Noldorin
cuen
noun. small gull, petrel, sea-bird
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources Ilk. cwēn > cuen [kwen] > [kuen] ✧ EtyAC/KWǢ Variations
- cuén ✧ PE22/032
maew
noun. gull
maew
noun. gull
Cognates
- ᴹQ. maiwe “gull” ✧ Ety/MIW
Derivations
- ᴹ√MIW “whine” ✧ Ety/MIW
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴹ√MIW > maew [maiwe] > [maiw] > [maew] ✧ Ety/MIW
A noun appearing as cuen “small gull, petrel” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, a loan word from Ilk. cwên of the same meaning, derived from the primitive root ᴹ√KWǢ (EtyAC/KWǢ). Its Noldorin form N. poen had fallen out of use. It also appeared with the form cuén “a sea-bird” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s, again as a loan word from Ilkorin (PE22/32).
Neo-Sindarin: Since Ilkorin was no longer a part of Tolkien’s system of Elvish languages in the 1950s and 60s, this word is somewhat questionable, but I think it is worth retaining, reimagined as a loan word from a different language (probably a dialect of Nandorin).