n. gift.
Sindarin
ain
adverb. *should, could
aen
adverb. *should, could
Cognates
Element in
- S. edregol e aníra tírad i Cherdir Perhael (i sennui Panthael estathar aen) Condir i Drann “in especial he desires to see Master Samwise (who should be called Fullwise) Mayor of the Shire” ✧ AotM/062; SD/129
Variations
- ain ✧ AotM/062
ann
noun. gift
ann
noun. gift
Cognates
- Q. anna “gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, *present” ✧ PE22/163
Derivations
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶annā > ann [annā] > [anna] > [ann] ✧ PE17/090 Variations
- ann ✧ PE17/090
- anw ✧ PE22/163
anw
noun. gift
anw
noun. gift
sír
adverb. today
Eru
god
(the One) #Eru, isolated from Eruchín** **"children of the One" (= Elves and Men; sg. *Eruchen).
eru
noun. God
Cognates
- Q. Eru “The One, God”
eru
god
isolated from Eruchín "children of the One" (= Elves and Men; sg. ✱Eruchen).
ain
adjective. same, identical
A Neo-Sindarin analog of Q. imya. As originally coined by Fiona Jallings this word was aif, but Elaran pointed out that likely it would become ain because [[os|[mj] became [nj]]] in Old Sindarin: [imjā] > [inja] > [enja] > [ein] > [ain].
Cognates
- Q. imya “same, identical, self-same”
Derivations
- √IM “same, alike, [ᴱ√] same, alike”
aif
adjective. same
ant
gift
ant, pl. aint, coll. pl. annath. Also ann (-an at the end of compounds), pl. ain.
ant
gift
pl. aint, coll. pl. annath. Also ann (-an at the end of compounds), pl. ain.
aenor
noun. god
A neologism for “a god” opposed to “God” (Eru), based on Gnomish ain. A direct adaptation of the Gnomish form would be aen, but that conflicts with aen “should be”; Fiona Jallings suggested the extended form aenor in a Discord chat in August 2019.
Cognates
- ᴺQ. aino “god”
Derivations
- √AYA(N) “blessed; treat with awe/reverence, blessed; treat with awe/reverence; [ᴱ√] honour, revere”
sîr
today
(adv.) sîr. Note: a homophone means ”river”.
sîr
today
. Note: a homophone means ”river”.
The exact meaning of aen in King’s Letter has long been a source of speculation. It is generally thought to be some sort of subjunctive marker (“should”) or other marker of uncertainty, the earliest idea along these lines being Carl Hostetter’s suggestion that it might be related to Q. nai “may it be” (VT31/16). The 2023 publication of the earliest draft of the letter in The Art of the Manuscript provides very strong evidence for this theory. In this earliest draft, the word was first written as ge (AotM/62), likely a mutated form of ce which could be the cognate of Q. cé “maybe” or “if” (VT49/19). This was revised to ain, likely based on primitive ✶ai “supposing” from around this period (PE22/139). This was revised to aen in all later versions of the letter, reflecting the Sindarin sound change whereby ai became ae.
Assuming this analysis is correct, then aen probably means something like “should” or “could” and the untranslated parenthetical comment i sennui Panthael estathar aen means something like “who [rather?] should be called Fullwise”, a play on Sam’s actual name Panthael = “Halfwise”.