Quenya 

Pityafinwë

little finwë

Pityafinwë masc. name "Little Finwë"; he was called Amrod in Sindarin. Short Quenya name Pityo (PM:353)

pityafinwë

masculine name. Little Finwë

Changes

  • PityafinwëNityafinwë ✧ PM/365

Elements

WordGloss
pitya“petty, little”
Finwë

Variations

  • Pityo ✧ PM/353; PMI/Amrod
Quenya [PM/353; PM/365; PMI/Amrod] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nityafinwë

masculine name. Little Finwë

The father name of Amrod (PM/353). It is a compound of the nitya “little” and the name of his grandfather Finwë.

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote this name as Pityafinwë, but then changed the initial pitya >> nitya. He also wrote the short form of this name as Pityo, but this name was not revised (PM/365).

Elements

WordGloss
nitya“little”
Finwë

pitya

little

#pitya adj. "little" in Pityafinwë, Pitya-naucor

Pityo

pityo

Pityo see Pityafinwë

nitya

adjective. little

Derivations

  • NIK “small”

Element in

Variations

  • Nitya ✧ PM/365 (Nitya)

pincë

adjective. little

picina

adjective. little

Derivations

  • ᴹ√PIK “*tiny”

Variations

  • pikina ✧ PE17/115
  • pinke ✧ PE17/115

pia

little

pia adj. "little" (PE17:115); variants picina ("k"), pincë ("k"), pitya

pia

adjective. little

Derivations

  • PEY “*little” ✧ PE17/115

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
PEYE > pia[peja] > [pia]✧ PE17/115

titta

little, tiny

titta adj. "little, tiny" (TIT)

Ambarto

upwards-exalted

Ambarto masc. name *"upwards-exalted", mother-name (never used in narrative) of Pityafinwë = Amrod (PM:353, 354)

Sindarin 

pîn

adjective. little

Similar words occur in Gnomish (pinig "tiny, little", PE/11:64) and in Qenya (pinea "small" etc., PE/12:73)

Sindarin [Cûl Bîn RC/536] Group: SINDICT. Published by

pîn

adjective. little

Derivations

Element in

tithen

little

1) tithen (lenited dithen, pl. tithin) (tiny), 2) pîn (lenited bîn; no distinct pl. form) (RC:536).

Primitive elvish

pi(n) Reconstructed

root. little

Tolkien used a variety of roots for Elvish words for “small”. One early root was ᴱ√PIKI with variants ᴱ√PINI and ᴱ√ from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but with derivatives like ᴱQ. pínea “small” and ᴱQ. pinqe “slender, thin” (QL/73). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. pinig “tiny, little” and G. pibin “small berry, haw” (GL/64).

The root reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as unglossed {ᴹ√PEK >>} ᴹ√PIK with derivatives like N. pigen “tiny” and N. peg “small spot, dot” (Ety/PIK; EtyAC/PIK). Further evidence for this root can be seen in later words like Q. piki- or pitya “petty” (WJ/389) and Q. pik- “lessen, dwindle” (MC/223). A variant root √PEY appeared in a list of roots having to do with large and small, with a single derivative Q. pia “little” [< ✱peya], but it was immediately followed by the forms pikina, pinke, pitya which point back to √PIK (PE/117).

Further evidence of early forms ᴱ√PINI and ᴱ√ can also be seen in Tolkien’s later writings. There is S. ✱pîn “little” in S. Cûl Bîn “Little Load” (RC/536), ✶ {“small bird” >>} “small insect” (VT47/35), and T. pinke “little-one, baby” (VT48/6), though the last of these might be from √PIK. In any case it seems Tolkien continued to use all of √PI, √PIK and √PIN to form words for little things into the late 1960s.

In The Shibboleth of Fëanor from the late 1960s, Tolkien changed pitya to Q. nitya in the name Q. Nityafinwë “Little Finwë” (PM/353, 365 note #59), which may indicate a replacement of √PIK by √NIK, another root used regularly in Tolkien’s later writings for “small”. But I believe √PIK and √NIK may coexist with slightly different meanings: “tiny” vs. “small”; see the entry on √NIK for further discussion.

Derivatives

  • “small insect, fly”
    • Q. “small insect, fly, small insect, fly, *mite, gnat; [ᴱQ.] speck, spot, dot, mote” ✧ VT47/35
  • ᴺS. pibin “small berry, haw”
  • S. pîn “little”
  • T. pincë “little-one, baby”

Noldorin 

tithen

adjective. little, tiny

Noldorin [Ety/394] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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!

Gnomish

migin

adjective. little

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MIKI “*little”

Element in

Gnomish [GL/57; GL/64] Group: Eldamo. Published by

inc

adjective. little

Derivations

  • ᴱ√INI “small”

Element in

  • En. elflin “cygnet, *young swan”
  • G. cilobinc “robin” ✧ GL/26
  • G. bilin(c) “small bird, sparrow”
  • G. -inci “diminutive superlative” ✧ GG/16
  • G. salfinc “spoon” ✧ GL/66
  • G. duilin(g) “swallow” ✧ GL/31
Gnomish [GG/16; GL/26; GL/31; GL/51; GL/66] Group: Eldamo. Published by