sinta-

fade

sinta- (þ) (2) vb. "fade", pa.t. sintanë (THIN)

vinda-

fade

[vinda- vb. "fade"; pa.t. vindanë given (VT46:21). Compare vinta-.]

vinta-

fade

[vinta- (2) vb. "fade", pa.t. vintë, vintanë given. (WIN/WIND) Compare vinda-.]

quel-

verb. to fade, to fade; [ᴹQ.] †to fail; [ᴱQ.] to perish

Cognates

• S. pel- “to fade, wane”

Derivations

• √KWEL “fade, die away, grow faint, fade, die away, grow faint, [ᴹ√] fade away; wither, [ᴱ√] decay, perish, die”

Element in

• Q. quelië “*fading” ✧ LotR/1110
• Q. quellë “late autumn and early winter, (lit.) fading”

fir-

die, fade

fir- vb. "die, fade" (cf. fifíru-); aorist (?) fírë "expire"; augmentless perfect fírië, translated "she has breathed forth"(but no explicit element meaning "she" seems to be present) (MR:250, 470, VT43:34)

qual-

verb. die

qual-

verb. to die

A verb for “to die” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/152), clearly based on the root √KWAL having to do with pain and death (PE18/91, 103; Ety/KWAL). As such, I would use this verb for undesirable or painful death, as opposed to fir- “to die (a natural or peaceful death)”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. qal- meant “die” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/134), and the root √KWAL had a long history of connection to death and pain in Tolkien’s writings.

Derivations

• √KWAL “die, pain, die, pain, [ᴹ√] die in pain”

Variations

• kwal- ✧ PE22/152

fir-

verb. to die, fade, †expire, breathe forth

A verb for “to die”, originally meaning “breathe forth, expire” (MR/250). Tolkien also translated it as “die, fade” in notes for the Markirya poem of the 1960s (MC/223). The use of this verb for death was connected to the passing of Míriel and was thus used only for a natural or peaceful death (MR/250); for discussion see the noun form fírië “death”. More unpleasant forms of death would instead use the verb Q. qual-. Based on the glosses from the Markirya poem, it seems this verb may also be applied metaphorically to non-living things that “fade (away)”, as in its more elaborate form fifíru- “to slowly fade away” (MC/222-223).

Cognates

• S. fir- “to fade, *die”

Derivations

• √PHIR “exhale, expire, breathe out, exhale, expire, breathe out; [ᴹ√] die of natural causes”

Element in

• Q. fifíru- “to slowly fade away” ✧ MC/223
• Q. fírië “death (of Men), *natural death”
• Q. Fíriel “She that Died; She that Sighed” ✧ MR/250
• Q. fírima “mortal, *(lit.) able to die”
• Q. násië “now and at the hour of our death: Amen” ✧ VT43/34

hesta-

verb. to wither

Derivations

• ᴺ✶. KHES “wither”

fir-

verb. to fade, *die

A verb for “to fade” implied by the noun firith “fading”, a period of the year in late autumn (LotR/1107). It also appears to mean “die” given related words fíreb “mortal” (WJ/387) and firin or firen “mortal, dying” (PE17/101). Its ancient root √PHIR had nothing to do with death, so these meanings were probably borrowed from Quenya; see Q. fir- “to die” and Q. fírië “death” for discussion. As such, the Sindarin verb fir- probably applied only to the natural death of mortals, also used metaphorically when applied to inanimate things to mean “fade”. The pre-Quenya verb for “to die” seems to be [N.] gwanna- “to die, (lit.) depart”; see that entry for discussion.

Cognates

• Q. fir- “to die, fade, †expire, breathe forth”

Derivations

• √PHIR “exhale, expire, breathe out, exhale, expire, breathe out; [ᴹ√] die of natural causes”

Element in

• S. fíreb “mortal”
• S. firin “mortal, dying, dying, mortal; [N.] human”
• S. firith “fading; [late] autumn” ✧ LotR/1107

pel-

verb. to fade, wane

Cognates

• Q. quel- “to fade, to fade; [ᴹQ.] †to fail; [ᴱQ.] to perish”

Derivations

• √KWEL “fade, die away, grow faint, fade, die away, grow faint, [ᴹ√] fade away; wither, [ᴱ√] decay, perish, die”

Element in

• S. peleth “waning, waning, *fading” ✧ LotR/1107

fir

fade

1) fir- (i fîr, i firir) (die), 2) pel- (i bêl, i phelir) (wither), 3) thinna- (grow toward evening)

fir

fade

(i fîr, i firir) (die)

pel

fade

(i bêl, i phelir) (wither)

thinna

fade

(grow toward evening)

fir

die

1) fir- (i fîr, i firir) (fade), 2) gwanna- (i **wanna, in gwannar**) (depart)

fir

die

(i fîr, i firir) (fade)

gwanna

die

(i ’wanna, in gwannar) (depart)

kwel

root. fade, die away, grow faint, fade, die away, grow faint, [ᴹ√] fade away; wither, [ᴱ√] decay, perish, die

In Tolkien’s later writings this root primarily meant “fade”, but its earliest precursor ᴱ√QELE from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s was glossed “perish, die, decay, fade”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. qele- of the same meaning, ᴱQ. qelet “corpse”, and ᴱQ. qelme “ruin, utter end, perdition, end, death” (GL/76). Derivatives from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had a similar semantic scope, such as G. cwel- “fade, wither”, G. cweleg “corpse”, and G. cweloth “fading”, most notably as an element in G. lasgweloth “leaf-fading, autumn” (GL/28); the connection between this root and words for “autumn” survived in Tolkien’s later conception of the languages.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the meaning of the root ᴹ√KWEL seems to have softened somewhat to “fade (away), wither” with more of a sense of waning rather than outright death, though ᴹQ. qelet “corpse” remained among its derivatives (Ety/KEL, KWEL). In the 1930s it still was related to words for “autumn”, notably N. lhasbelin (Ety/LAS¹) “leaf-fall, autumn” and ᴹQ. Narqelion “Fire-fading, Autumn” (Ety/NAR¹). The latter seems to have been modified to Q. Narquelië (and S. Narbeleth) as the Elvish word for October, literally “Sun-fading”, in the Lord of the Ring appendixes (LotR/1107). The root was also the basis for Q. quellë “autumn” (LotR/1111), though its Sindarin equivalent (firith) was based on a different root.

Starting in the 1930s Tolkien indicated this root had an etymological relationship with √KEL “flow (down)”; see that entry for details.

Derivatives

• Q. quel- “to fade, to fade; [ᴹQ.] †to fail; [ᴱQ.] to perish”
• ᴺQ. quelehtë “carcass”
• ᴺQ. queletya- “to perish”
• ᴺQ. quelmë “ruin, utter end, perdition, end, death”
• S. pel- “to fade, wane”

Variations

• KWEL ✧ PE18/103

gwinna-

verb. to fade

Cognates

• ᴹQ. vinda- “to fade” ✧ Ety/WIN

Derivations

• On. winda- “to fade, to have evening approach” ✧ Ety/WIN; EtyAC/WIN
  • ᴹ✶wínda- “fade” ✧ Ety/WIN; EtyAC/WIN
  • ᴹ√WIN(I)D “pale blue” ✧ Ety/WIN; EtyAC/WIN

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. wintha > gwinna	[winθa-] > [gwinθa-] > [gwinna-]	✧ Ety/WIN
On. winda > gwinna	[winda-] > [gwinda-] > [gwinna-]	✧ EtyAC/WIN

Variations

• gwinna ✧ Ety/WIN (gwinna); EtyAC/WIN (gwinna)

thinna-

verb. to fade, *(lit.) become grey

Cognates

• ᴹQ. sinta- “to fade, *(lit.) become grey” ✧ Ety/THIN

Derivations

• On. thintha- “to fade” ✧ Ety/THIN
  • ᴹ√THIN “*grey” ✧ Ety/THIN

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. thintha > thinna	[θinθa-] > [θinna-]	✧ Ety/THIN

Variations

• thinna ✧ Ety/THIN

thinna-

verb. to fade, to grow towards evening

The punctuation in The Etymologies is considered incorrect (the full dot after this word should conceivably be a comma)