-ndo

suffix. (masculine) agent

A masculine agental suffix given as -ndo in notes from around 1959 (PE17/190) and as (primitive) ✶-on, ondo in notes from the late 1960s (NM/353). A fair number of the words containing it seem to be neutral in meaning, such as Q. colindo “bearer” (LotR/953) and Q. runando “redeemer” (VT44/17). As a name suffix -on, it seems to be exclusively masculine, however.

Conceptual Development: The suffix ᴱQ. -ndo appears all the way back in the Early Qenya of the 1910s and 20s in words like ᴱQ. herendo “brother” vs. ᴱQ. heresse “sister” (QL/40) and ᴱQ. puyando “parent” (PE15/76). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien briefly had ᴹQ. -ando as the suffixal form of ᴹQ. hando “agent (male)” under the root ᴹ√ƷAN “male” (EtyAC/ƷAN), but that version of the root’s entry was replaced and this form did not appear in the updated version.

-ndon

suffix. -like, -ily

-ndon

similative

-ndon, case-ending for "similative": wilwarindon "like a butterfly" (see wilwarin), laurendon "like gold" _(PE17:58) In the post-LotR period Tolkien decided to abandon this ending, apparently because it was to similar to the agental suffix -ndo (PE17:58)_, and it does not appear in the Plotz decension.

-ndor

land

-ndor, final element in compounds: "land" (Letters:308, UT:253)

nór

noun. land

A term for “land” as in “(dry) land as opposed to the sea”, mentioned in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 (WJ/413) and again in notes from around 1968 (PE17/106-107).

Possible Etymology: In the Quendi and Eldar essay this term was derived from primitive ✶ndōro, but in the aforementioned 1968 notes Tolkien clarified that its stem form was nŏr-. This means it was probably derived from ancient ✱ndŏr-, where the long vowel in the uninflected form was inherited from the Common Eldarin subjective form ✱ndōr, a phenomenon also seen in words like nér (ner-) “man”. I prefer this second derivation, as it makes the independent word more distinct from the suffixal form -ndor or -nóre used in the names of countries.

-mo

suffix. agental suffix

A suffix of which Tolkien said “the ending -mo often appeared in names or titles, sometimes with an agental significance” (WJ/400). It is based on the pronoun mo “(some)one”. This suffix is often specifically neuter, as in [ᴹQ.] nilmo “friend” vs. male and female [ᴹQ.] nildo and nilde (Ety/NIL).

Conceptual Development: The suffix ᴱQ. -mo appears all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like ᴱQ. laulemo “inhabitant” and ᴱQ. qolimo “invalid” (QL/52, 78).

-on

suffix. masculine suffix

-r(o)

suffix. agental suffix

An agental suffix derived from ancient ✶-rō̆ (WJ/371), usually appearing as suffixal -r but sometimes as -ro as in quentaro “speaker, minstrel” (PE19/83; PE18/51). The fuller form appears especially in cases where the word is taken to be masculine: compare its feminine form [ᴹQ.] quentare “minstrel [f.]” (PE23/85). Tolkien indicated -rō was sometimes accompanied by nasal infixion, and that there was another variant -rdŏ > rd (WJ/371), but there are no clear signs of -r(d) in his later writings (but see the ᴱQ. examples below).

Based on the example ontari “parents” plural of [ᴹQ.] ontaro “parent [m.]”, it seems the usual plural form of this suffix may be -ri even in cases where -ro survived into Modern Quenya. This plural could be because of Quenya’s general dislike of repeated r-sound. However, ontaro may also be a specifically masculine form of an unattested gender neutral ✱ontar “parent” and ontari may be the plural of that gender neutral form, in which case likely there is no plural for the specifically masculine form. Regardless of the exact phenomenon in play, I would assume the plural of words like quentaro “minstrel” is quentari, referring to a group of minstrels of any gender.

Conceptual Development: There are no examples of -ro in the Early Qenya of the 1910s and 20s, but there are examples of agental -r and sometimes -ar, as in ᴱQ. maksar “cook” from ᴱQ. maksa- (QL/59), and ᴱQ. vaktelear “merchant” from ᴱQ. vaktele “trade” (QL/99). There are also examples of -r(d), such as ᴱQ. ektar (ektard-) “swordman” (QL/35) and ᴱQ. moar (moard-) “shepherd” (QL/60).

Sauro

carpenter, wright, builder

[sauro] (2) (þ) noun "carpenter, wright, builder", changed by Tolkien to samno (VT46:15)

nór

land

nór noun "land" (stem nor-, PE17:106) this is land as opposed to water and sea (nor in Letters:308). Cf. nórë.

nóre

noun. land

nórë

land

nórë noun "land" (associated with a particular people) (WJ:413), "country, land, dwelling-place, region where certain people live, race, clan" (NŌ, NDOR, BAL), also used = "race, tribe, people" (SA:dôr, PE17:169; however, the normal word for "people" is lië). Early "Qenya" hasnórë "native land, nation, family, country" (in compounds -nor) (LT1:272)

samno

carpenter, wright, builder

samno (þ) noun "carpenter, wright, builder" (STAB)

hlarindo

noun. hearer