Mardil

(one) devoted to the house

Mardil masc. name, "(one) devoted to the house", sc. the "house" of the kings (Appendix A; interpreted in Letters:386). This indicates that the first element can mean "house" in the sense of family or household (see mar, már). This Mardil is described as a good steward, possibly suggesting that mardil ("one devoted to the house/family") could itself function as a common noun "(faithful) steward".

mardil

masculine name. Devoted to the House

Name of the first ruling steward of Gondor (LotR/670, 1039). Tolkien translated the name as “devoted to the house” (Let/386). It is a combination of mar(da) “house” and the suffix -(n)dil meaning “devoted to, -friend” (SA/bar, (n)dil).

Possible Etymology: In notes from the 1960s (PE17/106-7), Tolkien distinguished the word mar(da) (mard-) “house” and the word már “home” often used of the names of lands. The name Mardil might contain either, but I think marda “house” is more likely. Some authors have suggested that the “House” in this name may refer to the House (family) of the Kings of Gondor (QQ/már), but in Tolkien’s notes he said that these words were not used in this way (PE17/107).

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s as ᴹQ. Máraher the “Good Steward” but was quickly changed to ᴹQ. Mardil (WR/153).

Elements

Word	Gloss
mar(da)	“dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world”
-(n)dil	“-friend, -lover; devotion, disinterested love”

mar

earth

mar (1) noun "earth" (world), also "home, dwelling, mansion". Stem mard- (VT46:13, PE17:64), also seen in the ablative Mardello "from earth" (FS); the word is used with a more limited sense in oromardi "high halls" (sg. oromar, PM17:64), referring to the dwellings of Manwë and Varda on Mt. Taniquetil (Nam, RGEO:66). The initial element of Mardorunando (q.v.) may be the genitive mardo (distinguish mardo "dweller"). May be more or less identical to már "home, house, dwelling" (of persons or peoples; in names like Val(i)mar, Vinyamar, Mar-nu-Falmar, Mardil) (SA:bar, VT45:33, VT47:6). Már is however unlikely to have the stem-form mard-; a "Qenya" genitive maren appears in the phrase hon-maren, q.v., suggesting that its stem is mar-. A possible convention could therefore be to use már (mar-) for "home, house" (also when = household, family as in Mardil, q.v.), whereas mar (mard-) is used for for "earth, world". Early "Qenya" has mar (mas-) "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" (LT1:251); notice that in LotR-style Quenya, a word in -r cannot have a stem-form in -s-.

már

home, house, dwelling

már (mar-) (2) noun "home, house, dwelling" (also "house" in the sense of family as in Mardil, q.v.). See mar above for references. In Mar-nu-Falmar, Mardil, and as final element in Eldamar, Fanyamar, Valimar, Vinyamar..

mélamar

home

mélamar noun "home", Exilic Quenya word of emotional sense: place of ones birth or the familiar places from which one has been separated (PE17:109). Mélamarimma noun "Our Home", an expression used by Exilic Noldor for Aman.

cemi

earth, soil, land

cemi noun "earth, soil, land"; Cémi ("k")"Mother Earth" (LT1:257; the "Qenya" word cemi would correspond to cemen in LotR-style Quenya)

kemen

earth

kemen noun "earth"; see cemen.

bardh

home

{ð}_ n. _home, the (proper) place for one (or a community) to dwell in.

bardh

noun. home

A word for “home” appearing in draft notes from the 1960s discussing the root √MBAR, where it was contrasted with bâr “house, dwelling”:

> In Sindarin bar [< ✱mbăr-] (pl. bair) was used for a single house or dwelling, especially of the larger and more permanent sort; barð [< ✱mbardā̆] was much as English “home”, the (proper) place for one (or a community) to dwell in (PE17/164).

It was also contrasted with milbar “dear home” which was used for the “emotional senses ‘home’ as the place of one’s birth, or desire, or one’s home returned to after journey or exile” (PE17/164). In later versions of these notes on √MBAR, Tolkien mentioned bâr and milbar but not bardh (PE17/109).

Neo-Sindarin: Given its absense from the final version of the √MBAR notes, it is possible Tolkien abandoned bardh “home”. However, I prefer to retain it for purposes of Neo-Sindarin for the ordinary sense of “home”, and reserve milbar for one’s “emotional home” or “✱true home” from which one is currently separated, as opposed to the home that you are living now = bardh. I would use bâr primarily in the sense “house, dwelling”.

Cognates

• Q. mar(da) “dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world” ✧ PE17/164

Derivations

• ✶mbarda ✧ PE17/164

Element in

• ᴺS. bardhon “inhabitant, native”
• ᴺS. bardhor “habitable”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mbardā̆ > barð	[mbarda] > [barda] > [barða] > [barð]	✧ PE17/164

Variations

• barð ✧ PE17/164

cae

noun. earth

This word is indeclinable, according to the Etymologies

ceven

noun. Earth

ennorath

noun. central lands, middle-earth

amar

earth

(archaic Ambar), pl. Emair

bâr

earth

(dwelling, house, home, family; land) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds.

bâr

home

bâr (dwelling, house, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds.

bâr

home

(dwelling, house, family; land, earth) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds.

cae

noun. earth

Derivations

• ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth”

cae

earth

(i gae, o chae). No distinct pl. form even if there is a pl., except with article (i chae). For ”earth” as a substance, see also

ceven

earth

1) ceven (i geven, o cheven), pl. cevin (i chevin) (VT48:23), 2) (world) Amar (archaic Ambar), pl. Emair; 3) bâr (dwelling, house, home, family; land) (i mâr, o mbâr, construct bar), pl. bair (i mbair). Also -bar, -mar at the end of compounds. 4) (maybe ”earth” as substance) cae (i gae, o chae). No distinct pl. form even if there is a pl., except with article (i chae). For ”earth” as a substance, see also SOIL.

ceven

earth

(i geven, o cheven), pl. cevin (i chevin) (VT48:23)

ennor

place name. central land, middle-earth

dâira

noun. Earth

A noun translated as “Earth” in the final version of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It may be related to S. dôr “land”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/13).

Conceptual Development: In the Lament of Akallabêth (first draft), this noun appeared as kamāt (SD/311).

Element in

• Ad. Bârim an-Adûn yurahtam dâira sâibêth-mâ Êruvô “Lords of [the] West, they rent [the] Earth with assent from Eru” ✧ SD/247
• Ad. bārun an-adūn {urahhata >>} urahta dāira sāibēth-mā ēruvō ✧ SD/247

Variations

• dāira ✧ SD/247

keme

noun. earth

Derivations

• ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth”

Variations

• kĕmĕ ✧ PE21/80 (kĕmĕ)

kemen

noun. earth

Derivations

• ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth”

Derivatives

• Q. cemen “the earth; earth, the earth; earth, [ᴹQ.] soil”
• S. ceven “Earth, earth; Earth”

amar

noun. earth

amar

noun. Earth

Cognates

• ᴹQ. Ambar “Earth, World” ✧ Ety/MBAR

Derivations

• ᴹ√MBAR “dwell, inhabit” ✧ Ety/MBAR
  • ᴹ√BAR “raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)” ✧ Ety/BAR

Element in

• N. Emerin “Middle-earth” ✧ Ety/MBAR
• N. Gondobar “Stone of the World” ✧ Ety/MBAR

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√MBAR > ambar > amar	[ambar] > [ambar] > [ammar] > [amar]	✧ Ety/MBAR

ambar

noun. earth

coe

noun. earth

This word is indeclinable, according to the Etymologies

coe

noun. earth

An indeclinable word given as {cíw >>} coe “earth” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KEM (Ety/KEM; EtyAC/KEM).

Possible Etymology: The primitive form of rejected cíw is given as ᴹ✶kēm and its derivation is clear: the long ē became ī and then the final m reduced to w after i as usual. The derivation of coe is more obscure, however. The likeliest explanation is that Tolkien imagined its ancient form with a slightly lowered vowel which he generally represented as ǣ in this period (in later writings as ę̄). According to the first version of the Tengwesta Qenderinwa and Comparative Vowel Tables from the 1930s (PE18/46; PE19/25), ǣ &gt; ei &gt; ai &gt; ae, and in The Etymologies itself, it seems ai often became oe instead of ae.

Neo-Sindarin: Updating the derivation of hypothetical ✱kę̄m would produced ᴺS. cae in Sindarin phonology. But given the obscurity of its derivation, I recommend using 1950s S. ceven for “earth” instead.

Changes

• cíw → coe ✧ Ety/KEM

Cognates

• ᴹQ. kemen “soil, earth; Great Lands” ✧ Ety/KEM

Derivations

• ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth” ✧ Ety/KEM
• ᴹ✶kēm “*earth” ✧ EtyAC/KEM
  • ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth” ✧ Ety/KEM

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√KEM > coe	[kǣm] > [kaim] > [kai] > [koe]	✧ Ety/KEM
ᴹ✶kēm > cíw	[kēm] > [kīm] > [kīv] > [kīw]	✧ EtyAC/KEM

Variations

• cíw ✧ EtyAC/KEM (cíw)