sar
(small) stone
sarnincë
noun. pebble
A neologism for “pebble” coined by Paul Strack in 2018 specifically for Eldamo (updated from sardincë to sarnincë in 2021), a diminutive form of Q. sar (sarn-) “stone”. There are a number of Early Qenya words for “pebble” from the 1910s and 20s, but all have various issues for adapting them to Neo-Quenya.
Cognates
- ᴺS. sarneg “pebble”
Elements
Word Gloss sar “stone (small)” -incë “diminutive ending”
sarn
noun/adjective. (small) stone, pebble; stony (place), (small) stone, pebble; stony (place); [N.] stone as a material
A Sindarin noun for a small individual stone or pebble (RC/327; VT42/11) in contrast to S. gond for large blocks of stone or rock (Ety/GOND) or stone as a material (PE17/28). However, sarn also functioned as an adjective “stony”, and when used unqualified could also refer to a “stony place” (RC/163). It was a derivative of the root ᴹ√SAR (Ety/SAR).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where Tolkien had G. sarn “a stone” (GL/67), and it was also an element in the negative word ᴱN. orsarn “stoneless” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/156). It appeared as N. sarn, a derivative of ᴹ√SAR, in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but in this document it was glossed “stone as a material”, and also functioned as an adjective, apparently a blending of ✱sarnē and ᴹ✶sarnā (Ety/SAR), in contrast to N. gonn which in this document was only “a great stone or rock” (Ety/GOND). In later writings sarn could still function as an adjective “stony” (RC/163) but as a noun generally referred to an individual (small) stone, as in the name S. Edhelharn “Elfstone” (SD/128).
Cognates
- Q. sar “stone (small)”
Element in
- S. Edhelharn “Elfstone”
- ᴺS. gaessarn “pearl, (lit.) sea-pebble”
- S. Sarn Athrad “Ford of Stones” ✧ RC/163; RC/775; SA/sarn
- ᴺS. sarneg “pebble”
- S. Sarn Gebir “Stone-spikes” ✧ RC/327; RC/775; SA/sarn
- S. Serni “Pebble Bank” ✧ SA/sarn
- S. serni “shingle, pebble bank” ✧ UTI/Serni; VT42/11
Variations
- Sarn ✧ RC/775
- sern ✧ VT42/11
sarneg
noun. pebble
A neologism for “pebble” coined by Paul Strack in 2021 specifically for Eldamo, a diminutive form of S. sarn “stone”.
Cognates
- ᴺQ. sarnincë “pebble”
Elements
Word Gloss sarn “(small) stone, pebble; stony (place), (small) stone, pebble; stony (place); [N.] stone as a material”
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
clocthi
noun. pebble
A noun for “a pebble” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, apparently a diminutive of G. cloch “a stone” (GL/26).
hyelle
noun. pebble
A word for “pebble” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/138; PE16/144). Its etymology is unclear, and in later writings ᴹQ. hyelle was used as a word for “glass”.
tolot
noun. pebble, cobble-stone
lalle
noun. pebble
A word for “pebble” the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing under the root ᴱ√LALA, though Tolkien marked it with a “?” and other derivatives of the root had to do with “babble” (QL/50). This word was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/50).
Derivations
- ᴱ√LALA “*babble” ✧ QL/050
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√LALA > lalle [lalli] > [lalle] ✧ QL/050
sar (sard-, as in pl. sardi) noun "(small) stone" (SAR). In Elessar, q.v. Since Tolkien let this name have a stem in -sarn- (genitive Ele[s]sarno, VT49:28), he may seem to have changed the stem-form of sar from sard- to sarn-.