nan(do)

noun. (wide) valley, vale, (wide) valley, vale; [ᴹQ.] water-mead, watered plain; [ᴱQ.] woodland

A common Quenya word for “vale” or “valley”, cognate of S. nan(d) and derivative of the root √NAD (Ety/NAD; NM/351). In one place, Tolkien indicated this word was used more specifically for wide valleys (PE17/80). A narrow valley might be better described with a word like Q. imbe “deep valley”, ᴹQ. cirisse “cleft” or ᴹQ. yáwe “ravine”.

This word appears as nan(d) in numerous compounds (Let/308, UT/253, RC/384). The independent form of this word is more difficult to determine. It variously appeared as nanda (Ety/NAD, PE17/80), nando (PE17/28, 80) and nandë within the compound Laurenandë (UT/253). This entry uses nando because it looks more noun-like than nanda while avoiding conflict with [ᴹQ.] nande (ñande) “harp”, but any of these forms could be correct.

Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this word was as ᴱQ. nan (nand-) “woodland” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s from the early root ᴱ√NAŘA [NAÐA] (QL/64), but its use in actual names in this period indicates the actual meaning was “land”, such as ᴱQ. Hisinan “Land of Twilight” (QL/40) and ᴱQ. Tasarinan “Land of Willows” (LT2/140). It appeared as ᴹQ. nanda “water-mead, watered plain” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√NAD (Ety/NAD), but this meaning also seems to be an aberration since it still appeared in ᴹQ. Tasarinan “Land of Willows” in this period (LR/261; TI/417). In later writings, the various nand- variants were regularly glossed “valley”, as reflected in the new gloss for Q. Tasarinan as “Willow-vale” (RC/384).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d limit this word to nando “valley”, ignoring its earlier meanings and alternate forms. For “water mead[ow]”, I’d restore the Early Qenya word ᴱQ. nendo instead.

Cognates

• S. nan(d) “vale, valley, vale, valley, [ᴱN.] dale; [N.] wide grassland; [G.] field acre” ✧ NM/351

Derivations

• √NAD “hollow (of structures or natural features more or less concave with rising sides)” ✧ NM/351

Element in

• Q. Laurelindórenan “(Land of the) Valley of Singing Gold” ✧ Let/308; NM/351; PE17/080; UT/253
• Q. Laurenandë “Valley of Gold” ✧ UT/253
• Q. Nand’ Ondoluncava “Stonewain Valley” ✧ PE17/028
• Q. Nan-tasarion “Vale of Willow[s]” ✧ PE17/080
• Q. Noirinan “Valley of Tombs” ✧ UT/166
• Q. Ondoluncanan(do) “Stonewain Valley” ✧ PE17/028
• Q. Tasarinan “Willow-vale” ✧ RC/384

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√NAD > -nan	[-nando] > [-nand] > [-nan]	✧ NM/351

Variations

• nan ✧ Let/308; RC/384
• -nan ✧ NM/351
• nando ✧ PE17/080
• nanda ✧ PE17/080
• nandë ✧ UT/253 (nandë)

nan

woodland

nan (nand-) noun "woodland" (LT1:261)

tavas

woodland

tavas noun "woodland" (LT1:267)

tavas

noun. woodland

Derivations

• √TAW “wood”

nan(d)

noun. vale, valley, vale, valley, [ᴱN.] dale; [N.] wide grassland; [G.] field acre

A word for “valley” or “vale” appearing as an element in many names, mostly referring to wide valleys as opposed to imlad for narrow valleys. As an element in compounds or before another word in names it generally took the form nan as in Mornan “Dark Valley” and Nan Dungortheb “Valley of Dreadful Death”. As an independent word it had the form nand: “In Sindarin this gave nand which as other words ending in nd remained in stressed monosyllables but > nann > nan in compounds” (NM/351). It was a derivative of the root √NAD (NM/351; Ety/NAD).

Conceptual Development: The first appearance of this word was as G. nand or nann “a field acre” where it was probably a derivative of the early root ᴱ√NAŘA [NAÐA] as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (GL/59; LT1A/Nandini). Its use in early names like G. Nan Dumgorthin “Land of the Dark Idols” (LT2/35) and G. Nan Tathrin “Land of Willows” (GL/67; LT2A/Nantathrin) indicates the actual meaning was closer to “land”. The word reappeared as ᴱN. nann or nand “dale” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/150), consistent with the new gloss “Valley of Willows” for ᴱN. Nan Tathrin in Silmarillion drafts from the late 1920s (SM/35).

The word N. nand or nann “wide grassland” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√NAD (Ety/NAD), and the word nan(d) “valley” or “vale” was mentioned a number of times in Tolkien’s later notes (PE17/37, 83; RC/269). In notes from the late 1960s it was derived from primitived ✶nandē based on the root √NAD meaning “hollow of structures or natural features more or less concave with rising sides”. In these notes Tolkien said this word was:

> ... originally used only of not very large areas the sides of which were part of their own configuration. Vales or valleys of great extent, plains at the feet of mountains, etc. had other names. As also had the very steep-sided valleys in the mountains such as Rivendell (NM/351).

This note confirms that imlad was the proper word for a steep and narrow valley, but the notion that nand was not used for “valleys of great extent” contradicts its 1930s gloss “wide grassland” (Ety/NAD), as well as its use in names like Nan Dungortheb which were the extensive plains south of Ered Gorgoroth, or in the name Nan-tathren which had no particular boundaries.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would ignore Tolkien’s late 1960s notion that this word was not used for large valleys, and apply it to wide valleys and even extensive grasslands between or below mountains, using imlad for narrow valleys and tum for deep (and round) valleys surrounded on all sides.

Cognates

• Q. nan(do) “(wide) valley, vale, (wide) valley, vale; [ᴹQ.] water-mead, watered plain; [ᴱQ.] woodland” ✧ NM/351

Derivations

• √NAD “hollow (of structures or natural features more or less concave with rising sides)” ✧ NM/351

Element in

• S. Glornan “Valley of Gold(en Light)”
• S. Mornan “Dark Valley”
• S. Nan Curunír “Valley of Saruman”
• S. Nanduhirion “Dimrill Dale, (lit.) Vale of (the Region of) Dim Streams” ✧ PE17/037; RC/269; SA/sîr
• S. Nan Dungortheb “Valley of Dreadful Death” ✧ SA/nan(d)
• S. Nan Elmoth “*Valley of Starry Dusk” ✧ SA/nan(d)
• S. Nan Gondresgion “Stonewain Valley”
• S. Nan Laur “Valley of Gold(en Light)” ✧ UT/253
• S. Nan-tathren “Land of Willows, (lit.) Willow-vale” ✧ SA/nan(d)

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√NAD > nand	[nando] > [nand]	✧ NM/351
√NAD > nann > nan	[-nando] > [-nand] > [-nann] > [-nan]	✧ NM/351

Variations

• nand ✧ NM/351
• nan ✧ NM/351
• Nan ✧ UT/253

nand

vale

_ n. _vale. >> nan, Nanduhirion

nan

vale

_ n. _vale. >> nand, Nanduhirion

im

vale

(deep vale) im (dell), no distinct pl. form (though the pl. article in will mark the word as pl. when definite). The word typically occurs, not by itself, but in compounds like imlad, imloth, imrath, imrad (VT45:18, VT47:19)

im

vale

(dell), no distinct pl. form (though the pl. article in will mark the word as pl. when definite). The word typically occurs, not by itself, but in compounds like imlad, imloth, imrath, imrad *(VT45:18, VT47:19)***