celusindi _("k")_noun "river" (LT1:257; hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya, where the terms sírë and sirya appear instead)
Quenya
sír(ë)
noun. river, river, [ᴱQ.] stream
celusindi
river
nen
river
nen noun "river" (LT1:248), "river, water" (LT1:262) (In Tolkien's later Quenya, nén with a long vowel means "water", but hardly "river" - that is sírë.)
sindi
river
sindi noun "river" (LT1:265; rather sírë in LotR-style Quenya)
sirya
river
#sirya noun "river", attested in the dual form siryat (VT47:11). Compare sírë.
sír
river
sír noun "river", shorter form of sirë (PE17:65, VT49:17)
sírë
river
sírë noun "river" (SIR, VT46:13), "stream" (LT1:265). Also short form sír, q.v.Compare #sirya.
nuinë
suffix. river
-(n)duinë
suffix. (large) river
An element in several river names such as Q. Anduinë and Q. Nunduinë, the equivalent of S. duin. It did not survive as an independent word in Quenya:
> Common Eldarin bases DUY and LUY, for instance, were distinct. DUY meant “to flood, drench, inundate”, but LUY was the base of words for “blue”. Both would become LUY in Quenya. Which probably accounts for the disappearance from Quenya of C.E. ✱duinē “large river (liable to flood surrounding land)” seen in [S.] Anduin “long river” and Baranduin “brown river”: it became identical with [Q.] luine adj. “blue” (VT48/23).
In fact, its use in Quenya river names may have been a later loan from Sindarin.
Conceptual Development: In one place Tolkien did consider the suffix’s survival as an archaic independent Quenya noun †nuine, but Tolkien rejected the note where it appeared, replacing it with the above (VT48/30 note #2).
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.
hlóna
river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains
[hlóna (2) noun "a river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains" (VT48:27; the word is marked with a query and the note containing it rejected; it was apparently replaced by lón, q.v.)]
lóna
noun. (deep) pool, mere, river-feeding well
A noun lóna glossed “pool, mere” derived from the root √LON and distinct in origin from Sindarin lô “flood” < √LOG (VT42/10).
Conceptual Development: This word seems to be a remnant of Tolkien’s investigation into the origin of the river-name S. Lhûn (PE17/136-137; VT48/27-28), where Tolkien first considered having a related Quenya word hlōna “a river” (PE17/136), then another related word lōn(e) “deep pool or lake” (PE17/137), but this notion was rejected and Tolkien said:
> The stem (S)LOW- does not appear in Quenya, where it is replaced by √LŎNŎ, as in lōn/lōne (pl. lōni) “deep pool or river-feeding well” (PE17/137).
This word and its derivation seems to have reemerged as lóna “pool, mere” in the notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, as described above (VT42/10).
nuinë
river (of large volume, and liable to flooding)
nuinë noun "river (of large volume, and liable to flooding)". The word is said to be archaic, surviving chiefly in topographical names. It comes from earlier duine, hence appearing in that form in a name like Nunduinë (VT48:30-31), apparently also Anduinë (q.v.) Tolkien struck out the paragraph where nuinë occurs, but the names Nunduinë/Anduinë would suggest that the word as such is conceptually valid.
-duinë
suffix. (large) river
lón(ë)
noun. deep pool, river-feeding well
ratta
noun. street, course, river-bed
-ya
his
-ya (4) pronominal suffix "his" (and probably also "her, its"), said to be used in "colloquial Quenya" (which had redefined the "correct" ending for this meaning, -rya, to mean "their" because it was associated with the plural ending -r). Hence e.g. cambeya ("k") "his hand", yulmaya "his cup" (VT49:17) instead of formally "correct" forms in -rya. The ending -ya was actually ancient, primitive ¤-jā being used for "all numbers" in the 3rd person, predating elaborated forms like -rya. It is said that -ya "remained in Quenya" in the case of "old nouns with consonantal stems", Tolkien listing tál "foot", cas "head", nér "man", sír "river" and macil "sword" as examples. He refers to "the continued existence of such forms as talya his foot", that could apparently be used even in "correct" Quenya (VT49:17). In PE17:130, the forms talya "his foot" and macilya ("k") "his (or their) sword" are mentioned.
lón
deep pool
lón, lónë (pl. lóni given) noun "deep pool", "river-[?feeding] well" (the second gloss was not certainly legible). A rejected paragraph in Tolkien's manuscript defined the word as "deep pool or lake" (VT48:28, PE17:137)
-rya
his, her
-rya 3rd person sg. pronominal ending "his, her" and probably "its" (VT49:16, 38, 48, Nam, RGEO:67), attested in coivierya *"his/her life", máryat "her hands", ómaryo "of her voice" (genitive of *ómarya "her voice"), súmaryassë "in her bosom" (locative of súmarya "her bosom"); for the meaning "his" cf. coarya "his house" (WJ:369). The ending is descended from primitive ¤-sjā via -zya (VT49:17) and therefore connects with the 3rd person ending -s "he, she, it". In colloquial Quenya the ending -rya could be used for "their" rather than "his/her", because it was felt to be related to the plural ending -r,e.g. símaryassen "in their [not his/her] imaginations" (VT49:16, 17). See -ya #4.
-zya
his, her, its
-zya, archaic form of the pronominal ending -rya "his, her, its", q.v. (VT49:17)
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".
londa
path
[londa noun "path"], changed by Tolkien to londë noun "road (in sea)" (VT45:28)
mallë
street, road
mallë pl. maller noun"street, road" (MBAL, LR:47, 56, LT1:263, SD:310)
nén
water
nén (nen-) noun "water" (NEN).
tier
path
tier is, besides the pl. form of tië "path" above, an ephemeral word for "so", abandoned by Tolkien in favour of tambë (VT43:17)
tië
path, course, line, direction, way
tië noun "path, course, line, direction, way" (TE3, VT47:11); pl. tier in Namárië(Nam, RGEO:67); tielyanna "upon your path" (UT:22 cf. 51; tie-lya-nna "path-your-upon")
ranta
noun. course
The most common Quenya word for “river”, derived from the root √SIR “flow”.
Conceptual Development: This word first appeared as ᴱQ. sīre “stream” as a derivative of ᴱ√SIŘI [SIÐI] (QL/84), and this form and gloss also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/84). The form ᴹQ. siri- “river” appeared in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s, along with uninflected sire with short i and various inflected forms with siry- (PE21/10). The form sīre “river” with long ī appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√SIR “flow” (Ety/SIR; EtyAC/SIR). In several notes from the mid-1960s, it appeared in monosyllabic form sír (PE17/65) or sīr (VT49/17), but it had dual form siryat from the late 1960s implying a stem form of sirĭ- and a development similar to that of DN from the early 1930s (VT47/11).
Neo-Eldarin: Its form síre is probably better known and more commonly used in Neo-Quenya. For example this is the typical form in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT).