-da

suffix. motion to or towards a point, allative suffix

-dā

suffix. product of an action

-iel

suffix. feminine suffix

-ye Reconstructed

suffix. feminine suffix

-da

suffix. product of an action

-da

draught, the amount drunk

-da suffix used to derive nouns denoting the result of an action, like yulda "draught, the amount drunk" (the stem YUL is here given the meaning "drink"). (PE17:68) Cf. also carda "deed" (q.v.) vs. the verb car- "do".

-iel

suffix. -daughter; feminine suffix

The most common Quenya suffix for “daughter of” such as in Elerondiel “✱Daughter of Elrond” (PE17/56) or Uinéniel “Daughter of Uinen” (UT/182).

Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this suffix was ᴱQ. -il mentioned by Tolkien in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as the equivalent of feminine patronymic ᴱQ. -wen (QL/103), but its only use in this period was in the masculine name ᴱQ. Indorildo, a variant of ᴱQ. Indorion and hence probably meaning “son of” (LT2/217). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien mentioned ᴹQ. -iel as a feminine patronymic under the root ᴹ√YEL “daughter” (Ety/YEL¹), but this root was rejected and in that document Tolkien seems to have replaced it with ᴹQ. -ien (EtyAC/YŌ).

In later writings Tolkien considered a bewildering variety of suffixes for the feminine patronymic, including -iel(d), -well, -wend and -ien (PE17/170, 190). In practice, though, only -iel appeared in actual names for “daughter of” (see above), perhaps because it is was the cleanest equivalent of the well-established masculine patronymic -ion “son of”.

-ien

suffix. feminine ending; feminine patronymic, -daughter

A feminine suffix common in Quenya names, in one place given as a feminine patronymic (PE17/170), though there are no attested Quenya names in which it was used that way.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ien was given as a (suffixal?) variant of ᴹQ. yen(de) “daughter” (Ety/YŌ; EtyAC/YŌ), but again there are no actual names from this period using the suffix in that way.

carda

noun. deed, deed, *action

Quenya noun for a “deed”, a combination of the verb car- “to do” and the verbal suffix -da used for the product of an action (PE17/51; PE22/152), thus literally “✱a thing done” = “✱action”.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursor of this word is ᴱQ. karma “shape, fashion; act, deed” in the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s of similar derivation (QL/45). ᴱQ. ká “deed, act, fact” also appeared in that document, derived from a different root ᴱ√KAHA cause” (QL/43). In The Etymologies from the 1930s, the word appeared as ᴹQ. kar (kard-) “deed” in a draft version for the entry of the root ᴹ√KAR “do, make”, but this word was revised to ᴹQ. kar (kard-) “building” when Tolkien decided the root meaning was only “make, build, construct” and not “do” (Ety/KAR), a decision he later reversed. The form karma “deed” also appeared in some later writings, but was rejected (PE22/138).

-wen

maiden

-wen "maiden" as suffix, a frequent ending in feminine names like Eärwen "Sea-maiden" (SA:wen). Early "Qenya" also has -wen, feminine patronymic "daughter of" (LT1:271, 273), but the patronymic ending seems to be -iel "-daughter" in Tolkien's later Quenya.

calma

noun. lamp, (device for shining) light, lamp, (device for shining) light, [ᴱQ.] candle; (day)light

A noun for “lamp” appearing in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (LotR/1121) as the name of tengwa #3 [a] (LotR/1122). In notes from the 1960s, Tolkien clarified that it was “a lamp or other device for shining light” (PE17/180).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. kalma was glossed “(day)light” under the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44) but was simply “light” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/44). It was glossed “light” again in the Early Qenya Grammar and English-Qenya Dictionary from the 1920s (PE14/43, 73; PE15/74). In the Earendel poem written around 1930 it was glossed “light” as in “light of the sun” (MC/216), but in the Oilima Markirya poem it was glossed “candle” (MC/214).

The word ᴹQ. kalma appeared unglossed in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/52), but was glossed “a light, lamp” in The Etymologies from around 1937 under the root ᴹ√KAL “shine” (Ety/KAL), which is the first time it was used for “lamp”. It was glossed “light” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet and Qenya Spelling from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51, 61), but became “lamp” in the discussion of tengwar in The Lord of the Rings itself, as noted above.

Meanwhile, the earliest “lamp” word was ᴱQ. kalumet (kalumett-) from the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s (QL/44; PME/44), and this word was mentioned again in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s as a cognate to ᴱN. glavaith “a blaze, burning, blazing light” (PE13/162). ᴹQ. kalumet “lamp” appeared a final time in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, but there it was deleted (PE21/37 note #134).

In summary, it seems that in the 1910s and 20s kalma was “light” while kalumet was “lamp”, but sometime in the 1930s kalumet was abandoned and kalma became “lamp, a [device for] light”, while in after the 1930s the ordinary word for “light” became cala (RGEO/62; Ety/KAL) which in the 1910s had instead been used for “daytime” as a time period (QL/44).

-ndacil

suffix. -victor, -slayer

-r

suffix. motion to or towards a point, motion to or towards a point, *archaic allative

-na

no longer part of verbal conjugation

-na (4), ending used to form passive participles as well as some adjectives and nouns; see -ina. According to PE17:68, the ending -na was "no longer part of verbal conjugation"; the derived words are thus considered independent adjectives (sometimes nouns) rather than regularly derived passive participles, the obvious etymological connection to certain verbal stems notwithstanding. Where adding the ending to a root would produce the combinations tn, pn, kn (cn), metathesis occurs to produce nt, (np >) mp, nc, as in nanca *"slain" for older ¤ndakna, or hampa "restrained, delayed, kept" vs. the root KHAP "retain, keep, detain". Following -l, the suffix -na turns into -da, as in yulda "draught, the amount drunk" for older yulna (this being an example of a noun being derived with this ending, though Tolkien might also explain yulda as containing a distinct ending -da [q.v.] denoting the result of a verbal action). The word *turúna "mastered" (q.v., only attested in elided form turún) would seem to be a passive participle formed from the verb turu- "master" (PE17:113), suggesting that in the case of U-stem verbs, their final -u is lengthened to ú when -na is added.

-tië

suffix. verbal suffix

-ya

suffix. verbal suffix

calar

lamp

calar noun "lamp" (VT47:13)

calar

noun. lamp

A word for “lamp” in notes from the late 1960s derived from √kalar- (VT47/13). This word is less well-known than Q. calma “lamp” (LotR/1121).

calma

lamp, a light, device for shining light

calma noun "lamp, a light, device for shining light" (Appendix E, KAL, PE17:123, 180), also name of tengwa #3 (cf. calmatéma), which was also already its name in the mostly pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies(VT45:18, there spelt "kalma"). In early "Qenya", calma ("k") meant"daylight" _(LT1:254; in MC:213, the word is translated "light").Plural instrumental calmainen ("k") "lights-by", by lights (MC:216)_

car

deed

car (card-) (3) ("k")noun "deed" (rewritten >) "building, house" (KAR). Cf. carda.

carda

deed

carda noun "deed" (PE17:51). Cf. car #3. The word may contain the ending -da (q.v.) denoting the result of the corresponding verbal action.

carda

noun. deed

carma

noun. deed

suhto

draught

suhto noun "draught" (SUK)

vendë

maiden

vendë < wendë noun "maiden" (WEN/WENED, VT45:16), "virgin" (in Tolkien's translations of Catholic prayers where the reference is to Mary; see VT44:10, 18). The form Véndë in VT44:10 seems abnormal; normally Quenya does not have a long vowel in front of a consonant cluster.

wendë

noun. maiden

yulda

draught, something drunk, a drink, the amount drunk

yulda noun "draught, something drunk, a drink, the amount drunk", pl. yuldar (Nam, PE17:63, 68, RGEO:66). See -da regarding etymology.

nacil

noun. victor

or-

prefix. -day

-ien

suffix. feminine ending

An occasional feminine suffix in Sindarin, in one place given as a feminine patronymic (PE17/170) as in the name Lúthien “Daughter of Flowers” (PE17/15, 161). See the entry on the root √YE(L) for a discussion of conceptual vacillations on its connection to “daughter”.

Conceptual Development: In Noldorin it seems N. -ien was simply a feminine suffix in the name N. Lhúthien “Enchantress” (Ety/LUK).

-il

suffix. feminine suffix

A fairly common feminine suffix appearing as -il in Sindarin, either formed on its own or as a variant of the feminine suffix -iel. This suffix was also common Noldorin words in The Etymologies of the 1930s, along with an alternate form -ril that seems to be a feminine agental suffix, the equivalent of masculine -(r)on, seen in pairs like N. melethril/melethron “lover” and N. odhril/odhron “parent” (Ety/MEL, ONO). The -il suffix and its -ril variant are seen all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s in pairs like G. gwadhril/gwadhron “inhabitant” (GL/47) and G. ainil/ainos “god”, female and male respectively (GL/18). So it seems this feminine suffix was well established in Tolkien’s mind.

-eth

suffix. feminine ending

calar

noun. (portable) lamp

calar

noun. lamp

n. lamp. >> calardan

carn

noun. deed

A Sindarin noun for a “deed”, attested only in its lenited form garn within the word othgarn “misdeed” (PE17/151). The alternate form carth “deed” is perhaps better attested.

carth

noun. deed

Sindarin noun for a “deed”, attested only in its lenited plural form gerth within the word úgarth “trespass” (VT44/28), which probably more literally means “✱misdeed”. This word is not completely compatible with its Quenya cognate Q. carda “deed” from primitive ✶kardā, which in Sindarin should produce ✱cardh. Perhaps the Sindarin word had a slightly different primitive form ✱✶kartā. The expect form cardh might appear as an element in the variant form athragarð of S. athragared “interaction”.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursors of this word are G. cara “deed, act” and G. carm “act, deed, exploit” in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GL/25; PE13/111), the latter a cognate of contemporaneous ᴱQ. karma “shape, fashion; act, deed” (QL/45). Early Noldorin word lists from the 1920s had ᴱN. carbh “deed” (PE13/140), reflecting Tolkien’s changing conception of the phonetic development of final -m in Noldorin. In The Etymologies from the 1930s, the word appeared as N. carth or carð “deed” (cardh), but these forms were rejected and replaced by N. car(ð) “building” when Tolkien decided the root meant only “make, build” and not “do” (Ety/KAR), a decision he later reversed.

gloss

adjective. (dazzling) white, (dazzling) white, [N.] snow-white, [G.] clear white; [N.] snow

guldur

noun. (dark) sorcery

gwen

noun. maiden

_n. _maiden. Q. wendē. >> gwend, gweneth

gwend

noun. maiden

_n. _maiden. Q. wendē. >> gwen, gweneth

gwend

noun. maiden, maiden, *young woman

A word for “maiden” or “✱young woman”, frequently appearing as suffixal -wen as an element in female names, derived from the root √WEN(ED) (PE17/191; Ety/WEN).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, the word G. gwin meant “woman, female” and G. {gwen >>} gwennin was “girl” (GL/45). The former was derived from the root ᴱ√giu̯i which had to do with pregnancy, but the latter was derived from {ᴱ√gw̯ene >>} ᴱ√gu̯eđe. In the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon {ᴱ√WENE >>} ᴱ√GWENE was the basis of words like ᴱQ. ’wen(di) “maiden” (QL/103). In the Gnomish Lexicon Slips it seems G. gwin was also reassigned to the root ᴱ√(G)WENE [ᴱ√u̯enĭ-], derived from ᴱ✶u̯einā́, though possibly shifted or blended in meaning with an adjectival sense “womanly” (PE13/113).

In the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s, Tolkien had ᴱN. uin “woman” (PE13/123), a form that also appeared with this gloss in contemporaneous Early Noldorin Word-lists as a replacement for deleted {gwind, gwinn} (PE13/146, 155). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien had N. gwend, gwenn “maiden” under the root ᴹ√WEN(ED) which he said was “often found in feminine names” (Ety/WEN). He noted that “since the [suffixed names] show no -d even in archaic spelling, they probably contain a form wen-”. Tolkien seems to have stuck with these forms thereafter.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word for a young woman or adolescent girl, especially prior to marriage, but for female children I would use neth.

gwenneth

noun. maiden

A longer variant of gwend “maiden” appearing in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/136). It might be confused with (or related to) gweneth “maidenhood”.

minuial

noun. (dawn) twilight

morgul

noun. black arts, sorcery, necromancy

suith

noun. draught

calar

lamp

#calar (i galar, o chalar), pl. celair (i chelair). Isolated from the pl. compound celerdain "lampwrights", sg. *calardan.

calar

lamp

(i galar, o chalar), pl. celair (i chelair). Isolated from the pl. compound celerdain "lampwrights", sg. ✱calardan.

cardh

deed

cardh (i gardh, o chardh), pl. cerdh (i cherdh). Note: cardh may also mean "house, building".

cardh

deed

(i gardh, o chardh), pl. cerdh (i cherdh). Note: cardh may also mean "house, building".

gwend

maiden

gwend (i **wend, construct gwen) (friendship), pl. gwind (in gwind), coll. pl. gwennath**. Note: a homophone means ”bond, friendship”.

gwend

maiden

(i ’wend, construct gwen) (friendship), pl. gwind (in gwind), coll. pl. gwennath. Note: a homophone means ”bond, friendship”.

gûl

sorcery

1) gûl (i ngûl = i ñûl, o n**gûl = o ñgûl, construct gul) (magic, necromancy, evil knowledge), pl. guil (in guil** = i ñguil) (Silm:App, MR:250, WJ:383), 2)

gûl

sorcery

(i ngûl = i ñûl, o n’gûl = o ñgûl, construct gul) (magic, necromancy, evil knowledge), pl. guil (in guil = i ñguil)  (Silm:App, MR:250, WJ:383)

morgul

sorcery

morgul (i vorgul), pl. morgyl or mergyl (i morgyl/i mergyl for archaic *mörgyl), 3) durgul (i dhurgul), pl. durgyl (i nurgyl). [Or pl. dyrgyl, i nyrgyl? However, the pl. Dúnedain rather than **Dýnedain would suggest that u does not have to be umlauted in the pl. when it occurs in the first part of a compound, and durgul incorporates dur- "black, dark", dur-gûl implying "dark lore/knowledge".]. The word also appears with the elements reversed: guldur (i nguldur = i ñuldur), pl. guldyr (in guldyr = i ñguldyr), or possibly pl. gyldyr (in gyldyr = i ñgyldyr).

morgul

sorcery

(i vorgul), pl. morgyl or mergyl (i morgyl/i mergyl for archaic ✱mörgyl), 3) durgul (i dhurgul), pl. durgyl (i nurgyl). [Or pl. dyrgyl, i nyrgyl? However, the pl. Dúnedain rather than ✱✱Dýnedain would suggest that u does not have to be umlauted in the pl. when it occurs in the first part of a compound, and durgul incorporates dur- "black, dark", dur-gûl implying "dark lore/knowledge".]. The word also appears with the elements reversed: guldur (i nguldur = i ñuldur), pl. guldyr (in guldyr = i ñguldyr), or possibly pl. gyldyr (in gyldyr = i ñgyldyr).****

suith

draught

*suith (i huith, o suith), no distinct pl. form except with article (i suith). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” sûth.

suith

draught

(i huith, o suith), no distinct pl. form except with article (i suith). – Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” sûth.

tûr

victor, victory

(i dûr, o thûr, construct tur) (mastery, power, control; master, lord), pl. t**uir (i th**uir), coll. pl. túrath

wen

maiden

, see MAIDEN. The final element -wen in names means ”girl, maiden, virgin”.

yll

noun. draught

A neologism for “draught” coined by Ryszard Derdzinski in PPW (PPW) from the early 2000s, based on Q. yulda. I prefer ᴺS. suith “draught, a drink”, but ᴺS. yll might be preferable if you think Tolkien abandoned the root √SOK/SUK “drink”.

úgarth

ill deed

(sin), pl. úgerth (VT44:23)

-phel Reconstructed

suffix. ?-daughter

An element appearing only in the name Zimraphel (UT/224). Though unglossed, her Quenya name Míriel seems to be mírë “jewel” + -iel “daughter”. The Adûnaic element zimra appears elsewhere as the Adûnaic equivalent of Q. mírë: in Zimrathôn whose Quenya name is Hostamir. These leaves the -phel to be “daughter” as suggested by several authors (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/PHIL), perhaps the feminine equivalent of -thôr “son” appearing in Sakalthôr “✱Shore-son”.

Phonetically, this element does not fit the earlier Adûnaic phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report, which state that only a long [ē] was allowed in Adûnaic (SD/423). When Tolkien wrote Lowdham’s Report, Zimraphel’s Adûnaic name was instead Zimrahil, so perhaps -hil was an earlier form of this suffix. If the suffix -phel were to be used in the phonetic context of the Adûnaic of Lowdham’s Report (Middle Adûnaic) it might have the form ✱-phêl. See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

-êth

suffix. feminine suffix

A feminine suffix appearing in several names, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/11). On SD/427, Tolkien said that the affix -th was often found in feminine forms.

-î

suffix. feminine suffix

A suffix used to form feminine nouns from common or masculine nouns (SD/435). Another common variant was -ê (SD/438).

-dâ- Reconstructed

suffix. verbal suffix

A possible causative verbal suffix in ugrudâ- “to overshadow”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/24). It may be related to Primitive Elvish causative suffix ✶-tā. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne instead suggested (VSH/24) it may be related to the Adûnaic prepositional suffix -ada “to, toward”.

-il

suffix. feminine suffix

cardh

noun. deed, feat

carth

noun. deed, feat

carth

noun. deed

durgul

noun. sorcery

gwend

noun. maiden

gwenn

noun. maiden

gwenn

noun. maiden

morgul

noun. sorcery

sûth

noun. draught

sûth

noun. draught

A noun appearing as N. sûth “draught” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√SUK “drink”, likely from primitive ✱suktō given its Quenya cognate ᴹQ. suhto (Ety/SUK). It is thus likely that the combination ukt vocalized to ūth, as it did for similar words in The Etymologies such as N. lhûtha- “enchant” vs. ᴹQ. luhta- under the root ᴹ√LUK (Ety/LUK).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s instead had G. suith “a drink, a draught” (GL/68) from the early root ᴱ√SOKO (QL/85), representing a different vocalization: okt vocalizing to oith (HPG/§2.6) and then oi becoming ui (PE15/13). It seems the phonetic developments in The Etymologies of that late 1930s were different, but in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from this same period, Tolkien said [ui] was the result of vocalized u + χ (PE22/40), and indeed that seems to be the phonetic developments in later Sindarin as well, given words like S. nuitha- from primitive ✶nuktā- (WJ/413).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use ᴺS. suith for “draught, a drink”, a form I saw first suggested by David Salo in his book Gateway to Sindarin (GS/321).

-ien Reconstructed

suffix. feminine ending

gûldur

noun. sorcery

calar

noun. lamp