hína

child

hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.

hína

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.

Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).

Cognates

• Ad. -hin “child, patronymic”
• S. hên “child” ✧ SA/híni; WJ/403

Derivations

• √KHIN “child” ✧ PE17/157
• ✶khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403
  • √KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Element in

• Q. ar mi cemen rainë i hínin “and on earth peace, good will toward men” ✧ VT44/35; VT44/35; VT44/35
• Q. Eruhin “Child of Eru (God)” ✧ SA/híni
• Q. Híni Ilúvataro “Children of Ilúvatar” ✧ PE21/83; SI/Children of Ilúvatar
• Q. Melkorohíni “Children of Melkor”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√KHIN > hīn(i)	[kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni]	✧ PE17/157
✶khīnā/khinā > hína	[kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna]	✧ WJ/403

Variations

• hina ✧ WJ/403

na

to, towards

na (2) prep. "to, towards", possibly obsoleted by #1 above; for clarity writers may use the synonym ana instead (NĀ1). Originally, Tolkien glossed na as "at, by, near"; the new meaning entered together with the synonyms an, ana (VT45:36).

ana

to

ana (1) prep. "to" (VT49:35), "as preposition _ana _is used when purely _dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that the preposition ana can be used instead of the dative ending -n (#1, q.v.) Also as prefix: ana- "to, towards" (NĀ1); an (q.v.) is used with this meaning in one source (PE17:127)_

-nna

to

-n (1) dative ending, originating as a reduced form of -nă "to", related to the allative ending -nna (VT49:14). Attested in nin, men, ten, enyalien, Erun, airefëan, tárin, yondon (q.v.) and also added to the English name Elaine (Elainen) in a book dedication to Elaine Griffiths (VT49:40). The longer dative ending -na is also attested in connection with some pronouns, such as sena, téna, véna (q.v.), also in the noun mariéna from márië "goodness" (PE17:59). Pl. -in (as in hínin, see hína), partitive pl. -lin, dual -nt (Plotz). The preposition ana (#1) is said to be used "when purely dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that it can replace the dative ending, e.g. *ana Eru instead of Erun for "to God". In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the ending -n (or -en) expressed genitive rather than dative, but he later decided that the genitive ending was to be -o (cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren becoming Yénië Valinórëo, MR:200).

-nna

to, at, upon

-nna "to, at, upon", allative ending, originating from -na "to" with fortified n, VT49:14. Attested in cilyanna, coraryanna, Endorenna, Elendilenna, númenórenna, parma-restalyanna, rénna, senna, tielyanna, q.v. If a noun ends in -n already, the ending -nna merges with it, as in Amanna, formenna, Elenna, númenna, rómenna as the allative forms of Aman, formen, elen, númen, rómen (q.v.). Plural -nnar in mannar, valannar, q.v.

onna

noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature

A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).

Derivations

• √NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170

Element in

• Q. Aulëonnar “Children of Aulë” ✧ PM/391
• ᴺQ. heconna “child born out of wedlock, bastard”
• Q. nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya “*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
• Q. nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya “*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
• Q. Onnalúmë “Time of the Children”
• Q. Onnarië “Time of Children”
• Q. onya “my child”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ON/NO > onwe	[onwe]	✧ PE17/170
√ONO/NŌ > onna	[onna]	✧ PE17/170

Variations

• onwe ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170; PE17/170

onwë

child

onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)

onwë

noun. child

selda

child

selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)

seldo

child

seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)

seldë

child

seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.

sén

noun. child

Element in

• Q. Erusēn “Children of God” ✧ MR/423
• Q. Melkorsēni “Children of Melkor”
• Q. senya “*my child”

Tindómiel

daughter of twilight

Tindómiel, fem. name (UT:210), probably *"daughter of twilight" (tindómë + -iel) and thus the equivalent of Sindarin Tinúviel. Compare tindómerel.

tindómerel

daughter of twilight

tindómerel (also capitalized Tindómerel) fem. name "daughter of twilight", a kenning (poetic name) of the nightingale; = Sindarin Tinúviel. (TIN, SEL-D, SA:tin; "Tindómrl" in mirrored Tengwar in VT47:37 would seem to be an incomplete annotation of the same word). The form Tindómiel (UT:210) could well be an alternative Quenya equivalent of Tinúviel, and it is possibly to be preferred because the status of the ending -rel "daughter" is uncertain (it was to represent older -zel, -sel corresponding to the independent word seldë, but Tolkien changed the meaning of this word from "daughter" to "child", and since the word for "child" appears as hína in later texts, it may be that seldë and the corresponding ending -rel were dropped altogether).

tindómerel

feminine name. Daughter of Twilight

The Quenya name of Tinúviel (SA/tin, PE19/73). Since she was a Sindarin elf, this name is largely theoretical, as a development from the same primitive form: ✶Tindōmiselde. This name is a compound of tindómë and a suffixal form -rel of seldë “daughter”. In a couple places, Tolkien used this name to illustrated the development of primitive intervocalic ✶[s] into Quenya [r] (PE19/33, 73).

Conceptual Development: The earliest “Qenya” name for Tinúviel was ᴹQ. Tinúviel in linguistic notes from the early 1930s; it was declined in various noun cases, and was clearly intended to be a purely Qenya name rather than an adaptation of the Noldorin Tinúviel (PE21/35). The name ᴹQ. Tindómerel appeared in The Etymologies from the mid-1930s, where it already had the derivation described above (Ety/SEL-D, TIN). In some notes on Quenya phonology from the 1930s, this name appeared as Tindómirel with a medial i (PE19/33), but in a revision of those notes from the 1950s it was reverted back to Tindómerel (PE19/73). It appeared as (Tindómrl) in some examples of left-handed tengwar writing from the 1960s (VT47/37); Tolkien probably neglected to add the vowel diacritics in this case.

Cognates

• S. Tinúviel “Nightingale, (lit.) Daughter of Twilight” ✧ PE19/073; SA/tin

Derivations

• ✶Tindōmiselde “Nightingale, (lit.) Daughter of Twilight” ✧ PE19/073

Elements

Word	Gloss
tindómë	“(starry) twilight, (usually) time near dawn, (starry) twilight, time near dawn, [ᴹQ.] starlit dusk”
seldë	“daughter, daughter; [ᴹQ.] child [f.], *girl”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶tindōmi-sel(dĕ) > tindómizel > tindómerel	[tindōmiselde] > [tindōmiseld] > [tindōmizeld] > [tindōmizel] > [tindōmirel] > [tindōmerel]	✧ PE19/073

Variations

• tindómerel ✧ PE19/073; SA/tin
• Tindómrl ✧ VT47/37