indis

feminine name. Great Woman

The second wife of Finwë (S/64-5). Her name is said to mean “great or valiant woman” (PM/343), but it is also identical in form to indis “wife, bride”.

Conceptual Development: The name Indis appeared in several places in The Etymologies from the 1930s glossed as “Bride” (Ety/I², NDIS, NETH), but there it seems to be a name for Nessa (Ety/NĪ¹). The number and names of the wives of Finwë were unspecified in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s and 50s (LR/223, MR/175). Indis as the second wife of Finwë did not emerge until late in Tolkien’s writing (WJ/327, 383; PM/344).

indis

noun. wife, [ᴹQ.] bride; [Q.] wife

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “bride” derived from the root ᴹ√NDIS (EtyAC/NDIS). It was translate “wife” in the later phrase Q. Indis i·Ciryamo “The Mariner’s Wife” (UT/8), but I think this is a loose translation and “bride” is more accurate. In The Etymologies Tolkien gave two plural forms: inderi (which might be indesi) and indissi, the latter influenced by the plural ᴹQ. nissi for “women” (EtyAC/NDIS). I’d use the stem form indiss- for this word, to avoid awkward changes of the final consonant from s to r in inflected forms.

indis

wife

indis noun, translated "wife" in UT:8, but the form is assigned the meaning "bride" in other places (the regular translation of "wife" is rather veri or vessë). Indis "Bride", name of the goddess Nessa. (NDIS-SĒ /SĀ (NETH, NI1, NDER, I) ); Indis Nessa *"Bride Nessa", title and name of the Valië (NETH) The stem-form of indis "bride" is somewhat obscure; according to VT45:37 the stem could be indiss- (pl. indissi given), but the alternative form pl. form inderi shows a curious shift from i to e as well as the more regular change from s (via z) to r between vowels (compare the pl. of olos, q.v.) The stem indiss- may be preferred by writers.

indis i·ciryamo

proper name. The Mariner’s Wife

Title of the (unfinished) tale of Aldarion and Erendis (UT/8, 173-217).

indis

Indis

Indis is also Quenya for "wife; bride".

Acairis

bride

Acairis ("k") fem. name, "bride" (LT1:252; in Tolkien's later Quenya, "bride" is rather indis)

ciryamo

mariner

ciryamo noun "mariner", nominative and genitive are identical since the noun already ends in -o, cf. Indis i-Ciryamo "the Mariner's Wife" (UT:8)

nessa

young

nessa adj. "young" (NETH), alsoNessa as name of a Valië, the spouse of Tulkas (adopted and adapted from Valarin, or an archaic Elvish formation: WJ:404 vs. 416). Also called Indis, "bride" (NETH, NI1). The fem. name Nessanië (UT:210) would seem to incorporate Nessa's name; the second element could mean "tear" (nië), but since Nessa is not normally associated with sorrow, this #nië is perhaps rather a variant of ní "female" (compare Tintanië as a variant of Tintallë).

ciryamo

noun. mariner

veri

wife

veri noun "wife" (VT49:45)

veri

noun. wife

The most common word for “wife” in Quenya (VT49/45).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as ᴱQ. veri “wife” under the early root ᴱ√VEŘE [VEÐE] (QL/101), but there it was marked archaic (†). It also had a number of competing forms: archaic ᴱQ. †veruni and ᴱQ. †vesse alongside only one non-archaic form ᴱQ. vestin. One of these forms, ᴹQ. vesse, reappeared for “wife” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES). Later veri “wife” was restored, but derived from a new root √BER for marriage words (VT49/45).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to retain the 1930s root ᴹ√BES for marriage words in order to preserve Noldorin/Sindarin forms, but I would still use the veri for “wife”, just conceived of as a derivative of the root √BES, coming from ✱besī with intervocalic s > z > r.

vessë

wife

vessë noun "wife" (BES). A later source gives the word for "wife" as veri.

vinya

young

vinya (1) adj. "young" (VT46:22, VT47:26, PE17:191) or "new" (cf. compounds Vinyamar, Vinyarië below; cf. also winya "new, fresh, young" in a deleted entry in the Etymologies, VT45:16; there the word was first written as vinya.) Vinya "the Young", original name of the isle of Númenor among its own people (SD:332).

nessa

Nessa

Nessa ([ˈnesːa]) is a Quenya name meaning "young".

dîs

noun. bride

A word for “bride” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶ndīse under the root ᴹ√NDIS (Ety/NDIS). Ordinarily the s in this word would have been lost, but it was influenced by N. †dess “young woman” < ON. ndissa from the same root (EtyAC/NDIS). Dîs “bride” in turn influenced the form of N. †dî “woman”, originally ON. nī < ᴹ√NĪ (Ety/DER, NĪ¹; EtyAC/NDIS).

Neo-Sindarin: While I think this word is perfectly serviceable, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin it may be better to use the longer and more distinctive word dineth for bride.

dineth

noun. bride

dineth

noun. bride

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “bride”, a combination of N. †dî “woman, bride” and N. neth “young” (Ety/NĪ¹; EtyAC/NDIS, NIS).

dineth

feminine name. Nessa

A Noldorin name for Nessa appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s, it is simply dineth “bride” used as a name (Ety/NĪ¹, NETH, EtyAC/NDIS).

dîs

noun. bride

gwîn

adjective. young

herves

noun. wife

herves

noun. wife

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s for “wife”, a combination of ᴹ√KHER “govern” and N. bess “woman” (which itself archaically meant “wife”), the latter element based on the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES, KHER).

Conceptual Development: A precursor to this word was ᴱQ. herivesti “wife, ✱lady spouse” from Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, which was assembled from elements similar to N. herves, but in the Qenya branch of the language instead.

Neo-Sindarin: In later writings, Tolkien seems to have revised ᴹ√BES > √BER as the basis for marriage words (VT49/45). However, I prefer to retain the 1930s root ᴹ√BES and would therefore use herves for “wife”. However, in later writings Tolkien also used the short form bess for “wife” as well (SD/129), so I consider herves to be more formal.

hervess

noun. wife

hervess

noun. wife

neth

adjective. young

neth

adjective. young

irregular, compare: tathor @@@

neth

feminine name. Nessa

Noldorin equivalent of ᴹQ. Nessa appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s, derived from the same primitive root ᴹ√NETH (Ety/NETH, NĪ¹). Given its Quenya form, the primitive form of this name might have been ✱✶netthā.

banâth

noun. wife

The noun for “wife”, given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead.

verī

noun. wife

win

root. young, young, [ᴹ√] new, fresh

Tolkien used a similar set of Elvish roots for “youth” and “freshness” for many years. The earliest of these was primitive guı̯u̯ or gu̯iu̯ [ᴱ√GWIWI] in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like G. gui “just, just now, only just, already”, G. guin “recent, fresh”, and G. gwioth “youth” (GL/42). This root reappeared as ᴹ√WIR “new, fresh, young” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with variants ᴹ√WĪ and ᴹ√WIN and derivatives ᴹQ. vírie “youth” and ᴹQ. virya “fresh” (EtyAC/WIR). The ᴹ√WIN variant had derivatives ᴹQ. vinya/N. gwîn “young”. Tolkien considered, but rejected, deriving these from strengthened ᴹ√GWIN instead, producing (also rejected) ᴹQ. winya/N. bîn (EtyAC/GWIN).

Q. vinya appeared in quite a few later names with the gloss “young” or “new”, but the Sindarin form became S. gwain as in S. Narwain “January, ✱(lit.) New Fire” (LotR/1110) and S. Iarwain “Old-young” (LotR/1114; RC/128). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, both were given as derivatives of √WIN “young” along with Q. víne/S. gwîn “youth”, though the Sindarin word for “young” was given as (archaic?) gwein (PE17/191). Also related are various words for “baby” from 1968 notes such Q. †wine/S. gwinig “little-one, baby” (VT48/6). In these notes primitive wini was glossed “little” but this was deleted (VT47/26), making it likely that the earlier senses “young, new” were restored for √WIN.

As for the 1930s root ᴹ√WIR, it might have survived as an element in the month names Q. Víressë/S. Gwirith “April” (LotR/1110), perhaps meaning “✱freshness”.

bess

noun. wife, wife; [N.] woman

A word for “wife” appearing in the King’s Letter written towards the end of the 1940s (SD/129).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to G. bess “wife” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where it was a derivative of the early root ᴱ√Beđ (GL/22). In Early Noldorin Word-lists, Tolkien changed ᴱN. {bess >>} gweth “wife” based on the modified root ᴱ√wed- (PE13/139, 146); it also had a negated form ᴱN. urweth “without wife” (PE13/156). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien restored N. bess, now a derivative of the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES). However in that document the sense “†wife” was archaic, and it has come to mean “woman” in modern speech, replacing archaic N. †dî “woman” (Ety/BES, NDIS, NĪ¹). In the scenario of The Etymologies, the normal word for “wife” was herves (Ety/BES, KHER). However, in the late-1940s King’s Letter, it seems the sense “wife” was restored to bess.

At some point in the mid-to-late 1960s, Tolkien changed the root for marriage words from ᴹ√BES to √BER (VT49/45), apparently motivated by a need to deal with some etymological problems with the name S. Elbereth. Indeed, in The Road Goes Ever On from 1967, Tolkien said S. bereth meant “spouse”, also “used of one who is queen as spouse of a king” (RGEO/66). This calls into question the continued validity of bess from ᴹ√BES.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I prefer to retain the root ᴹ√BES for marriage word; see that entry for further details. I’d therefore keep bess, but I recommend using it only in the sense “wife”. For “woman” I’d use dî, much as I recommend using S. dîr for “man” over N. benn, which had similar conceptual developments.

gwein

adjective. young

adj. young. Q. vinya. >> gwîn

gwein

adjective. young

bess

wife

(i vess, construct bes) (woman), pl. biss (i miss). The word bess was later used = ”woman” (in general).

dess

young woman

(i ness, o ndess, constuct des), pl. diss (i ndiss)

díneth

bride

(i níneth, o ndineth), pl. dínith (i ndínith)

dî

bride

1) dî (i nî, o ndi) (lady), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndî), 2) díneth (i níneth, o ndineth), pl. dínith (i ndínith)

dî

bride

(i nî, o ndi) (lady), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndî)

herves

wife

1) herves (i cherves, o cherves), pl. hervis (i chervis), coll. pl. hervessath, 2) archaic bess (i vess, construct bes) (woman), pl. biss (i miss). The word bess was later used = ”woman” (in general).

herves

wife

(i cherves, o cherves), pl. hervis (i chervis), coll. pl. hervessath

neth

young

neth (pl. nith). A homophone is the noun ”sister, girl”.

neth

young

(pl. nith). A homophone is the noun ”sister, girl”.

neth

nessa

Neth, also called Díneth ”the young bride” (na Nineth)

neth

nessa

also called Díneth ”the young bride” (na Nineth)