Sindarin 

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.

Derivations

Element in

Variations

  • ndir ✧ PE17/060
Sindarin [PE17/060] Group: Eldamo. Published by

dîr

adjective. hard

_ adj. _hard, difficult. dērā << dīrā. >> dír-

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:154] < _dērā _< DER. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

dîr

adjective. hard, difficult

Derivations

  • dērā “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154
    • DER “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

  • S. dirbedui “hard to utter, difficult to pronounce” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
dērā > dîr[dērā] > [dēra] > [dīra] > [dīr]✧ PE17/154

Variations

  • dîr ✧ PE17/154
Sindarin [PE17/154] Group: Eldamo. Published by

dern

hard

adj. hard, thrawn. Also used for Dwarves, esp. in pl2. dernlir. >> gorn

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:46] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

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

Sindarin [UT/385] MS *druγ, Dr druγu. Group: SINDICT. Published by

adanadar

noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men

Sindarin [MR/373] adan+adar. Group: SINDICT. Published by

drúadan

noun. wild man, one of the Woses

Sindarin [UT/385] drû+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

gor-

prefix. hard, difficult

Cognates

  • Q. ur(u)- “hard, difficult” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

  • GUR “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

  • S. gorbedui “only to be said with horror or grief, lamentable to tell” ✧ PE17/154
  • ᴺS. gorchanui “complicated, enigmatic, cryptic, hard to understand”
  • S. gornodui “hard to count” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
GUR > gor-[gur-] > [gor-]✧ PE17/154

Variations

  • gor- ✧ PE17/154; PE17/154
Sindarin [PE17/154] Group: Eldamo. Published by

adan

noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)

Sindarin [LotR/A(v), S/427, PM/324, WJ/387, Letters/282] Q. atan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

gorn

hard

adj. hard, thrawn. Also used for Dwarves, esp. in pl2. gornhoth (hostile implication). >> dern

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:46] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

gorn

hard

_ adj. _hard, stiff, thrawn. >> gornod, gordh

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:154] < GUR hard, difficult (_e.g. _Old Norse _tor-_, Greek δυς-). Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

thurin

masculine name. Secret

A name that Finduilas gave to Túrin translated “Secret” (UT/157), simply the adjective thurin “secret, hidden” used as a name.

Elements

WordGloss
thurin“secret, hidden”
Sindarin [UT/157; UTI/Thurin; WJI/Thurin] Group: Eldamo. Published by

adanath

noun. men

Sindarin [MR/373] Group: SINDICT. Published by

Dúnadan

noun. Man of the west, Númenórean

Sindarin [LotR/I:XII, WJ/378, S/390] dûn+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

dîr

man

1) (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”.

curunír

man of craft

(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.

firion

mortal man

(pl. firyn).

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.

norn

hard

norn (twisted, knotted, crabbed, contorted), pl. nyrn. Also used as noun = ”Dwarf”. (MR:93, WJ:205)

norn

hard

(twisted, knotted, crabbed, contorted), pl. nyrn. Also used as noun = ”Dwarf”. (MR:93, WJ:205)

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.

dolen

secret

(hidden), lenited dholen, pl. dolin

rhavan

wild man

(?i thravan or ?i ravanthe lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). – The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:

thurin

secret

(adjective) 1) thurin (hidden); no distinct pl. form, 2) dolen (hidden), lenited dholen, pl. dolin;

thurin

secret

(hidden); no distinct pl. form

thalion

dauntless man

(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”. 

dúnadan

man of the west

(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).

golu

secret lore

(i ngolu = i ñolu, o n’golu = o ñgolu) (secret lore), analogical pl. gely (in gely = i ñgely) if there is a pl. Archaic golw, hence golwath as the likely coll. pl.