hísië

mist, mistiness

hísië (þ) noun "mist, mistiness" (Nam, SA:hîth, PE17:73), also hísë.

hísië

noun. mist, mistiness

A word for “mist”, but more abstract than hísë (from which it is derived), so closer in sense to “mistiness” (PE17/73). It appeared in the Namárië poem (LotR/377).

Cognates

• S. hîth “mist” ✧ SA/hîth

Derivations

• √KHITH “mist, mist, [ᴹ√] fog” ✧ PE17/073

Element in

• Q. ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë “and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya forever” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë “and mist covers (lit. down-roofs) Calacirya’s jewels forever” ✧ RGEO/59

Elements

Word	Gloss
hísë	“mist, mist, [ᴹQ.] fog, [ᴱQ.] haze; dusk; bleared”
-ië	“abstract noun, adverb”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√KHIΘ > hísië	[kʰīθie] > [kʰīθie] > [xīθie] > [hīθie] > [hīsie]	✧ PE17/073

Variations

• hísie ✧ PE17/076; PE17/169
• hī́sië̀ ✧ RGEO/58
• hīsië ✧ RGEO/59

hísë

mist, fog

hísë (þ) (stem #hísi- because of the primitive form ¤khīthi, cf. hísilanya, Hísilómë) (1) noun "mist, fog" (KHIS/KHITH). According to VT45:22, hísë is also the name of Tengwa #11 in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, but Tolkien would later call #11 harma/aha instead.

hísë

noun. mist, mist, [ᴹQ.] fog, [ᴱQ.] haze; dusk; bleared

A word for “mist” appearing as an element in several names. It is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writings, but ᴹQ. híse “mist, fog” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶khīthi, indicating a stem form of hísi- [†híþi-] (Ety/KHIS). Its continued appearance in words like Q. Hísilómë “Land of Mist” (S/118) and Q. hísilanya “mist thread” (PE17/60) indicates its ongoing validity.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. hīse appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√HISI alongside a variant ᴱQ. histe, but there it was glossed “dusk” (QL/40). In drafts of the Oilima Markirya written circa 1930 it was glossed “haze” (PE16/62) or “mist” (PE16/75; MC/221), but in the final 1931 iteration of the poem it appeared only in the very-loosely translated phrase ᴱQ. úri nienaite híse “a bleared sun”, perhaps literally “✱sun [with a] tearful mist” (MC/214). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s it was “mist” (PE21/32) and in The Etymologies of the late 1930s “mist, fog” as noted above, so Tolkien seems to have stuck with the meaning “mist” thereafter.

Cognates

• S. hîth “mist”

Derivations

• √KHITH “mist, mist, [ᴹ√] fog”

Element in

• ᴺQ. hísëa “misty”
• Q. hísië “mist, mistiness”
• Q. hísilanya “mist thread, grey elvish rope” ✧ PE17/060
• Q. Hísilómë “Land of Mist, (lit.) Mist-and-Dusk”
• Q. Hísimë “November, *Misty-one”

hîth

noun. mist, fog

hîth

noun. mist

The Sindarin word for “mist”, an element in many names, derived from the root √KHITH of the same meaning (SA/hîth; PE17/73).

Conceptual Development: N. hîth “mist” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, already with the derivation given above (Ety/KHIS), though when Tolkien first defined the word, he first wrote (and then deleted) the gloss “fog” (EtyAC/KHIS). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road, Christopher Tolkien wrote hith (LR/364), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne confirmed that the actual form was hîth in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT45/22).

Cognates

• Q. hísië “mist, mistiness” ✧ SA/hîth
• Q. hísë “mist, mist, [ᴹQ.] fog, [ᴱQ.] haze; dusk; bleared”

Derivations

• √KHITH “mist, mist, [ᴹ√] fog”

Element in

• S. Hithaeglir “Misty Mountains, (lit.) Line of Misty Peaks” ✧ SA/hîth
• S. hithlain “mist thread, grey elvish rope”
• north S. Hithlum “Land of Mist” ✧ SA/hîth
• S. hithren “grey”
• S. hithui “misty”
• S. Nen Hithoel “Mist-cool Water” ✧ RC/328; SA/hîth

Variations

• Hith ✧ RC/328

hithlain

noun. mist-thread (a substance used by the Elves of Lothlórien to make strong ropes)

hîth

mist

hîth (i chîth) (fog), no distinct pl. form, not even with article (i chîth).

hîth

mist

(i chîth) (fog), no distinct pl. form, not even with article (i chîth).

hithlain

mist-thread

name of a fiber made in Lórien.

mith

wet mist

(i vith) (white fog), no distinct pl. form except with article (i mith). David Salo would read mîth with a long vowel. Note: a homophone is the adjective ”pale grey”. ✱

khith

root. mist, mist, [ᴹ√] fog

This root and its variants were the basis for “mist” words for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√HISI with derivatives like ᴱQ. híse “dusk” and ᴱQ. hiswa “dim, fading” (QL/40), and as an element in ᴱQ. Hisilóme which was glossed “Shadowy Twilights” in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/112). Thus the early root might have meant “✱dusk, dimness, shadow”. The root was probably also an element in the Gnomish equivalent Hithlum from this period (GL/20), perhaps the result of the sound change whereby [[g|[s] became [θ] before [l]]] in Gnomish.

The sense “haze” and “mist” for ᴱQ. híse first appeared in drafts of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/62, 75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this root as ᴹ√KHITH with variant ᴹ√KHIS and the gloss “mist, fog”; ᴹ√KHIS was listed first but all the actual derivatives were from ᴹ√KHITH (Ety/KHIS). The root appeared again in Notes on Galadriel’s Song from the late 1950s or early 1960s as √KHIΘ “mist” (NGS, PE17/73).

Tolkien’s continued use of Q. Hísilómë and (Northern) S. Hithlum throughout his life testifies to the enduring nature of this root, though it seems to have shifted in sense from 1910s “✱shadow” to 1930s “mist”, and from s to th.

Derivatives

• Q. hísë “mist, mist, [ᴹQ.] fog, [ᴱQ.] haze; dusk; bleared”
• Q. hísië “mist, mistiness” ✧ PE17/073
• S. hîth “mist”
• ᴺS. hithu “fog”

Element in

• ᴺQ. hisquë “smog”

Variations

• KHIΘ ✧ PE17/073; PE17/157

hîth

noun. mist

Changes

• hîth → hîth “fog” ✧ Ety/KHIS

Cognates

• ᴹQ. híse “mist, fog” ✧ Ety/KHIS

Derivations

• ᴹ✶khīthi “mist, fog” ✧ Ety/KHIS
  • ᴹ√KHITH “mist, fog” ✧ Ety/KHIS

Element in

• N. Hithdilias ✧ TI/124
• N. Hithliniath “Pools of Mist” ✧ Ety/KHIS
• N. Hithlum “Land of Mist, (lit.) Mist-and-Dusk” ✧ Ety/KHIS
• N. hithui “misty”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶khīt(h)i > hîth	[kʰītʰi] > [kʰītʰe] > [xītʰe] > [xīθe] > [xīθ] > [hīθ]	✧ Ety/KHIS

Variations

• hith ✧ EtyAC/KHIS
• Hith ✧ TI/124

hith

noun. mist, fog