The proper form of Fëanor if it were a true Sindarin name (MR/217, PM/343). This name is a combination of fae “spirit” and the suffixal form -nor of naur “fire”.
Quenya
fëanáro
masculine name. Spirit of Fire
Cognates
- S. Fëanor “Spirit of Fire” ✧ MR/257; MRI/Fëanor; PE17/039; PE17/118; PM/343; PMI/Fëanor; SA/nár; SI/Fëanor
Derivations
- ✶Phayanāro “Spirit of Fire” ✧ PE17/039
Derivatives
- S. Fëanor “Spirit of Fire” ✧ SI/Fëanor
Element in
- Q. Fëanoreva Tengwassë “Feanorian Alphabet” ✧ PE22/149
Elements
Word Gloss fëa “(indwelling or incarnate) spirit, soul” nár “fire (as an element), fire (as an element); [ᴹQ.] flame” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶phaya-nāro > Fëanáro [pʰajanāro] > [ɸajanāro] > [ɸeanāro] > [feanāro] ✧ PE17/039 Variations
- Feanáro ✧ PE17/118
The mother-name of Fëanor by which he was usually known, and from which his Sindarin name was derived (MR/217, PM/343). His name contains the elements fëa “spirit” and nár “fire”, but the name is actually an old compound, developed from ancient ✶Phayanāro (PE17/39, Ety/PHAY).
Conceptual Development: Curiously, in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, ᴱQ. Feanor was marked as Qenya (GL/35), corresponding to G. Fionor “Goblet Smith”, but it seems unlikely that this was a lasting idea. In the earliest Lost Tales, Feanor was probably so named in his own language, Gnomish (LT1/128). His later Quenya name ᴹQ. Feanáro first appeared in The Etymologies, where it is translated as “Radiant Sun” (Ety/PHAY). The interpretation as “Spirit of Fire” appears in texts from the 1950s and 1960s, as noted above (MR/217, PM/343).