haleth

feminine name. Haleth

Daughter of Haldad and leader of the Haladin (S/146). Her name seems to be derived from the prefix hal- “chief, head” like all the other early leaders of the Haladin (WJ/238), though it might also be derived from hal(a) “watch, guard” (WJ/270).

Conceptual Development: In the Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name was applied to various male characters described as “hunters” (SM/108 note #11, LR/130), and in The Etymologies was tentatively given as a Noldorin name derived from the roots ᴹ√SKAL “skin, fur” or ᴹ√KHAL “uplift” (Ety/KHAL), but both these derivations were rejected. The leader of the Haladin was stil described as male in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (WR/157). The male Haleth the Hunter still appeared in the Grey Annals from the early 1950s (WJ/48), but in later Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, the leader of the Haladin was described as female (WJ/221). She appeared in a genealogy chart from this period (WJ/237), where a note indicates the derivation given above.

Element in

• Ed. Nothlir Haletha “Folk of Haleth” ✧ WJ/237
• S. Bar Haleth
• S. Halethrim “People of Haleth”

Elements

Word	Gloss
hal-	“chief, head”

haleth

masculine name. Haleth

halma

noun. skin, fell

Changes

• halma → helma “skin, fell” ✧ Ety/SKEL

Derivations

• ᴹ✶skelmā “skin, fell” ✧ EtyAC/SKEL
  • ᴹ√SKEL “*strip” ✧ Ety/SKEL; EtyAC/SKEL

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶skalmā > halma	[skalmā] > [xalmā] > [halmā] > [halma]	✧ EtyAC/SKEL

helma

noun. skin, fell, skin, fell, *hide

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “skin, fell” derived from the root ᴹ√SKEL (Ety/SKEL). It replaced ᴹQ. halma which was derived from the original form of the root {ᴹ√SKAL >>} ᴹ√SKEL (EtyAC/SKEL). Here “fell” is used in its archaic English sense of “an animal’s skin including its hair”, hence “✱hide”.

Conceptual Development: A word ᴱQ. fara “fur, fell” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s from primitive ᴱ✶swada, with sw > f as it did in Early Qenya of the 1910s and 20s (PE12/19); in the phonetic developments of later Quenya, sw > hw (PE19/79). Earliest still Tolkien had ᴱQ. vóre “fur” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√VŌRI of the same meaning (QL/102).

Derivations

• ᴹ✶skelmā “skin, fell” ✧ Ety/SKEL
  • ᴹ√SKEL “*strip” ✧ Ety/SKEL; EtyAC/SKEL

Element in

• ᴺQ. helmolpë “wine-skin, (lit.) skin-bottle”
• ᴺQ. helmunquë “wrinkle, (lit.) skin-hollow”
• ᴺQ. teccelma “scroll, parchment, (lit.) writing-skin”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶skelmā > helma	[skelmā] > [xelmā] > [helmā] > [helma]	✧ Ety/SKEL

skelmā

noun. skin, fell

Changes

• skalmā → skelmā “skin, fell” ✧ Ety/SKEL

Derivations

• ᴹ√SKEL “*strip” ✧ Ety/SKEL; EtyAC/SKEL

Derivatives

• ᴹQ. helma “skin, fell, skin, fell, *hide” ✧ Ety/SKEL
• ᴹQ. halma “skin, fell” ✧ EtyAC/SKEL
• N. helf “fur, fur, *hide” ✧ Ety/SKEL

Variations

• skalmā ✧ EtyAC/SKEL (skalmā)

past

noun. skin

A word for “skin” appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s under G. path “peel, skin, bark” with pl. padhin (GL/63), hence probably related to ᴱQ. parma “skin, bark; parchment; book” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√PARA [✱PAÐA] (QL/72).

Derivations

• ᴱ√PARA “*peel”

naute

noun. skin

A noun for “skin” appearing in a list of body parts from the 1920s (PE14/117). Its etymology is unclear.