sarn

noun/adjective. (small) stone, pebble, gem; stony (place), (small) stone, pebble, gem[stone]; 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). In notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969, Tolkien translated this word as “small stone, pebble, gem” (PE23/139), and I think the last gloss indicates this word can be used for valuable stones as well, in the sense “gem[stone]”.

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).

sarn

noun. stone (as a material)

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn

noun. small stone

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn athrad

place name. Ford of Stones

A ford across the river Gelion translated “Ford of Stones” (S/92), its name is a combination of sarn “stone” and athrad “ford” (SA/sarn, thar).

Conceptual Development: The name dates back to the earliest Lost Tales and developed as follows: G. Sarnathrod “Stony Ford” (LT2/236) >> N. Sarn-athra/Athrasarn (SM/133, 244) >> N. Sarn Athrad “Stone of Crossing” (LR/406) >> S. Sarn Athrad “Ford of Stones” (S/92).

sarn gebir

place name. Stone-spikes

A series of rapids on the river Anduin described as “sharp shelves and stony teeth” (LotR/391) and translated “Stone-spikes” (RC/327). This name is a combination of sarn “stone” and the plural of the lenited plural of ceber “spike” (SA/sarn, RC/327). This formation is somewhat odd, since nouns in this position are not usually lenited in Sindarin, though they were in earlier Noldorin. The form Gebir may be a hold-over of its early Noldorin name.

Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, these rapids were first named N. Pensarn, quickly revised to N. Ruinel >> Sarn Ruin (TI/366), and a bit later to (plural) Sern Gebir >> Sarn Gebir (TI/283). These last two forms also appeared in The Etymologies with an unclear gloss, perhaps “?lonestone” or “?limestone”, but they were struck out (Ety/KEPER, EtyAC/KEPER).

Sarn Athrad

noun. stone ford

sarn (“stone as a material”), athrad (ger. of athra- “river-crossing, ford, way”); #The second element could be interpreted as: ath (prefix “on both sides, across”) + râd (“path, track”)

Sarn Gebir

noun. stone spikes

sarn (“stone as a material”) cebir (pl. of ceber “stake, spike”)

sarn

stone

1) (small stone, or stone as material) sarn (i harn, o sarn), pl. sern (i sern); also used as adj. ”stony, made of stone”. 2) gôn (i **ôn, construct gon); pl. gŷn, coll. pl. #**gonath as in Argonath. 3) (larger stone) gond (i **ond, construct gon) (great stone or rock), pl. gynd (i ngynd = i ñynd), coll. pl. gonnath** (Letters:410).

sarn

stone

(i harn, o sarn), pl. sern (i sern); also used as adj. ”stony, made of stone”.

sarn

made of stone, stony

(lenited harn; pl. sern); also used as noun ”small stone, pebble, stone [as material]”; as adj. also = ”stony”.

Sarn Athrad

Sarn Athrad

Sarn Athrad means "Ford of Stones" or "stony ford" in Sindarin (sarn + athrad).

Sarn Ford

Sarn Ford

Sarn Ford was so named by the Númenóreans, after Sarn Athrad in Beleriand. The name is a half-translation of the Elvish (Sindarin) name Sarn-athrad, meaning "stony-ford" (sarn + athrad).

Sarn Gebir

Sarn Gebir

Sarn Gebir is a Sindarin name meaning "stone-spiked".

sarnas

cairn

sarnas (i harnas, o sarnas) (pile of stones), pl. sernais (i sernais)

sarnas

cairn

(i harnas, o sarnas) (pile of stones), pl. sernais (i sernais)

sarneg

noun. pebble

A neologism for “pebble” coined by Paul Strack in 2021 specifically for Eldamo, a diminutive form of S. sarn “stone”.

sarnas

pile of stones

sarnas (i harnas, o sarnas) (cairn), pl. sernais (i sernais)

sarnas

pile of stones

sarnas (i harnas, o sarnas) (cairn), pl. sernais (i sernais).

sarnas

pile of stones

(i harnas, o sarnas) (cairn), pl. sernais (i sernais)

serni

noun. shingle, pebble bank

A noun for a “shingle, pebble bank” in The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from 1967-69 from primitive ✶sarniye, the basis for the river name S. Serni (VT42/11). Here the gloss “shingle” is used in the sense of a mass of smell pebbles rather than as a roofing tile. This word is an unusual example of a final -i in Sindarin, because the i was protected by the final e that was itself lost. Tolkien indicated it might instead be an adjective formation (“pebbly”?) from the (rare) adjective suffix -i derived from primitive ✶-īya, -ēya (VT42/10-11).

ceber

stone ridge

(i geber, o cheber) (spike, stake), pl. cebir (i chebir). A lenited pl. form occurs in the name Sarn Gebir.

ceber

stake

ceber (i geber, o cheber) (spike, stone ridge), pl. cebir (i chebir). A lenited pl. form occurs in the name Sarn Gebir. Cf. also

ceber

stake

(i geber, o cheber) (spike, stone ridge), pl. cebir (i chebir). A lenited pl. form occurs in the name Sarn Gebir. Cf. also

ceber

noun. stake, spike, stone ridge

gond

noun. great stone, rock

gond

stone

_n. _stone, rock. Archaic S. gond > gonn. Q. ondo. >> Gondor

gondren

adjective. (made) of stone

penneth

noun. ridges, group of downs

pinnath

noun. ridges, group of downs

gond

stone

(i ’ond, construct gon) (great stone or rock), pl. gynd (i ngynd = i ñynd), coll. pl. gonnath (Letters:410).

gondrath

street of stone

(i ’ondrath) (causeway, raised stone highway), pl. gendraith (i ngendraith = i ñendraith). Archaic pl. göndreith. (WJ:340)

gondren

made of stone, stony

(stony), lenited ’ondren, pl. gendrin. Archaic pl. göndrin (TI:270).

gonhir

master of stone

(i ’Onhir), no distinct pl. form except with article (i Ngonhir = i Ñonhir), maybe primarily used as a coll. pl. Gonhirrim  (WJ:205, there spelt ”Gonnhirrim”)

gôn

stone

(i ’ôn, construct gon); pl. gŷn, coll. pl. #gonath as in Argonath.

pind

ridge

pind (i bind, o phind, construct pin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i phind), coll. pl. pinnath.

pind

ridge

(i bind, o phind, construct pin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i phind), coll. pl. pinnath.

sardh

noun. table

serni

shingle

serni (i herni, o serni) (pebble-bank), no distinct pl. form except with article (i serni)

serni

shingle

(i herni, o serni) (pebble-bank), no distinct pl. form except with article (i serni)

sarn

noun/adjective. stone as a material

sarn

noun. stone (as a material)

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn

noun. small stone

Sern in UT/463 is a misprint, see VT/42:11

sarn ruin

place name. Sarn Ruin

Earlier name of S. Sarn Gebir in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (TI/366). Its initial element is sarn “stone”, but the meaning of its second element is unclear. Some possibilities were suggested by Roman Rausch (EE/2.39, 2.40).

sarnas

noun. cairn

A noun for “cairn” (a memorial made of a pile of stones) inx the name N. Sarnas Fingolfin “Cairn of Fingolfin” from a list of names associated with Silmarillion drafts of the 1930s (LR/406). It is an elaboration of N. sarn “stone”.

Conceptual Development: An earlier word G. dal “cairn” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s near the words G. dalech “(upright) stone” and G. daltha- “to erect, set up” (GL/29), so perhaps based on ᴱ√TALA (or ✱DALA) “support” (QL/88).

sarnas fingolfin

place name. Cairn of Fingolfin

A location appearing only on a list of names from the 1930s (LR/406), a combination of sarnas “cairn” and the name Fingolfin.

sarn athrad

place name. Stony Ford, Ford of Stones

sarn gebir

place name. ?lone stone, Stand[?ing stones], [?Lime]stones

sarnas

noun. cairn, pile of stones

sern aranath

place name. King Stones

Earlier name for the Argonath appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (TI/366), a combination of the plural of sarn “stone” and the class-plural of aran “king”. It also appeared with the ordinary plural Sern Erain, and the singular form Sarn Aran (WR/98).

sern ubed

place name. [Stones of] Denial

Earlier name for the Argonath appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (WR/132), a combination of the plural of sarn “stone” and ubed “denial”.

argonath

place name. King Stones

ceber

noun. stake, spike, stone ridge

gondrafn

noun. hewn stone

gondram

noun. hewn stone

gonn

noun. great stone, rock

sar

(small) stone

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-.

sarnië

noun. shingle, pebble bank

A noun for a “shingle, pebble bank” in The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from 1967-69 from primitive ✶sarniye, also the basis for the river name S. Serni (VT42/11). It is clearly an abstract noun formation based on Q. sar (sarn-) “(small) stone”. Here the gloss “shingle” is used in the sense of a mass of smell pebbles rather than as a roofing tile.

sarnë

stony place

sarnë noun "stony place" _(SAR; in the _Etymologies as printed in LR, the gloss reads "strong place", but according to VT46:12 the proper reading is "stony place")

sarna

of stone

sarna adj. "of stone" (SAR)

sarnië

shingle, pebble-bank

sarnië (sarniyë) noun "shingle, pebble-bank" (UT:463, VT42:11)

sarno

table

sarno noun "table" (QL:82)

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.

sarnomo

noun. banker

A neologism for “banker” coined by Helge Fauskanger for his NQNT (NQNT). It might be an agental formation based on sar (sarn-) “small stone”, which could sometimes refer to precious stones.

sarnunta

noun. diadem

A neologism coined by Helge Fauskanger for his NQNT (NQNT), its derivation is unclear but the initial element might be Q. sarn- “(small) stone”.

on

stone

on, ondo noun "stone" (LT2:342, LT1:254 probably only ondo in LotR-style Quenya, see below). Various "Qenya" forms: ondoli "rocks" (MC:213; this would be a partitive plural in LotR-style Quenya), ondolin "rocks" (MC:220), ondoisen "upon rocks" (MC:221), ondolissen "rocks-on" (MC:214; the latter form, partitive plural locative, is still valid in LotR-style Quenya).

ondo

stone

ondo noun "stone" as a material, also "rock" (UT:459, GOND). Pl. ondor in an earlier variant of Markirya; partitive pl. locative ondolissë "on rocks" in the final version. Compounded in ondomaitar "sculptor in stone" (PE17:163), Ondoher masc.name, *"Stone-lord" (ondo alluding to Ondonórë = Sindarin Gondor, "stone-land") (Appendix A), #ondolunca ("k") "stonewain", possessive form in the place-name Nand Ondoluncava "Stonewain Valley" (PE17:28, also Ondoluncanan(do) as a compound). Ondolindë place-name "Gondolin" (SA:gond, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193); see Ondo. Earlier "Qenya" has Ondolinda _(changed from Ondolin) "singing stone, Gondolin" (LT1:254)_

ʼondō

noun. stone

PQ. stone

paluhta

noun. table

sarniye

noun. shingle, pebble bank

gon-

noun. a stone

khag

root. stake

turuk

noun. stake