duin

noun. (large) river, (large) river; [N.] water

A Sindarin word for river, more specifically a large one (LotR/1138; PM/54; RC/765; VT48/24), derived from primitive ✶duinē and the root √DUY “flow (strongly), flood, inundate” (RC/766; VT48/23-24).

Conceptual Development: The first precursor to this word seems to be G. duif “stream” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶duiwe and related to G. duil “flight” (GL/31). The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. duin under the root ᴹ√DUI̯, but there it was a loan word from Ilk. duin “water, river”. After Tolkien abandoned Ilkorin, it became a native Sindarin word.

duin

noun. (long and large) river (having strong current)

duin dhaer

place name. Duin Dhaer

Another name for the river Gelion, appearing as both lenited and unlenited forms Duin Dhaer and Duin Daer (WJ/191, 336). This name is a compound of duin “river” and the adjective daer “great”.

Duin D(h)aer

noun. great river (Gelion)

duin (“river”) + daer (“great”); #The variation of the second element might reflect Tolkien's reluctance to use the “uncouth” digraph dh.

duin

river

(long, large river with strong current) duin (i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin) (VT48:24)

duin

large river

duin (i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54)

duin

large river

duin (i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54); compare the river-name Anduin, ”long river”. GREAT RIVER sirion (i hirion, o sirion), pl. siryn (i siryn); compare Sirion as the name of a river in Beleriand. MOUTH (OUTFLOW) OF A RIVER ethir (estuary), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. ethiriath. Note: a homophone means "spy".

duin

large river

(i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54); compare the river-name Anduin, ”long river”.

duin

large river

(i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54)

beleg

adjective. large

adj. large, great. Q. melek-.

beleg

adjective. large

adj. large, great, big. . This gloss was rejected.

iaun

adjective. large

adj. large, extensive, wide, vast, huge. Q. yāna-. >> -ion

lorn

noun. quiet water

lorn

noun. anchorage, harbour

nen

noun. water (used of a lake, pool or lesser river)

nen

noun. waterland

nen

water

{ĕ}_ n. _water, lake. Q. nén. >> nîn

sîr

noun. river

celon

river

(i gelon, o chelon), pl. celyn (pl. i chelyn)

daer

large

daer (great), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

daer

large

(great), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

ethir

of a river

(estuary), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. ethiriath. Note: a homophone means "spy".

lind

river

”singer” may also be used of rivers (see

lorn

quiet water

(anchorage, haven, harbour), pl. lyrn (VT45:29).

nên

water

nên (lake, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn. FLOOD-WATER (or ”wash”) iôl (pl. ŷl) (RC:334, VT48:33).

nên

water

(lake, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.

sîr

river

1) (also = rill) sîr (i hîr, o sîr), in compounds sir- or -hir or -hír; no distinct pl. form except with article (i sîr), coll. pl. siriath. Note: sîr is also the adverb ”today”. 2) celon (i gelon, o chelon), pl. celyn (pl. i chelyn), 3) The word lind ”singer” may also be used of rivers (see . (WJ.309).

sîr

river

(i hîr, o sîr), in compounds sir- or -hir or -hír; no distinct pl. form except with article (i sîr), coll. pl. siriath. Note: sîr is also the adverb ”today”.

duin

noun. water, river

duin morghul

place name. Duin Morghul

celon

noun. river

duirro

noun. river-bank

lhorn

noun. quiet water

lhorn

noun. anchorage, harbour

nen

noun. water (used of a lake, pool or lesser river)

nen

noun. waterland

nen

noun. water

sirion

noun. great river

sîr

noun. river

sîr

noun. river

duinē

noun. (large) river

nen

root. water, water, [ᴱ√] flow

A root connected to water and (to a lesser extent) rivers for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appearance was as ᴱ√NENE “flow” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, though Tolkien marked both the root and the gloss with a “?”; it had derivatives like ᴱQ. nen “river, †water” and ᴱQ. nēnu “yellow water lily” (QL/65). Under this entry Tolkien noted that “nen water is perhaps different from nen river, which is from neře” (QL/65); elsewhere in QL Tolkien gave ᴱ√NERE² or ᴱ√NEŘE [NEÐE] as the basis for nen (nend-) “river”, a root he said was often confused with ᴱ√NESE “give to feed; feed, pasture; graze” (QL/66). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon he had G. nenn “(1) water, (2) river” and G. nendil “water fay” which were probably a blending of NENE and NEÐE, as well as G. nern “brook” from ✱nere¹ (GL/60), probably corresponding to ᴱ√NERE² from QL.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had unglossed ᴹ√NEN with derivatives like ᴹQ. nén/N. nen “water” and ᴹQ. nelle “brook” (Ety/NEN), whereas ᴱ√NERE² and ᴱ√NEÐE from the 1910s seems to have been abandoned. The primitive form √NEN or nē̆n “water” continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s writings from the 1940s, 50s and 60s (PE17/52, 167; PE19/102; PE21/64, 79).

nenda

noun. water

nē̆n

noun. water

duinë

noun. (large) river

-(n)duinë

suffix. (large) river

An element in several river names such as Q. Anduinë and Q. Nunduinë, the equivalent of S. duin. It did not survive as an independent word in Quenya:

> Common Eldarin bases DUY and LUY, for instance, were distinct. DUY meant “to flood, drench, inundate”, but LUY was the base of words for “blue”. Both would become LUY in Quenya. Which probably accounts for the disappearance from Quenya of C.E. ✱duinē “large river (liable to flood surrounding land)” seen in [S.] Anduin “long river” and Baranduin “brown river”: it became identical with [Q.] luine adj. “blue” (VT48/23).

In fact, its use in Quenya river names may have been a later loan from Sindarin.

Conceptual Development: In one place Tolkien did consider the suffix’s survival as an archaic independent Quenya noun †nuine, but Tolkien rejected the note where it appeared, replacing it with the above (VT48/30 note #2).

-duinë

suffix. (large) river

-úmë

large

-úmë (3) suffix "large" (of quantity)", as in liyúmë "host" (VT48:32)

Nénar

water

Nénar noun name of a star (or planet), evidently derived from nén "water" (Silm), tentatively identified with Uranus (MR:435)

Uinen

water

Uinen (Uinend-, as in dative Uinenden) fem. name, used of a Maia, spouse of Ossë (UY, NEN). Adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:404), though it is also said that it contains -nen "water" (SA:nen); the latter explanation may be folk etymology. In the Etymologies, the name is derived from the same stem (UY) as uilë "long trailing plant, especially seaweed".

alat-

large, great in size

alat- prefix "large, great in size". (ÁLAT, cf. VT45:5). In Alatairë.

alta

large, great in size

alta (1) adj. *"large, great in size" (root meaning)(ÁLAT). Alat- in Alatairë, q.v.

celusindi

river

celusindi _("k")_noun "river" (LT1:257; hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya, where the terms sírë and sirya appear instead)

hlóna

river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains

[hlóna (2) noun "a river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains" (VT48:27; the word is marked with a query and the note containing it rejected; it was apparently replaced by lón, q.v.)]

nen

river

nen noun "river" (LT1:248), "river, water" (LT1:262) (In Tolkien's later Quenya, nén with a long vowel means "water", but hardly "river" - that is sírë.)

nerdo

large, strong man

nerdo noun "large, strong man" (compare nér) (VT47:33)

nuinë

suffix. river

nén

water

nén (nen-) noun "water" (NEN).

nén

noun. water, water, [ᴱQ.] river

The word for “water”, a derivative of the root √NEN of the same meaning (PE17/52; Ety/NEN). Its stem form was nen- (Ety/NEN) and its primitive form was given as ✶nē̆n, the vowel length variation due to distinct subjective nēn versus objective/inflected nĕn- in ancient monosyllables (PE21/64).

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with two senses: “river” and (archaic) “†water”. Tolkien indicated the two senses were based on distinct roots: ᴱ√NEŘE [NEÐE] and ᴱ√NENE respectively, with two distinct stem forms nend- and nēn (QL/64-65). The Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa also mentions the forms nen (nēn-) “water” versus nen(d-) “river” (PME/64-65). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the mid-1920s Tolkien had both nēn “river” (PE15/76) and nēn “water” (PE15/78), but in the Early Qenya Grammar he had only nēn “water” (PE14/43, 72), also appearing as nen “water” in documents on The Valmaric Script from this period (PE14/110).

In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had ᴹQ. nēn “water”, but in this document it had nēn- with long ē in its inflected forms as well (PE21/23). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, uninflected nén “water” had a stem form of nen- with short e (Ety/NEN), and the reasons for this variation was discussed in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936, the nominative/objective distinction noted above (PE21/64). This seems to be the paradigm Tolkien stuck with thereafter, as evidenced by S. nen “water” rather than ✱✱nîn.

pol

large, big (strong)

pol (2) adj. "large, big (strong)". Since this would be the sole example of a monosyllabic Quenya adjective, it may be that Tolkien is here citing the root POL rather than a complete word. Cf. polda.

sindi

river

sindi noun "river" (LT1:265; rather sírë in LotR-style Quenya)

sirya

river

#sirya noun "river", attested in the dual form siryat (VT47:11). Compare sírë.

sír

river

sír noun "river", shorter form of sirë (PE17:65, VT49:17)

sír(ë)

noun. river, river, [ᴱQ.] stream

The most common Quenya word for “river”, derived from the root √SIR “flow”.

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared as ᴱQ. sīre “stream” as a derivative of ᴱ√SIŘI [SIÐI] (QL/84), and this form and gloss also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/84). The form ᴹQ. siri- “river” appeared in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s, along with uninflected sire with short i and various inflected forms with siry- (PE21/10). The form sīre “river” with long ī appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√SIR “flow” (Ety/SIR; EtyAC/SIR). In several notes from the mid-1960s, it appeared in monosyllabic form sír (PE17/65) or sīr (VT49/17), but it had dual form siryat from the late 1960s implying a stem form of sirĭ- and a development similar to that of DN from the early 1930s (VT47/11).

Neo-Eldarin: Its form síre is probably better known and more commonly used in Neo-Quenya. For example this is the typical form in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT).

sírë

river

sírë noun "river" (SIR, VT46:13), "stream" (LT1:265). Also short form sír, q.v.Compare #sirya.

úra

large

úra (2) adj. "large" (UR), probably obsoleted by #1 above