nen

root. water, water, [ᴱ√] flow

A root connected to water and (to a lesser extent) rivers for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appearance was as ᴱ√NENE “flow” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, though Tolkien marked both the root and the gloss with a “?”; it had derivatives like ᴱQ. nen “river, †water” and ᴱQ. nēnu “yellow water lily” (QL/65). Under this entry Tolkien noted that “nen water is perhaps different from nen river, which is from neře” (QL/65); elsewhere in QL Tolkien gave ᴱ√NERE² or ᴱ√NEŘE [NEÐE] as the basis for nen (nend-) “river”, a root he said was often confused with ᴱ√NESE “give to feed; feed, pasture; graze” (QL/66). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon he had G. nenn “(1) water, (2) river” and G. nendil “water fay” which were probably a blending of NENE and NEÐE, as well as G. nern “brook” from ✱nere¹ (GL/60), probably corresponding to ᴱ√NERE² from QL.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had unglossed ᴹ√NEN with derivatives like ᴹQ. nén/N. nen “water” and ᴹQ. nelle “brook” (Ety/NEN), whereas ᴱ√NERE² and ᴱ√NEÐE from the 1910s seems to have been abandoned. The primitive form √NEN or nē̆n “water” continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s writings from the 1940s, 50s and 60s (PE17/52, 167; PE19/102; PE21/64, 79).

Derivatives

• ✶nē̆n “water”
  • Q. nén “water, water, [ᴱQ.] river”
  • S. nen “water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, [ᴱN.] stream”
• ✶nēnā “wet” ✧ PE17/052; PE17/167
  • Q. nenda “wet” ✧ PE17/052; PE17/167
  • S. nîn “wet, *watery” ✧ PE17/052
• ✶nenda “water”
• Q. nén “water, water, [ᴱQ.] river” ✧ PE17/052; SA/nen
• Q. nenda “wet” ✧ PE17/167
• Q. nendë “lake, lake, [ᴹQ.] pool” ✧ PE17/052
• ᴺQ. nendo “water mead, *watered plain”
• S. nen “water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, [ᴱN.] stream” ✧ PE17/052; SA/nen

Element in

• ✶nēn-talma “Wetwang, Nindalf” ✧ PE17/167

Variations

• NEN- ✧ PE17/145
• NĒ̆N ✧ PE17/167
• nen ✧ SA/nen

nē̆n

noun. water

Derivations

• √NEN “water, water, [ᴱ√] flow”

Derivatives

• Q. nén “water, water, [ᴱQ.] river”
• S. nen “water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, [ᴱN.] stream”

nenda

noun. water

Derivations

• √NEN “water, water, [ᴱ√] flow”

Element in

• S. Núrnen “Sad Water, Dead Water” ✧ PE17/087

sir

root. flow

The root √SIR and similar roots meant “flow” for most of Tolkien’s life. The earliest form of this root was ᴱ√SIŘI [SIÐI] “flow” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variant sini and derived forms like ᴱQ. sindi “river” and ᴱQ. síre “stream” (QL/84). The latter word became “river” in Tolkien’s later writings, and words appearing in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon like G. sîr “river” and G. siriol “flowing” (GL/67-68) rather than ✱✱sidh- indicate Tolkien very early revised the root to ✱ᴱ√SIRI. Indeed, the root was ᴹ√SIR “flow” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, and the root appeared with this form and essential meaning several times in Tolkien’s later writings (PE22/127, 135).

Derivatives

• ✶siru-
• ✶sīru “stream”
• ✶sirya- “to flow, to flow [smoothly]” ✧ PE22/135
  • Q. sirya- “to flow, to flow [smoothly]”
• Q. sír(ë) “river, river, [ᴱQ.] stream”
• S. sîr “river, stream” ✧ SA/sîr
• ᴺS. siriol “flowing, fluent, liquid, melliflous”

Element in

• ᴺS. ethiria- “to flow out”
• S. sirith “flowing” ✧ SA/sîr

Variations

• sir- ✧ SA/sîr