aiwendil

masculine name. Lover of Birds

The Quenya name of Radagast (UT/393). Christopher Tolkien translated the name as “Lover of Birds” (UT/401), a compound of aiwë “bird” and -(n)dil “-lover”.

Elements

Word	Gloss
aiwë	“(small) bird”
-(n)dil	“-friend, -lover; devotion, disinterested love”

aiwë

(small) bird

aiwë noun "(small) bird" (AIWĒ, SA:lin #1); Aiwendil "Lover of Birds" (UT:401)

aiwë

noun. (small) bird

A noun meaning “(small) bird” (SA/lin¹, Ety/AIWĒ), appearing in Radagast’s Quenya name Aiwendil “Lover of Birds” (UT/401). It was derived from primitive ᴹ✶aiwē like its Sindarin cognate aew (Ety/AIWĒ).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, ᴱQ. aiwe appeared as the cognate of G. aigli “bird” (GL/17), but in Early Noldorin notes from the 1920s, the cognate of ᴱN. aiw “bird” was given as ᴱQ. oive (PE13/136, 158) or oi(we) (PE13/132). A similar form oio (stem oiw-) appeared in notes on the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/12). In The Etymologies from the mid-1930s, the form ᴹQ. aiwe was restored (Ety/AIWĒ), and this is the source of the derivation given above.

Cognates

• S. aew “(small) bird” ✧ SA/lin¹

Element in

• Q. Aiwendil “Lover of Birds” ✧ UT/401
• ᴺQ. aiwestë “bird’s nest”

Variations

• Aiwe ✧ UT/401 (Aiwe)

aew

noun. (small) bird

A noun meaning “(small) bird” (SA/lin¹, Ety/AIWĒ), appearing in the name Linaewen “Lake of Birds” (S/119, UT/401). It was derived from primitive ᴹ✶aiwē like its Quenta cognate aiwë (Ety/AIWĒ), with the primitive diphthong ai becoming the ae in Sindarin.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, G. aigli “bird” was given as a derivative of the root ᴱ√aı̯, though in this early iteration Tolkien said it especially applied to larger instead of smaller birds (GL/17). In Early Noldorin notes from the 1920s, it became ᴱN. aiw “bird” (PE13/136, 158). In The Etymologies from the 1930s, the form became N. aew “(small) bird” (Ety/AIWĒ), and this is the source of the derivation given above.

Cognates

• Q. aiwë “(small) bird” ✧ SA/lin¹

Element in

• ᴺS. aedh “nest”
• ᴺS. aemar “rookery, colony of birds”
• S. aewen “of birds” ✧ SA/lin¹

aew

noun. (small) bird

Cognates

• ᴹQ. aiwe “(small) bird” ✧ Ety/AIWĒ

Derivations

• ᴹ√AIWĒ “(small) bird” ✧ Ety/AIWĒ

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√AIWĒ > aew	[aiwē] > [aiwe] > [aiw] > [aew]	✧ Ety/AIWĒ