Elpino

christ

Elpino noun "Christ", Tolkien's attempt to render this title into Quenya; the intended etymology of the Quenya word is uncertain (VT44:15-16; Tolkien apparently dropped this form and replaced it with a phonological adaptation of "Christ": Hristo or Hrísto.)

elpino

masculine name. *Christ

Changes

• Elpino → Hiris “*Christ” ✧ VT44/16

Hristo

christ

Hristo noun "Christ", Tolkien's phonological adaptation of this word to Quenya (VT44:18; also Hrísto with a long vowel, VT44:15-16)

hristo

masculine name. *Christ

A Quenyarization of Christ appearing in Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto (VT44/12). As suggested by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter, it is a phonetic adaptation from Greek Χριστός (VT44/16). It appeared with both long í and short i, but normally in Quenya a syllable ending in two consonants would have a short vowel.

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared as (rejected) Elpino. Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested that Elpino was probably an attempt at translating the name instead of transliteration, probably using the sense Χριστός = “Anointed” (with elp- = “anoint”), and they speculated on several possible etymologies (VT44/15-6). After rejecting Elpino, Tolkien tentatively wrote an incomplete form Hiris before settling on Hrī̆sto.

Changes

• Hiris → Hrísto “*Christ” ✧ VT44/15

Cognates

• ᴺS. Rhist “Christ”

Element in

• Q. a Hrísto órava ómessë “Christ, have mercy on us” ✧ VT44/15
• Q. Amillë Hristo “Mother of Christ” ✧ VT44/18
• ᴺQ. Anahristo “Antichrist”
• ᴺQ. Hristondur “Christian, (lit.) Servant of Christ”
• ᴺQ. Hristonosta “Christmas”

Variations

• Hrísto ✧ VT44/15
• Hiris ✧ VT44/16 (Hiris)