nér (1) (ner-, as in pl. neri) noun "man" (adult male elf, mortal, or of other speaking race) (MR:213, VT49:17, DER, NDER, NI1, VT45:9; see also WJ:393)
Primitive elvish
ndē̆r
noun. man
kel(e)bē
noun. deer, hind
urun
root. copper
ndē̆r
noun. man
kel(e)bē
noun. deer, hind
urun
root. copper
lér
man
nér
man
nér (1) (ner-, as in pl. neri) noun "man" (adult male elf, mortal, or of other speaking race) (MR:213, VT49:17, DER, NDER, NI1, VT45:9; see also WJ:393)
nér
noun. man
arasso
noun. hart, stag, (male) deer
arassë
noun. deer, hart, stag
celvë
noun. hind, deer, doe
A neologism coined by Vyacheslav Stepanov and Luinyelle on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) on 2022-02-13 based on primitive ✶kel(e)bē of the same meaning.
tambë
copper
tambë (2) noun "copper" (LT1:250; this is "Qenya"; see urus for a later word for "copper")
tampë
copper
tampë noun "copper" (LT1:268; in LotR-style Quenya tampë is [also?] the past tense of tap- "stop, block")
urus
copper
urus (urust-) noun "copper" (VT41:10)
urus
noun. copper
A noun for “copper” in notes from the late 1960s based on the root √(u)rus (VT41/10).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. tambe “copper, bronze” under the early root ᴱ√TAMA “beat; smelt, forge” in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/88).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would retain ᴺQ. tambë with the meaning of “bronze”, but would use the later word urus for “copper”.
vëo
man
†vëo noun "man" (WEG; etymologically connected to vëa "manly, vigorous"; the more neutral word for "man" is nér. According to VT46:21, Tolkien indicated that vëo is an archaic or poetic word.) Tolkien at a later point defined the word as "living creature" (PE17:189). Cf. variant wëo, q.v.
aras
noun. deer, deer, hart, *stag
A word in the name Cabed-en-Aras “Deer’s Leap” (S/224; UT/150). Its primitive form ✶aras(sō) was translated “hart” (PE21/82), so this word probably refers to a male deer.
aras
noun. deer
Cabed-en-Aras
noun. the deer’s leap
cabed (ger. of cab- “leap”) + en (gen. article) + aras (“deer”)
cabed-en-aras
place name. Deer’s Leap
The original name of Cabed Naeramarth before Nienor leapt to her death (S/224), translated “Deer’s Leap” (UT/150). It is a combination of cabed “leap”, en “of the” and aras “deer”.
Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, this name was first written Mengas Dûr, quickly revised Cabad-en-Aras with an a in the last syllable of the first word, and finally changed to Cabed-en-Aras with an e (WJ/156).
ross
adjective. red-haired, copper coloured (especially used of animals, as fox, red deer, etc.)
aras
deer
aras (pl. erais, coll. pl. arassath)
aras
deer
(pl. erais, coll. pl. arassath)
celef
noun. deer, hind
A neologism coined by Gábor Lőrinczi appearing on the VQP (VQP) based on primitive ✶kel(e)bē of the same meaning.
Dúnadan
noun. Man of the west, Númenórean
adan
noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)
adanadar
noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men
adanath
noun. men
drúadan
noun. wild man, one of the Woses
drû
noun. wild man, Wose, Púkel-Man
In PE/11:31, an older Gnomish word drû, drui meant "wood, forest", and in PE/13:142, the early Noldorin word drú was assigned the meaning "dark". Drû pl. Drúin later came to be used for the name of the Woses, with other derivatives (Drúadan, etc.). "Wose" is actually the modernization of an Anglo-Saxon word wasa only found in the compound wudu-wasa "wild man of the woods", cf. UT/385 sq. In the drafts of the "Ride of the Rohirrim" in WR/343-346, the Woses first appeared as "the dark men of Eilenach". Though internally said to derive from drughu in their own tongue, Tolkien's choice for the Sindarin name of the Woses was apparently influenced by earlier meanings assigned to this word
dîr
noun. man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix
A word for “man” as a male person, attested only as an element in compounds or as (archaic?) ndir (PE17/60). This word likely refers to male individuals of all races including Elves, Men, Dwarves and so forth, much like its Quenya cognate Q. nér. This word must have been derived from the primitive subjective form ✶ndēr of the root √N(D)ER “male person”, where the ancient long ē became ī, and the initial cluster nd- became d-, though the ancient cluster would still be reflected in mutated forms, such as in i nîr “the man” rather than ✱✱i dhîr.
Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursor to this word is (archaic) G. †drio “hero, warrior” with variants driw, driodweg and driothweg, a cognate of ᴱQ. nēr (GL/22). This Gnomish word was derived from primitive ᴱ✶n’reu̯, where the initial nr- became dr-. At this early stage, the root was unstrengthened ᴱ√NERE (QL/65), as reflected in (archaic) ᴱN. nîr “hero, prince, warrior-elf” in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s (PE13/164).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root became ᴹ√DER “adult male, man” of any speaking race and the derived form was N. dîr (Ety/DER). However, in this document Tolkien said:
> EN †dîr surviving chiefly in proper names (as Diriel older Dirghel [GYEL], Haldir, Brandir) and as agental ending (as ceredir “doer, maker”) ... In ordinary use EN has benn [for “man”] (properly = “husband”).
Thus in the scenario described in The Etymologies, dîr “man” was archaic and used only as an element in names or as a suffix. In ordinary speech it was replaced by N. benn, which used to mean “husband” but now meant “man”, while the word for “husband” became N. hervenn (Ety/BES). It is unlikely Tolkien imagined this exact scenario in later Sindarin, however, since the 1930s root for benn was ᴹ√BES “wed”, but by the 1960s the root for husband/wife/marry words had become √BER.
Neo-Sindarin: Since the status of N. benn is questionable given ᴹ√BES >> √BER, many Neo-Sindarin writers prefer to use S. ✱dîr as the Sindarin word for man. I am of the opinion that both dîr and benn are acceptable for “man, male person”. This is because I prefer to retain ᴹ√BES as the root for “marry, wed”, since it is the best basis for attested husband/wife words in (Neo) Sindarin.
rust
noun. copper
rust
noun. copper
A noun for “copper” in notes from the late 1960s based on the root √(u)rus (VT41/10).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. tăm “copper” (GL/69), clearly the cognate of ᴱQ. tambe “copper, bronze” under the early root ᴱ√TAMA “beat; smelt, forge” in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/88).
rustui
adjective. of copper
rustui
adjective. copper, copper, *of copper, like copper
adan
man
(pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.
bôr
trusty man
(boron-) (i vôr, construct bor) (steadfast man, faithful vassal), pl. *b**ŷr* for older beryn, i meryn (archaic böryn, i möryn). In ”Noldorin”, the older pl. forms were berein, beren.
curunír
man of craft
(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.
dîr
man
- (adult male of any speaking race) dîr (dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”. 2) (mortal human as opposed to Elf) Adan (pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.
dîr
man
(dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”.
dúnadan
man of the west
(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).
firion
mortal man
(pl. firyn).
maidh
fawn
maidh (lenited vaidh; no distinct pl. form) (fallow)
maidh
fawn
(lenited vaidh; no distinct pl. form) (fallow)
rhavan
wild man
(?i thravan or ?i ravan – the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). – The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:
rust
copper
rust, pl. ryst (idh ryst) if there is a pl. Possibly also ?urun (pl. yryn if there is a pl.).
rust
copper
pl. ryst (idh ryst) if there is a pl. Possibly also ?urun (pl. yryn if there is a pl.).
thalion
dauntless man
(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”.
urun
noun. copper
benn
noun. man, male
dîr
noun. man, referring to an adult male (elf, mortal, or of any other speaking race)
forodrim
noun. Northmen
forodwaith
noun. Northmen
forodwaith
noun. the lands of the North
forodweith
noun. Northmen
forodweith
noun. the lands of the North
urus
noun. copper
beorn
noun. man
The shift of e to eo is strange and has no direct parallels, but compare eo from i in meord "fine rain" (< primitive mizdê). Normally final -ô becomes -â in Nandorin (see golda), but here it is simply lost instead of producing *beorna. C.f. meord the other word where we might have expected to see a final -a (in that case from -ê); it may be that final vowels are lost in words that would otherwise come to have more than two syllables. - The shift of primitive s to r in besnô > beorn may be ascribed primarily to the blending with ber(n)ô, but r from z is seen in meord < mizdê; perhaps the s of besnô first became z and then r. Such developments are common in Quenya.
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
dēr
noun. man
opole
noun. fawn, young deer
A word in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “fawn, young deer” with variants opole and opolinte (QL/70). The word opele “fawn” was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/70).
opolinte
noun. fawn, young deer
man
masculine name. Man
tam
noun. copper
atan
noun. Man
veo
noun. man
beorn
noun. man
A noun for “man” that developed from the blending of primitive ᴹ✶besnō “man” and ᴹ✶berō “valiant man, warrior” > ber(n)ō (Ety/BER, BES). The simplest explanation is that ᴹ✶besnō > beznō > bernō, where first the [[dan|[s] voiced to [z] before the nasal [n]]] and then the resulting [[dan|[z] becoming [r]]]. The similarity of this word to ᴹ✶berō could have led it to develop into ber(n)ō as well. From there, the [[dan|[e] broke into the diphthong [eo] before the liquid [r]]] and then the final vowel vanished.
benno
noun. man
bar
noun. man
**lér noun "man" (NI1; hypothetical Q form of PQ dēr; the form actually used in Quenya was nér)