The best known Quenya word for “grey” and an element in a number of names. It is also used as a noun Sinda “Grey Elf”. Tolkien sometimes used a variant form sindë for “grey” (WJ/384; PE17/141; Ety/THIN); see that entry for details.
Quenya
sinda
grey
sinda
adjective. grey
Cognates
- S. thind “grey, grey, [N.] pale” ✧ PE17/072; SA/thin(d)
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Eldar Sindar “Grey Elves” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Eldar sindaron “Grey Elves’” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sinda “Grey-elf” ✧ SA/thin(d)
- Q. Sindacollo “Grey-cloak, Greymantle” ✧ PE17/072; SA/thin(d)
- Q. Sinda Eldō “a Grey Elf’s” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindanórië “Grey Country, Land of Greyness” ✧ PE17/072
- Q. Sindar Eldar “Grey Elves” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindar Eldaron “Grey Elves’” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindar i Eldar Malariando “Grey are the Elves of Beleriand” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindel “Grey-elf”
- Q. sindië “greyness” ✧ PE17/072
- Q. Singollo “Grey-cloak, Greymantle” ✧ SA/thin(d)
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ΘIN > sinda [tʰinda] > [θinda] > [sinda] ✧ PE17/072 ✶þindā > sinda [tʰindā] > [θindā] > [θinda] > [sinda] ✧ PE17/072 Variations
- Sinda ✧ PE21/77
sinda
proper name. Grey-elf
Quenya name for the Grey Elves (PM/223), usually appearing in its plural form Sindar (LotR/1137). It is simply sinda “grey” used as a name (SA/thin(d)).
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Elwë, aran Sindaron “Elwe, King of the Sindar” ✧ WJ/369
- Q. Sindarin “Grey-elven” ✧ SMI/Sindar
Elements
Word Gloss sinda “grey” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶thindā > thinda > sinda [tʰindā] > [θindā] > [θinda] > [sinda] ✧ PE17/141 ✶thinida > sinda [tʰinida] > [tʰindā] > [θindā] > [θinda] > [sinda] ✧ PE17/141 √THIN > Sindar [tʰinda] > [θinda] > [sinda] ✧ WJ/384 Variations
- sindē ✧ PE17/140
- sinda ✧ PE17/141; PE17/141
sina
this
sina demonstrative "this" (following its noun in our sole example: vanda sina "this oath"). (CO, VT49:18; in the latter source, sina _is called an adjective). _This word would, like Sindarin hen, be derived from primitive ¤sĭnā (VT49:34). Cf. sin #1.
sina
adjective. this
Derivations
- ✶sĭnā “this” ✧ VT49/18
Element in
- Q.
sinar“today, today, [ᴹQ.] this morning”- Q. vanda sina termaruva Elenna·nóreo alcar enyalien “This oath shall stand in memory of the glory of the Land of the Star” ✧ UT/305
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶sĭnā > sina [sinā] > [sina] ✧ VT49/18
sindë
grey, pale or silvery grey
sindë (þ) adj. "grey, pale or silvery grey" (the Vanyarin dialect preserves the older form þindë) (WJ:384, THIN; in SA:thin(d) the form given is sinda, cf. also sindanóriello "from a grey country" in Namárië. Sindë and sinda_ are apparently variants of the same word.) _Stem sindi-, given the primitive form ¤thindi; cf. Sindicollo (q.v.)
Sindel
grey-elf
Sindel (þ) (Sindeld-, as in pl. Sindeldi) noun "Grey-elf" = Sinda pl. Sindar, but less common (WJ:384)
sindel
noun. Grey-elf
Elements
Word Gloss sinda “grey” Elda “Elf, (lit.) one of the Star-folk”
sindië
greyness
sindië (þ) noun "greyness", sindië-nórë *"land of greyness", also (more literally corresponding to the English translation) nórë sindiëo (PE17:72), other names of sindanórië, see sinda.
sindië
noun. greyness
Elements
Word Gloss sinda “grey” -ië “abstract noun, adverb” Variations
- sindie ✧ PE17/072
si
this
Derivations
- √SI “this, this, [ᴹ√] here, now”
Element in
- ᴺQ. silúmëa “current, contemporary, modern”
- Q. siar(ë) “*today, this day”
- Q. sítë “of this sort”
- Q. umbë nin i hríve nauva urra (si loa) “I have a feeling that winter will be bad (this year)” ✧ PE22/168
Variations
- si ✧ PE22/168
hiswa
grey
hiswa (þ) adj. "grey" (KHIS/KHITH, Narqelion)
mista
grey
mista adj. "grey"; see lassemista
mista
adjective. grey
Cognates
- S. mith “grey, light grey, pale grey”
Derivations
- √MITH “grey”
Element in
- Q. Lassemista “Leaf-Grey” ✧ PE17/083
hen
eye
hen (hend-, as in pl. hendi) noun "eye" (KHEN-D-E); possibly dual #hendu in hendumaica, q.v. Noun henfanwa "eye-screen, veil upon eyes" (PE17:176), adj. henulca "evileyed" (SD:68; cf. ulca).
hen
noun. eye
The Quenya word for “eye”, derived from the root √KHEN for eye-words (PE17/187; Ety/KHEN-D-E) and with stem-form hend- given its dual hendu (WJ/337).
Conceptual Development: This word first appeared as ᴱQ. hen in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶þχe-ndǝ and appearing beside ᴱQ. sé “eye, pupil” < ᴱ✶þeχē (PE12/21). Hen (hend-) “eye” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon though it was marked “†” for archaic (QL/40), and ᴱQ. hend- also appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the cognate of G. hen “eye” (GL/48). ᴱQ. hen appeared regularly in documents from the 1920s (PE13/147; PE14/43, 76; PE16/136), although in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s ᴱQ. sinda was given as the cognate of ᴱN. hen(n) “eye” (PE13/122). The form ᴱQ. sinda seems to have been a transient idea.
A lengthy declension of ᴹQ. hen “eye” appeared in documents from the early 1930s (PE21/52) and in The Etymologies of the 1930s it was based on a new the root ᴹ√KHEN-D-E “eye” (Ety/KHEN-D-E). In both these documents, inflected forms indicate a stem form of hend-. Thus this word and its stem were quite stable in Tolkien’s mind, though he did alter its root from early ᴱ√SEHE [ÞEHE] to later √KHEN.
Cognates
- S. hen(d) “eye”
Derivations
- √KHEN “base of eye-words, base of eye-words; [ᴹ√] look at, see, observe, direct gaze”
Element in
- Q. alahen “eyeless”
- ᴺQ. hencalcat “eye-glasses, spectacles”
- ᴺQ. hendelë “window”
- ᴺQ. hendelúpea cecet “peafowl, (lit.) eye-plumed pheasant”
- Q. hendumaica “sharp-eye[d]” ✧ WJ/337
- Q. henfanwa “eye-screen, veil upon eyes”
- Q. henta- “to eye, examine, read, scan”
- ᴺQ. hentópa “eyelid”
mísë
grey
mísë (þ, cf. Sindarin mith-) adj. "grey" (used as noun of grey clothes in the phrase mi mísë of someone clad "in grey"). The underlying stem refers a paler or whiter "grey" than sinda, making mísë "a luminous grey" (PE17:71-72)
nóre
noun. country
country
nórië
country
#nórië noun "country", in sindanórië (see sinda) (Nam, RGEO:67)
sinda (þ) adj. "grey" (PE17:72); nominal pl. Sindar used = "Grey-elves", lit. *"Grey ones"; see WJ:375. Gen. pl. Sindaron in WJ:369. With general meaning "grey" also in Sindacollo > Singollo "Grey-cloak, Thingol" (SA:thin(d), PE17:72; see also sindë, Sindicollo);†sindanórië "grey land", ablative sindanóriello "from/out of a grey country" (Nam); the reference is to a "mythical region of shadows lying at outer feet of the Mountains of Valinor" (PE17:72). However, other sources give sindë (q.v.) as the Quenya word for "grey"; perhaps sinda came to mean primarily "Grey-elf" as a noun. Derived adjective Sindarin "Grey-elven", normally used as a noun to refer to the Grey-elven language. (Appendix F)