hí

here

hí adv. "here" (VT49:34)

hí

adverb. here

Derivations

• ✶khĭn- “*here, now” ✧ VT49/34

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶khĭn- > hí	[kʰī] > [xī] > [hī]	✧ VT49/34

sí

now

sí adv. "now" (Nam, RGEO:67, LR:47, SD:310, VT43:34, VT49:18, PE17:94), sin (SI, LR:47) or sín _(SD:247, 310) _before vowels. Compare the distribution of a/an in English, though in his Quenya version of Hail Mary, Tolkien used sí also before a vowel (sí ar "now and", VT43:28). Si, a short (or incompletely annotated) form of sí (VT43:26, 34). In Fíriel's Song, sí is translated "here".

sí

adverb. now

sí

adverb. now

Cognates

• S. hí “now” ✧ PE17/027; PE17/045; PE17/127; PE22/147
• S. sí “here, in this place (of speaker)” ✧ PE22/147

Derivations

• ✶sī “this (by me), now or here” ✧ PE17/067; VT49/18
  • √SI “this, this, [ᴹ√] here, now” ✧ PE17/067

Element in

• Q. an sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë “for now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. an sí Varda, Tintallë, Elentári ortanë máryat Oiolossëo ve fanyar “for now Varda, Star-kindler, Star-queen [has] lifted up her (two) hands from Mount Everwhite like (white) clouds” ✧ RGEO/59
• Q. á carë (sí) ancárië “try harder” ✧ PE17/094
• Q. Eru fai, sî, euva “*Eru (was) before, (is) now, will be (after)” ✧ PE22/147
• Q. ma Varda enquantuva i yulma nin sí “will Varda now refill the cup for me?” ✧ PE22/161
• Q. násië “now and at the hour of our death: Amen” ✧ VT43/34; VT43/34
• Q. sillë “like this”
• ᴺQ. silomë “tonight”
• Q. silumë “now, (lit.) at this time, now, at this time, *present” ✧ VT49/18
• ᴺQ. silussë “present tense, (lit.) here-and-now-tense”
• Q. sí man i yulma nin enquantuva? “who now shall refill the cup for me?” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. sí man i yulma nin enquantuva? “now who the cup for me will refill?” ✧ RGEO/59
• Q. sí man i yulmar men enquantuva? “*who now shall refill the cups for us?” ✧ Minor-Doc/2013-05-13
• Q. sí man i yulmar n(g)wen enquantuva “*who now will refill the cups for us (dual)” ✧ VT21/06
• Q. sinomë “here, (lit.) in this place” ✧ PE22/147
• Q. sir(a) “hither” ✧ PE22/147
• Q. síra “*today, this day”
• Q. sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar! “now lost, lost to those from the east is Valimar!” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar! “now lost is, [to one] from the East lost, Valimar!” ✧ RGEO/59
• Q. sívë “*as”
• Q. tensi “already, still, up to now/here; yet [from present]”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶sī > sí	[sī]	✧ PE17/067
✶si- > sí	[sī]	✧ VT49/18

Variations

• Sí ✧ LotR/0377
• sī ✧ PE17/070; PE17/094; RGEO/59
• sír ✧ PE22/147
• Sī̀ ✧ RGEO/58
• sī́ ✧ RGEO/58
• Sī ✧ RGEO/58; RGEO/59; RGEO/59
• si ✧ VT43/34

sír

adverb. now

sís

here

sís adv. "here" (VT49:18, 23), also sissë

sís

adverb. here

Element in

• Q. mennen sís “I arrive[d] here” ✧ VT49/23 (tennen sís)
• Q. sir(a) “hither” ✧ VT49/33

Variations

• sissë ✧ VT49/18
• si ✧ VT49/33

si

here

si adv. "here" (VT49:33; this may be a root or "element" rather than a Quenya word; see sissë, sinomë)

si

adverb. here

sin

now

sin (2) adv., a form of sí "now" (q.v.) often occurring before vowels; also sín (SI). However, sí itself (q.v.) may also appear before a vowel.

sissë

here

sissë adv. "here" (VT49:18), also sís

sissë

adverb. here

hí

adverb. now

Changes

• hî → thî ✧ PE17/027

Cognates

• Q. sí “now” ✧ PE17/027; PE17/045; PE17/127; PE22/147

Derivations

• ✶khĭn- “*here, now” ✧ VT49/34

Element in

• S. annon edhellen, edro hi ammen “Elvish gate open now for us” ✧ LotR/0307; PE17/045
• S. i glinn hen agorer Edain mi Velerian, ach hí in Ellath îr ed epholar “*this song Men made in Beleriand, but now the Elves alone (?remember) it” ✧ VT50/15; VT50/15; VT50/15
• S. sí il chem en i Naugrim en ir Ellath thor den ammen “*now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) to us” ✧ VT50/22

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶khĭn- > hî	[kʰin] > [xin] > [xi] > [hi] > [hī]	✧ VT49/34

Variations

• hi ✧ LotR/0307; PE17/045
• thî ✧ PE17/027
• hî ✧ PE17/027; PE17/027 (hî); PE17/127; VT49/34
• hin ✧ PE17/127
• sîr ✧ PE22/147
• Sí ✧ VT50/22

hî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> thî****

hi

adverb. now

_ adv. _now. annon edhellen edro hi ammen! 'Elvish gate open now for us'.

thî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> hî****

thî

adverb. now

hin

adverb. now

sí

adverb. here

sí

adverb. here

adv. here. Q. Sí now, here (usually 'now').

sî

adverb. here

sîr

adverb. now

sí(r)

adverb. now

si

adverb. now

sí

here

sí

sí

here

si

now

si (lenited hi)

si

now

(lenited hi)

îdô

adverb. now

A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.

Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.

I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.

The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:

• agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”

• batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”

In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.

In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.

It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.

Element in

• Ad. êphalak îdô Yôzâyan “far away now (is) the Land of Gift” ✧ SD/247
• Ad. ēphalek īdōn akallabēth “far away lo!now is She-that-is-fallen” ✧ SD/312
• Ad. êphal êphalak îdô hi-Akallabêth “far far away now (is) She-that-hath-fallen” ✧ SD/247
• Ad. ēphal ēphalek īdōn athanātē “far far away is now the Land of Gift” ✧ SD/312
• Ad. îdô katha batîna lôkhî “now all ways (are) bent” ✧ SD/247
• Ad. īdō kathī batānī rōkhī-nam “lo! now all ways bent-are” ✧ SD/312
• Ad. tâidô “once, then”

Variations

• īdō ✧ SD/247; SD/247; SD/288; SD/312; SD/312; SD/312