ninn

adjective. slender

ninn

adjective. slender

eilian

noun. rainbow

See ianu and iant for a discussion

eilianw

noun. rainbow

See ianu and iant for a discussion

elw

adjective. (pale) blue

lhorn

noun. quiet water

lhorn

noun. anchorage, harbour

lhûn

adjective. (unknown meaning)

This word, which also appears on the map of Middle-earth in LotR, is glossed as "blue" in The Etymologies, but Tolkien later rejected this meaning (as luin was already used in that sense). He then proposed several explanations for it, including the possible adaptation of a Dwarvish name into Sindarin, but he apparently never reached a definitive solution.

lhûn

adjective. blue

nen

noun. water (used of a lake, pool or lesser river)

nen

noun. waterland

nen

noun. water

ninniach

noun. rainbow

A noun for “rainbow” in the name Cirith Ninniach “Rainbow Cleft” (S/238). Ninniach “rainbow” is perhaps a combination of the S. nîn “watery” and S. iach “ford”, perhaps a metaphorical ford of water across the sky. The long nn in the initial element ninn- is tricky to explain, but might be an example of an exchange of a long vowel īn with a long consonant inn; hat-tip to Elaran for this suggestion.

Conceptual Development: The name Cirith Ninniach (and hence the word for “rainbow”) went through quite a few changes. The earliest iteration of the name was G. Cris a Teld Quing Ilon “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” (PE15/21) so that quing ilon “✱bow of heaven” was “rainbow”, but this was quickly revised to G. Cris Ilbranteloth which was the form used in the early narratives (LT2/150, 202). G. ilbrant “rainbow” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with variant ilvrant (GL/50). By popular etymology, this was connected to G. brant “bow”, but that was not correct (GL/24). The second element was actually G. rantha “bridge” (GL/65), and the b came from its initial element G. ilbar “heaven[s]” (GL/50), so it literally meant “✱heaven-bridge”.

In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name of the pass was changed to N. Cris-Ilfing >> Cirith Helvin “Rainbow Cleft” (SM/141, 146). Both ilfing and helvin have unclear etymologies, but they are probably early iterations of N. eilian(w) “rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge” from The Etymologies of the 1930s, a combination of ᴹ√ƷEL “sky” with N. ianw “bridge” (Ety/ƷEL, YAT), with variant elianw (EtyAC/YAT). Cirith Ninniach “Rainbow Cleft” emerged in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/256, 299).

Neo-Sindarin: Noldorin eilian(w) “sky-bridge” might be adapted into Neo-Sindarin as ᴺS. eiliant using later S. iant for “bridge”, as suggested in HSD (HSD), but I see no reason not to just use attested S. ninniach for “rainbow”.

ninniach

noun. rainbow

nind

adjective. slender

ninniach

rainbow

(pl. ninniaich). The word appears to mean ✱”slender-crossing”.

ninna-

verb. to weep, *cry (tears)

nind

adjective. slender

eilian

rainbow

1) eilian (pl. eiliain). Archaic elianw, hence maybe coll. pl. eilianwath. 2) ninniach (pl. ninniaich). The word appears to mean *”slender-crossing”.

eiliant

noun. rainbow

See ianu and iant for a discussion

elu

adjective. (pale) blue

lorn

noun. quiet water

lorn

noun. anchorage, harbour

luin

adjective. blue

luin

blue

adj. blue. . This gloss was rejected.

luin

jhJ5 adjective. blue

Examples: Ered luin, Helluin, Luinil, Mindolluin

luin

adjective. blue

lô

blue

adj. blue. . This gloss was rejected.

nen

noun. water (used of a lake, pool or lesser river)

nen

noun. waterland

nen

water

{ĕ}_ n. _water, lake. Q. nén. >> nîn

eilian

rainbow

eilian (pl. eiliain). Archaic elianw (so the coll. pl. may be eilianwath).

fim

slender

fim (slim). No distinct pl. form. (LotR Appendix F). 3) nind (thin, fragile); no distinct pl. form. 4)

fim

slender

(slim). No distinct pl. form. (LotR Appendix F). 3) nind (thin, fragile); no distinct pl. form. 4)

lhind

slender

1) *lhind (fine), lenited ?thlind or ?lind (the lenition product of lh is uncertain); no distinct pl. form. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” thlind. 2)

lhind

slender

(fine), lenited ?thlind or ?lind (the lenition product of lh is uncertain); no distinct pl. form. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” thlind.

lorn

quiet water

(anchorage, haven, harbour), pl. lyrn (VT45:29).

luin

blue

luin (no distinct pl. form, as demonstrated by the name Ered Luin ”Blue Mountains”) (VT48:24)

nên

water

nên (lake, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn. FLOOD-WATER (or ”wash”) iôl (pl. ŷl) (RC:334, VT48:33).

nên

water

(lake, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.

nínia-

verb. to weep

trîw

slender

trîw (lenited drîw; no distinct pl. form) (fine).

trîw

slender

(lenited drîw; no distinct pl. form) (fine).

ulban

adjective. blue

lugni

adjective. blue

luini

adjective. blue

luy

root. blue

The Elvish words for “blue” remained very similar throughout Tolkien’s life, but underwent a number of minor conceptual shifts. The word ᴱQ. lūne “blue, deep blue” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in a collection of words along with ᴱQ. lūle “blue stone, sapphire”, but no root was given (QL/55). The word for “blue” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon was G. luim (GL/55). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the root for “blue” was ᴹ√LUG with derivatives ᴹQ. lúne and N. lhûn (Ety/LUG²).

Meanwhile, the root ᴹ√LUY appeared in The Etymologies with derivatives ᴹQ. luina and Dor. luin “pale” (EtyAC/LUY), probably connected to ᴱN. Draugluin “Werewolf Pale” from the Lays of Beleriand of the 1920s (LB/205). But in The Etymologies the root ᴹ√LUY was rejected, and Dor. luin “pale” was reassigned to ᴹ√LUG² and then revised in form to Dor. lūn (Ety/LUG²; EtyAC/LUG²).

In addition, there was already evidence of a conceptual shift in the Noldorin words for blue in the 1930s, with the name N. Eredluin “Blue Mountains” being given as an alternative to N. Lhúnorodrim and N. Lhúndirien “Blue Towers” (Ety/LUG²), the latter appearing as N. Luindirien in contemporaneous Silmarillion narratives (LR/267). By the 1950s and 60s, the Sindarin and Quenya words for “blue” had firmly become S. luin (Let/448; S/54; UT/390) and Q. luinë (LotR/377; PE17/66, 71). The root √LUY “blue” appeared in notes from the late 1960s serving as the new basis for these “blue” words (VT48/23-24, 26).

All this made a mess for the river name S. Lhûn (LotR/1134) from The Lord of the Rings which was a remnant of Tolkien’s earlier ideas, and he struggled to find a new basis for that name as discussed by Patrick Wynne in his article on The Problem of Lhûn (VT48/26-29).

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).

nenda

noun. water

nē̆n

noun. water

luinë

adjective. blue

Illuin

blue

Illuin place-name, name of one of the Lamps of the Valar; apparently incorporating the element luin "blue" (Silm): hence *"all-blue"?

Ilweran

rainbow

Ilweran, Ilweranta noun "rainbow" (GL:74) (The Etymologies gives helyanwë.)

Nénar

water

Nénar noun name of a star (or planet), evidently derived from nén "water" (Silm), tentatively identified with Uranus (MR:435)

Uinen

water

Uinen (Uinend-, as in dative Uinenden) fem. name, used of a Maia, spouse of Ossë (UY, NEN). Adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:404), though it is also said that it contains -nen "water" (SA:nen); the latter explanation may be folk etymology. In the Etymologies, the name is derived from the same stem (UY) as uilë "long trailing plant, especially seaweed".

fimbë

slender

*fimbë (stem fimbi-) adj. "slender" (PE17:23)

fimbë

adjective. slender, slender, *thin

helyanwë

rainbow

helyanwë noun "rainbow", lit. "sky-bridge" (3EL)

iluquinga

rainbow

iluquinga ("q") noun "rainbow" (LT2:348)

luinë

blue

luinë adj. "blue", pl. luini (PE17:66, VT48:23, 24, 28, Nam, RGEO:66). Common Eldarin luini- would also be the stem-form in Quenya (VT48:24). Compare luinincë. Apparently -luin in Illuin, the name of one of the Lamps of the Valar (q.v.), Helluin, name of the star Sirius, and Luinil, name of another blue-shining star (or planet). (SA; Luinil is tentatively identified with Neptune, MR:435). Cf. also menelluin "sky-blue", used as noun = "cornflower" (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193).

luinë

adjective. blue

lúnë

blue

lúnë (stem *lúni-, given the primitive form ¤lugni) adj. "blue" (LUG2, LT1:262; later sources rather give luinë, with pl. form luini_ in Namárië)_. According to VT45:29, lúnë in the Etymologies was changed by Tolkien from lúna.

nindë

slender

nindë adj. "slender" (NIN-DI, pointing to a stem-form nindi-). Not to be confused with *nindë as the likely pa.t. of the verb nir-, q.v.

ninwa

blue

ninwa adj. "blue" (LT1:262)

nén

water

nén (nen-) noun "water" (NEN).

nén

noun. water, water, [ᴱQ.] river

The word for “water”, a derivative of the root √NEN of the same meaning (PE17/52; Ety/NEN). Its stem form was nen- (Ety/NEN) and its primitive form was given as ✶nē̆n, the vowel length variation due to distinct subjective nēn versus objective/inflected nĕn- in ancient monosyllables (PE21/64).

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with two senses: “river” and (archaic) “†water”. Tolkien indicated the two senses were based on distinct roots: ᴱ√NEŘE [NEÐE] and ᴱ√NENE respectively, with two distinct stem forms nend- and nēn (QL/64-65). The Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa also mentions the forms nen (nēn-) “water” versus nen(d-) “river” (PME/64-65). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the mid-1920s Tolkien had both nēn “river” (PE15/76) and nēn “water” (PE15/78), but in the Early Qenya Grammar he had only nēn “water” (PE14/43, 72), also appearing as nen “water” in documents on The Valmaric Script from this period (PE14/110).

In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had ᴹQ. nēn “water”, but in this document it had nēn- with long ē in its inflected forms as well (PE21/23). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, uninflected nén “water” had a stem form of nen- with short e (Ety/NEN), and the reasons for this variation was discussed in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936, the nominative/objective distinction noted above (PE21/64). This seems to be the paradigm Tolkien stuck with thereafter, as evidenced by S. nen “water” rather than ✱✱nîn.

teren

slender

teren, terenë adj. "slender" (TER/TERES)