Sindarin 

-iel

suffix. It corresponds to masc

_fem. suff. _It corresponds to masc. -we. Q. -iel.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:23] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

-iel

suffix. adjective suffix

Element in

Variations

  • -iel ✧ S/235 (-iel)

-iel

suffix. perfective-participle

Element in

  • S. míriel “sparkling like jewels, like a jewel” ✧ PE22/152

Variations

  • -iel ✧ PE22/152
Sindarin [PE22/152] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-iel

suffix. daughter; feminine suffix

A widely used feminine suffix in Sindarin (PE17/23, 190). It sometimes more specifically meant “-daughter” in names such as Elrenniel “Arwen; ✱(lit.) Elrond-daughter” (PE17/56) or Tinúviel “Daughter of Twilight” (S/165), but in other cases it simply meant female as in names like Gilthoniel “Star-kindler [female]” (PE17/23). It was also sometimes reduced to -il or -el. See the entry on the root √YE(L) for a discussion of various conceptual vacillations in its connection to “daughter”.

Conceptual Development: The use of N. -iel dates back to Noldorin, where its connection to “daughter” was more explicit, though Tolkien vacillated on whether the suffix was based on ᴹ√YEL or ᴹ√SEL (Ety/SEL, YEL). The suffix does not appear to be specifically feminine in Gnomish of the 1910s, however, appearing in both female names like G. Níniel (LT2/100) and male names like G. Inwithiel (LT1/22).

Cognates

  • Q. -iel “-daughter; feminine suffix” ✧ PE17/023

Derivations

  • -iel “feminine suffix”

Element in

Variations

  • iel ✧ PE17/023
  • -el ✧ PE17/049 (-el)
Sindarin [PE17/023; PE17/049] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-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.

Element in

  • S. brethil “princess, (lit.) queen-daughter”
  • S. híril “lady, lady; [G.] princess, †queen” ✧ SA/heru
  • ᴺS. regil “mare”
  • S. Thuringwethil “Woman of Secret Shadow”

-eb

suffix. adjective suffix

Cognates

  • Q. -inqua “-ful, complete” ✧ WJ/412

Derivations

  • -ikwā “-ful, adjectival suffix” ✧ WJ/412
    • KWA “complete, full, whole, all, every, complete, full, whole, all, every; [ᴹ√] something” ✧ WJ/412; WJ/415

Element in

  • S. aglareb “glorious, brilliant, glorious, brilliant, *radiant” ✧ WJ/412
  • ᴺS. eitheb “thorny, *(orig.) full of points; sharp”
  • S. ereb “single, alone, lonely, single, alone, lonely, [N.] isolated”
  • S. fíreb “mortal”
  • ᴺS. glidheb “like honey”
  • S. gorthob “horrible”
  • S. maecheneb “sharp-eye[d]” ✧ WJ/337
  • ᴺS. maeligeb “wealthy, rich”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ikwā > -ipā > -eb[-ikwā] > [-ipā] > [-ipa] > [-epa] > [-ep] > [-eb]✧ WJ/412
Sindarin [WJ/337; WJ/412] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-en

suffix. adjective suffix

Derivations

  • -inā “adjective; passive participle”

Element in

  • S. aewen “of birds” ✧ SA/lin¹
  • ᴺS. anóren “sunny”
  • S. dínen “silent” ✧ PE17/098
  • S. firin “mortal, dying, dying, mortal; [N.] human”
  • S. glórin “*golden, golden, [G.] of gold”
  • S. lossen “snowy” ✧ RGEO/62
  • ᴺS. mirwelthen “vintage, *(lit.) wine pressing”
  • S. rhúnen “eastern”
  • S. thurin “secret, hidden”
  • S. tolothen “eighth” ✧ SD/129

Variations

  • -en ✧ PE17/098 (-en); RGEO/62 (-en); SA/lin¹ (-en); SD/129
Sindarin [PE17/098; RGEO/62; SA/lin¹; SD/129] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-in

suffix. adjective suffix

-ren

suffix. adjective suffix

@@@ perhaps a later, S-only, innovation

Cognates

  • Q. -rin “-ian, racial-adjective, language”

Element in

gwen

noun. maiden

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

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:191] < WEN-ED girl, virgin, maiden. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

gwend

noun. maiden

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

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:191] < WEN-ED girl, virgin, maiden. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

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.

Cognates

  • Q. vendë “maiden, *virgin” ✧ PE17/191

Derivations

  • wendē “maiden, young or small woman, girl”
    • WEN(ED) “maiden, girl, virgin; woman” ✧ VT47/17; VT48/18
  • WEN(ED) “maiden, girl, virgin; woman” ✧ PE17/191

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
WEN-ED > gwen(d)[wende] > [gwende] > [gwend] > [gwenn]✧ PE17/191

Variations

  • gwen(d) ✧ PE17/191
Sindarin [PE17/191] Group: Eldamo. Published by

sellath

noun. all the daughters

Sindarin [SD/129-31] Group: SINDICT. Published by

iell

daughter

1) iell (-iel) (girl, maid), pl. ill, 2) sell (i hell) (girl, maid), pl. sill (i sill), coll. pl. sellath**. **DAUGTHER OF TWILIGHT, see NIGHTINGALE

iell

daughter

(-iel) (girl, maid), pl. ill

sell

daughter

(i** hell) (girl, maid), pl. sill (i** sill), coll. pl. *sellath***. **

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”.

wen

maiden

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