1) ael (aelin-, pl. aelin) (lake, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin. 2)
Sindarin
ael
noun. lake, pool
Cognates
- Q. ailin “a large lake, (large) lake, [ᴹQ.] pool”
Element in
- S. Aelin-uial “Meres of Twilight” ✧ SA/aelin
- S. Aeluin “*Blue Lake” ✧ S/162
Elements
Word Gloss AY(AR) “sea” LIN “pool, mere, lake” Variations
- aelin ✧ SA/lin¹
ael
noun. lake, pool, mere
aelin
noun. lake, pool
loeg
noun. pool
loeg
noun. pool
lîn
noun. pool
lô
noun. shallow lake, fenland
rim
noun. cold pool or lake (in mountains)
ael
pool
ael
mere
ael (aelin-, pl. aelin) (lake, pool). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin.
loeg
pool
loeg (no distinct pl. form: loeg is also atttested with plural meaning) (VT45:29). 4) nên (water, lake, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.
lîn
pool
lîn (lake), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #**liniath (isolated from Hithliniath**, WJ:194). 3)
lîn
lake
1) lîn (pool), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #liniath (isolated from Hithliniath, WJ:194). 2) ael (aelin-, pl. aelin) (pool, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin. 3) nên (water, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn**. **
A noun for “lake, pool”, appearing as an element in Aeluin “✱Blue Lake” and Aelin-uial “Meres of Twilight” (S/114, 122). The latter name has its plural form aelin = “meres, ✱pools, lakes”.
Conceptual Development: This word had a long history as a cognate to Q. ailin; although the Quenya form was quite stable, the Gnomish/Noldorin/Sindarin forms went through a number of changes. The earliest iterations of this word appeared in in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as G. ail “a lake, pool” or G. ailion “lake” (GL/17). In the Gnomish Lexicon Slips the latter became {ailin >>} eilin “pool” (PE13/113). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱN. ailin “lake” with plural form ailiniath from Old Noldorin oilin (PE13/136, 158).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. oel “pool, lake” derived from primitive ᴹ✶ailin, a combination of the root ᴹ√AY and ᴹ√LIN (Ety/AY, LIN¹). In that document, its plural form was oelin (Ety/AY), where the plural preserved the final n that was lost in the singular. In The Etymologies it was an element of N. Oelinuial “Pools of Twilight” (Ety/AY), but in the contemporaneous narratives this name was Aelin-uial (LR/262), as it was in later Sindarin (S/114, 122). This reflects Tolkien’s vacillation on the development of the diphthong ai in Noldorin.
In The Silmarillion appendix Christopher Tolkien implied the regular Sindarin form of this word was aelin (SA/aelin), but more likely this was the plural form in Sindarin, as oelin was the plural in Noldorin.