg as the colloquial word for “second” but this word was deleted (VT42/10).
Sometime around 1950, the King’s Letter in the unpublished epilogue to The Lord of the Rings had a word edwen “second” in the phrase egor ben genediad Drannail __erin Gwirith edwen__ “or in the Shire-reckoning the second day of April” (SD/129). The preceding phrase had dolothen “eighth”, clearly a mutated form of tolothen which was an adjectival form of toloth “eight” with the adjectival suffix -en rather than later -ui. The same suffix can be seen in edwen, and its initial element might be related to adu (adw-) “double”.
The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. obin “second, next” based on G. ob “after, close behind” (GL/62).
taid
adjective. second (in the sense of supporting, second in command)
aduial
second twilight
(evendim, the time of evening when the stars come out), pl. aduiail.
dan
back
(prep.) dan (lenited nan) (again, against);
dan
again, against
(lenited nan) (back). As prep. maybe followed by soft mutation.
dan
back
(lenited nan) (again, against);
eden
begun again
(new), pl. edin
edwen
second
(pl. edwin).
lathr(ad)a-
verb. to listen in, eavesdrop
tadui
second
(lenited dadui; no distinct pl. form)
The Sindarin dual was almost certainly derived from the same primitive form ✶ata as the Quenya dual ending -t, indicating this ending was ancient in form. The other Quenya dual, -u, would not have been active in Sindarin since final vowels were lost.
Tolkien stated (Let/427) that this ending was archaic and lost, but did not state when it disappeared. The ending may have still been active in the First Age. The ending appears in the day-name Orgaladhad “Day of the Two Trees”. Since the Sindar had no direct experience with the trees, this word was likely adopted from its Quenya cognate Aldúya when the Noldor and Sindar were reunited.