Quenya 

híni ilúvataro

Children of Ilúvatar

Variations

  • Híni Ilúvatáro ✧ PE21/83
Quenya [PE21/83; SI/Children of Ilúvatar] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Ilúvatar

all-father

Ilúvatar masc. name "All-father", God (SD:401, FS, IL; Ilúv-atar, ATA, Iluvatar with a short u, SD:346). Often in combination with the divine name as Eru Ilúvatar, "Eru Allfather", cf. MR:112. "Qenya" genitive Ilúvatáren "of Ilúvatar" in Fíriel's Song, LR:47 and SD:246, the genitive ending is -en instead of -o as in LotR-style Quenya. Cf. the later genitive Ilúvataro in the phrase Híni Ilúvataro (see "Children of Ilúvatar" in the Silmarillion Index)

onna

noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature

A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).

Derivations

  • NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ON/NO > onwe[onwe]✧ PE17/170
ONO/NŌ > onna[onna]✧ PE17/170

Variations

  • onwe ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170; PE17/170
Quenya [PE17/170; PM/391; VT49/42] Group: Eldamo. Published by

hína

child

hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.

hína

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.

Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).

Cognates

  • Ad. -hin “child, patronymic”
  • S. hên “child” ✧ SA/híni; WJ/403

Derivations

  • KHIN “child” ✧ PE17/157
  • khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403
    • KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
KHIN > hīn(i)[kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni]✧ PE17/157
khīnā/khinā > hína[kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna]✧ WJ/403

Variations

  • hina ✧ WJ/403
Quenya [PE17/157; PE21/83; SA/híni; SI/Children of Ilúvatar; VT44/35; WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

onwë

child

onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)

onwë

noun. child

selda

child

selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)

seldo

child

seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)

seldë

child

seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.

sén

noun. child

Element in

Sindarin 

hên

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN, more specifically from ✶khinā with short i which became e in Sindarin due to a-affection (WJ/403). It often appeared in its mutated plural form chîn in phrases like Narn i Chîn Húrin “Tale of the Children of Húrin” (WJ/160). This is pronounced with spirantal “ch” as in German Bach, not affricate “ch” as in English “church”.

Christopher Tolkien made the editorial decision to render this plural form as Hîn in The Silmarillion as published as well as in Unfinished Tales, where it “was improperly changed by me [Christopher Tolkien] to Narn i Hîn Húrin ... because I did not want Chîn to be pronounced like Modern English chin” (LR/322). It seems Tolkien himself had similar concerns, as he sometimes rendered its Quenya cognate as sén, which would have Sindarin forms ✱sên “child” and ✱i hîn “the children”. However, Tolkien’s motive was probably a desire to retain the early (originally Adûniac) form Ad. Eruhîn “Children of God”, which in Sindarin otherwise became Eruchîn (LB/354).

Cognates

  • Ad. -hin “child, patronymic”
  • Q. hína “child” ✧ SA/híni; WJ/403

Derivations

  • khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403
    • KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
khīnā/khinā > hên[kʰinā] > [kʰina] > [xina] > [xena] > [xen] > [hen] > [hēn]✧ WJ/403
khīnā/khinā > hîn[kʰinī] > [kʰini] > [xini] > [xin] > [hin] > [hīn]✧ WJ/403
Sindarin [LR/322; MR/373; S/198; SA/híni; UT/057; UT/140; VT50/12; VT50/18; WJ/160; WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

hên

noun. child (mostly used as a prefix in patronymics or metronymics)

Sindarin [WJ/403] Group: SINDICT. Published by

eruchen

children of the one

)

hên

child

hên (i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). _(WJ:403) _CHILDREN OF THE ONE (Elves and Men as children of God) Eruchín** **(sg. *Eruchen)

hên

child

(i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). (WJ:403)

Primitive elvish

khin

root. child

A root appearing in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 with the gloss “child” (PE17/157), and again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 with the same gloss (WJ/403). It was the basis for the words Q. hína and S. hên “child”, which were probably inspired by the Adûnaic patronymic suffix -hin that Tolkien introduced in the 1940s as part of Êruhin “Child of God” (SD/358), originally an Adûnaic word but later on used in Sindarin (Let/345; MR/330). This root might be a later iteration of the early root ᴱ√HILI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with children (QL/40). As evidence of this, the Adûnaic word was first given as Eruhil (SD/341).

Derivatives

  • Ad. -hin “child, patronymic”
  • khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403
    • Q. hína “child” ✧ WJ/403
    • S. hên “child” ✧ WJ/403
  • Q. hína “child” ✧ PE17/157
  • Q. hindë “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/157
  • Q. hindo “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/157
  • ᴺQ. hinta- “to adopt”
  • Q. hinyë “baby”

Variations

  • khin ✧ WJ/403
Primitive elvish [PE17/157; WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khīnā

noun. child

Derivations

  • KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Derivatives

  • Q. hína “child” ✧ WJ/403
  • S. hên “child” ✧ WJ/403

Variations

  • khīnā/khinā ✧ WJ/403
Primitive elvish [WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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!

Qenya 

seldo

noun. child, child [m.], *boy

A word for a (male) child in The Etymologies of the 1930s added to its entry when the meaning of the root ᴹ√SEL-D was changed from “daughter” to “child” (Ety/SEL-D). It was written above its feminine equivalent ᴹQ. selde and an apparently neuter form ᴹQ. selda was written to the right, making seldo likely the masculine form as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (EtyAC/SEL-D), hence = “✱boy”.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√SEL(D) “child, child; *daughter” ✧ Ety/SEL-D

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√SEL-D > seldo[seldo]✧ Ety/SEL-D
Qenya [Ety/SEL-D; EtyAC/SEL-D] Group: Eldamo. Published by

aran

noun. child

This word first appeared as ᴱQ. ar (arn-) “child” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/32) and its stem form arn- appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/32). The word reappeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/135), but in the Early Noldorin Dictionary the Qenya form was given as arne. In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, the word appeared as ᴹQ. aran (arn-) “child” (PE21/19), but there is no sign of it from this point forward, probably displaced by Q. aran “king”.

Derivations

Variations

  • aran ✧ PE21/19

Middle Primitive Elvish

sel(d)

root. child, child; *daughter

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s, initially glossed “daughter” but later “child” with derivatives ᴹQ. selde, ᴹQ. seldo, ᴹQ. selda = female, male and neuter “child” (Ety/SEL-D). In Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien gave sel-de “daughter” (PE17/170), while S. sel(l) = “daughter” appeared in both the King’s Letter from the late 1940s (SD/129) as well as the Túrin Wrapper from the 1950s (VT50/5). The diminutive form for “daughter” appeared as Q. selyë in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/10).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer √YEL for “daughter” as a variant of ᴹ√SEL(D) under the influence of √YON “son”, mostly so I can still use the 1930s “child” words for other genders, at least in the Quenya branch. I would still use Q. seldë and S. sell for “daughter”, however, with a bit of semantic drift, with “girl” words becoming Q. nettë and S. neth.

Derivatives

  • sel(dĕ) “*daughter”
    • Q. seldë “daughter, daughter; [ᴹQ.] child [f.], *girl”
    • S. sell “*daughter, daughter; [N.] †girl, maid”
  • ᴹQ. selda “child [n.]” ✧ Ety/SEL-D
  • ᴹQ. selde “child [f.]” ✧ Ety/SEL-D; Ety/SEL-D
  • ᴹQ. seldo “child, child [m.], *boy” ✧ Ety/SEL-D
  • N. sell “girl, maid” ✧ Ety/SEL-D
    • N. iell “daughter” ✧ Ety/SEL-D

Element in

  • ᴹ✶Tindōmiselde “Nightingale, (lit.) Daughter of Twilight” ✧ Ety/SEL-D; Ety/TIN
  • N. -iel “daughter; feminine suffix” ✧ EtyAC/YEL

Variations

  • SEL-D ✧ Ety/SEL-D (SEL-D); Ety/SEL-D; EtyAC/TIN
  • SEL ✧ Ety/TIN
  • SELD ✧ EtyAC/YEL
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/SEL-D; Ety/TIN; EtyAC/TIN; EtyAC/YEL] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

pui

noun. child

A noun in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “child” (GL/64), probably derived from the early root ᴱ√PU(HU) “generate” (QL/75).

Derivations

Early Noldorin

arn

noun. child, child, [G.] son

A word appearing as G. arn “son” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/20), also appearing with the same form and meaning in Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document, but with a new plural form eirn (PE13/110). The word reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s but there its gloss was changed from “son” to “child” (PE13/137). In the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s its only gloss was “child” (PE13/160). There is no sign of this word thereafter.

Changes

  • arnarn “son” ✧ PE13/137

Cognates

  • Eq. ar “child” ✧ PE13/160
  • Et. ar “child” ✧ PE13/160
Early Noldorin [PE13/137; PE13/160] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Solosimpi

ar

noun. child

Cognates

  • En. arn “child, child, [G.] son” ✧ PE13/160
Solosimpi [PE13/160] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

ar

noun. child

Cognates

  • En. arn “child, child, [G.] son” ✧ PE13/160

Element in

  • Eq. aris “daughter, maid” ✧ QL/032
  • Eq. kalmar “child of light”
  • Eq. Lómear “Child of Gloom”

Variations

  • arne ✧ PE13/160
  • ar ✧ PE16/135; QL/032
Early Quenya [PE13/160; PE16/135; PME/032; QL/032] Group: Eldamo. Published by

arne

noun. child

hil(de)

noun. child

Cognates

  • G. hiltha “youth (more often masculine)” ✧ GL/49

Derivations

  • ᴱ✶χilþē “youth” ✧ GL/49
    • ᴱ√HILI “*youth, offspring” ✧ GL/49
  • ᴱ√HILI “*youth, offspring” ✧ QL/040

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ✶χilþē > hilde[xilθē] > [xilθe] > [xilðe] > [xilde] > [hilde]✧ GL/49
ᴱ√HIL > hil[xil] > [hil]✧ QL/040

Variations

  • hilde ✧ GL/49; PME/040; QL/040
  • hil ✧ QL/040
Early Quenya [GL/49; PME/040; QL/040] Group: Eldamo. Published by