sá

fire

sá noun "fire" (LT1:265; "Qenya" spelling sâ. Rather nárë in LotR-style Quenya.)

ruinë

fire, a blaze

ruinë noun "a fire, a blaze" (PE17:183). Compare nárë.

uru

fire

uru noun "fire" (LT1:271)

úr

fire

úr noun "fire" (UR)This stem was struck out in Etym, but a word that must be derived from it occurs in LotR, so it seems that Tolkien restored it. Early "Qenya" also has Ûr, noun "the Sun" (also Úri, Úrinci ("k"), Urwen) (LT1:271). Cf. Úri.

narthan

noun. beacon, signal fire to notify of the approach of an enemy

narthan

noun. beacon

An element in the name Fornarthan “North Beacon” from notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor of the late 1960s (VT42/20). Since the initial element of this name is clearly “north”, the element narthan must be “beacon”, perhaps a combination of √NAR “fire” and √THAN “kindle, set light to”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT42/30 note #47).

Element in

• S. Fornarthan “North Beacon” ✧ VT42/30

Elements

Word	Gloss
NAR	“fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame”
THAN	“kindle, set light to, fire, light”

naur

fire

_ n. fire. naur an edraith ammen! _'fire [be] for rescue/saving for us'. Q. nár. >> Sammath Naur

naur

noun. fire, fire, [N.] flame

The basic Sindarin word for “fire”, derived from the root √NAR of the same meaning (LotR/942; PE17/38) and very well attested. It is derived from primitive ✱nār- since primitive long ā became au in Sindarin. It appeared as N. naur “flame” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the same derivation (Ety/NAR). As a suffix it usually reduces to -nor, since au usually becomes o in polysyllables. As a prefix, though, it is often Nar- before consonant clusters, no doubt because the ancient long ā was shortened before it could become au.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, the word for “fire” was G. sâ with archaic form †sai (GL/66) clearly based on the early root ᴱ√SAH(Y)A “be hot” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Sári; QL/81). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, the word for “fire” was ᴱN. byr or buir from primitive ᴱ✶ [mburyē] (PE13/139). Tolkien introduced naur in The Etymologies of the 1930s and stuck with it thereafter.

Cognates

• Q. nár “fire (as an element), fire (as an element); [ᴹQ.] flame” ✧ PE17/038; SA/nár

Derivations

• √NAR “fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame” ✧ PE17/038

Element in

• S. Aegnor “Fell Fire, Sharp Flame” ✧ SA/nár
• S. Baranor “?Eager Fire”
• S. Faenor “Spirit of Fire”
• S. Fëanor “Spirit of Fire” ✧ SA/nár
• S. Goenor “Fell Fire” ✧ PM/363
• S. Narbeleth “October, Sun-fading, Sun-waning”
• S. Nardol “Fire-hilltop”
• ᴺS. narvaenas “firework”
• S. Narwain “January, *(lit.) New Fire”
• S. naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving of us” ✧ LotR/0290; LotR/0299; PE17/038
• S. naur dan i ngaurhoth “*fire against the wolf-horde” ✧ LotR/0299; PE17/038
• S. Nórui “June, *Fiery”
• S. Rodnor
• S. Sammath Naur “Chambers of Fire” ✧ LotR/0942; PE17/038; PE17/101; SA/nár

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√(A)NAR > naur	[nār] > [nǭr] > [naur]	✧ PE17/038

Variations

• Naur ✧ LotR/0299; LotR/0942

-ruin

suffix. fire

suff. #fire. Q. ruine. >> Angruin

narthan

fire-sign

pl. **nerthain** (VT45:20)

narthan

beacon

narthan (”fire-sign”), pl. nerthain (VT45:20)

narthan

beacon

(”fire-sign”), pl. nerthain (VT45:20)

narthan

fire-sign

(= beacon) narthan, pl. nerthain (VT45:20)

narthan

fire-sign

(= beacon) narthan, pl. nerthain (VT45:20).

naur

fire

1) naur (in compounds nar-, -nor) (flame, sun), pl. noer, coll. pl. norath; 2) ûr (heat), pl. uir. Notice the homophone ûr ”wide”.

naur

fire

(in compounds nar-, -nor) (flame, sun), pl. noer, coll. pl. norath

ûr Reconstructed

noun. fire, fire; [ᴱN.] sun

A word for “fire” attested in later writings only as an element in names, such as S. Urui “August, ✱Hot-one” (LotR/1110). It appeared as N. ûr “fire” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√UR “be hot”, but this and related words were deleted when Tolkien changed the sense of the root to “wide, large, great” (Ety/UR). However, √UR “heat” was restored in later writings (PE17/148; PE22/160), and primitive ✶ūr “a fire (on hearth)” appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, though Tolkien did mark it with a “?” (PE21/71 and note #8).

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the first precursor to this word was G. †Uril, an archaic word for the Sun in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s appearing beside its modern form G. Aur (GL/75) and clearly a derivative of the early root ᴱ√URU as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Ûr; QL/098). In Gnomish Lexicon Slips revising this document, it became {ŷr >>} hŷr “sun” (PE13/114), and in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it became ᴱN. {húr >>} úr “sun”, derived from primitive ᴱ✶ourū̆ (PE13/155).

This in turn became N. ûr “fire” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under ᴹ√UR “be hot”, but as noted above the meaning of this root was changed in that document (Ety/UR). Although the root √UR “heat” was later restored, it isn’t clear whether Tolkien also restored ûr “fire”, though there is some secondary evidence of it: primitive ✶ūr “a fire (on hearth)” appeared in notes from the early 1950s, as also noted above (PE21/71).

Neo-Sindarin: If S. naur is (like its Quenya cognate Q. nár) more representative of an elemental or abstract notion of fire, then ûr might be used for an individual physical fire such as one in a fireplace.

Cognates

• Q. úrë “heat”

Derivations

• ✶ūr “a fire (on hearth)” ✧ PE21/71
  • √UR “heat, be hot”

Element in

• S. Urui “August, *Hot-one”
• S. Urwen

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶ūr > ūr	[ūr]	✧ PE21/71

Variations

• ūr ✧ PE21/71 (ūr)

ûr

fire

(heat), pl. uir. Notice the homophone ûr ”wide”.

bregedúr

wildfire

(i vregedúr), pl. bregedýr (i mregedýr)

ghâsh

noun. fire

Variations

• Ghâsh ✧ LotRI/Ghâsh

nar

root. fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame

A root for “fire” first appearing as ᴹ√NAR “flame, fire” in The Etymologies of the 1930s along with derivatives like ᴹQ. nár(e)/N. naur “flame” (Ety/NAR¹). There was also an augmented variant ᴹ√ANÁR that served as the basis for “Sun” words: ᴹQ. Anar and N. Anor (Ety/ANÁR). These roots and the various derivatives continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings in the 1950s and 60s (PE17/38; Let/425), and in one place Tolkien specified that nār- was “fire as an element” as opposed to √RUYU for an actual blaze.

Derivatives

• ✶Anār “Sun”
  • Q. Anar “Sun” ✧ SA/nár
  • S. Anor “Sun” ✧ SA/nár
• ✶nāro “fire”
• Q. Anar “Sun” ✧ Let/425; PE17/038
• Q. nár “fire (as an element), fire (as an element); [ᴹQ.] flame” ✧ PE17/038
• Q. Naira
• S. Anor “Sun” ✧ PE17/038
• S. naur “fire, fire, [N.] flame” ✧ PE17/038

Element in

• Q. Narsil “Red and White Flame” ✧ Let/425; PE17/038
• Q. Narsilion “(Song) of the Sun and Moon”
• S. narthan “beacon”

Variations

• (A)NAR ✧ PE17/038; PE17/147

nāro

noun. fire

Derivations

• √NAR “fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame”

Element in

• ✶Phayanāro “Spirit of Fire” ✧ PE17/039

rhuin

noun. fire

Element in

• N. Orodruin “Mountain of Fire” ✧ TI/028

ûr

noun. fire, heat

ûr

noun. fire

Cognates

• ᴹQ. úr “fire, heat” ✧ Ety/UR

Derivations

• ᴹ√UR “be hot” ✧ Ety/UR

Element in

• N. bregedur “wild fire” ✧ Ety/UR (Vreged-úr)
• N. Úrui “August, *Hot-one”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√UR > úr	[ūr]	✧ Ety/UR

Variations

• úr ✧ Ety/UR (úr)
• ûr ✧ EtyAC/UR (ûr)