Western Sindarin. >> dancen
Sindarin
dangen
adjective. slain
Cognates
- north S. dachen “slain” ✧ PE17/133
Derivations
- ✶dankĭna “slain” ✧ PE17/133
Element in
- S. Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain, (lit.) Mound of the Slain” ✧ PE17/133
- S. i mbair en Ndengin “the houses of the Slain” ✧ PE17/097
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶dankĭna > daŋχen > danghen > dangen [daŋkina] > [daŋkʰina] > [daŋxina] > [daŋxena] > [daŋxen] > [daŋgen] ✧ PE17/133 ✶dankĭna > nenghin [daŋkini] > [daŋkʰini] > [daŋxini] > [deŋxini] > [deŋxin] > [deŋgin] ✧ PE17/133
dangen
Western Sindarin
dag-
verb. to slay, to slay, [ᴱN.] kill
A verb meaning “to slay” derived from the root √NDAK, best known from its passive participle dangen as in Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain” (S/197). Tolkien wrote a set of possible past forms aðag, aðanc, aðarch in notes from 1962 (PE17/131), and the verb appeared in its (Noldorin) infinitive form degi “to slay” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NDAK “slay” (Ety/NDAK), along with another couple of (Noldorin) past forms: danc, degant (EtyAC/NDAK). The verb form ᴱN. (n)dag- “to slay” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/141), but its present form dág was glossed “kills” and in the contemporaneous Early Noldorin Grammar the form dagion was likewise glossed “I kill” (PE13/130). Thus “slay” and “kill” are both viable translations.
Possible Etymology: In notes from around 1962, Tolkien gave ✶dankĭna as the primitive form of its passive participle dangen, indicating a root √DAK rather than √NDAK, which is also consistent with its nasal mutated plural form on that page: {i dengin >>} i nengin (PE17/133). The 1964 past forms aðag and aðanc also seem to indicate derivation from √DAK (PE17/131). In notes from around 1967, however, Tolkien had the mixed mutated form n(d)engin in the phrase i·m(b)air en N(d)engin, indicating √NDAK, and he consistently gave nac- for the equivalent Quenya forms, so the early 1960s flirtation with √DAK seems to have been a transient idea.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume the root is √NDAK, and hence I’d give it the past form ✱annanc “slayed” rather than aðanc.
Cognates
- Q. nac- “to hew, cut, to hew, cut; [ᴹQ.] to kill, slay; to hate”
Derivations
- √NDAK “hew, slay, slay; hew” ✧ SA/dagor
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ndak- > Dag- [ndak-] > [dak-] > [dag-] ✧ SA/dagor Variations
- Dag- ✧ SA/dagor (Dag-)
dag
slain
(passive participle of dag- "slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin (i ndengin; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare SLAY.
dag
slain
"slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin* (i ndengin*; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare
dag
slay
dag- (i nâg, i ndegir), pa.t. danc or dagant, passive participle dangen "slain" (pl. dengin, lenited nengin) (VT45:37)
dag
slay
(i nâg, i ndegir), pa.t. danc or dagant, passive participle dangen "slain" (pl. dengin, lenited nengin) (VT45:37)
An adjective for “slain” derived from primitive ✶dankĭna (PE17/133), best known from its (mutated plural) appearance in the name Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain” (S/197). N. dangen “slain” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NDAK “slay” (Ety/NDAK). This adjective is likely the passive participle of the verb dag- “to slay”.
Conceptual Development: A similar adjective ᴱN. danc “killed in battle” appeared in the Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s, also related to ᴱN. dag- “slay” (PE14/66).