sell

noun. *daughter, daughter; [N.] †girl, maid

The most common Sindarin word for “daughter” (SD/129; VT50/18).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, the word for “daughter” was G. suil with shorter form sui (GL/36, 68) probably derived from the early root ᴱ√SUẈU (QL/87) and replacing rejected {thuai, thuil} (GL/36, 73). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave (archaic) N. †sell “girl, maid” derived from the root ᴹ√SEL-D (Ety/SEL-D). Tolkien said sell was replaced by N. iell “daughter”:

> with i from iondo son [YŌ]; a change assisted by the loss of s in cpds. and patronymics: cf. Tinnúviel < ✱tindōmiselde (Ety/SEL-D).

Thus in Noldorin, sell became iell under the influence of N. ionn “son”, and assisted by the fact that intervocalic s became h and then vanished when -sell was used as a suffix in compounds.

It seems Tolkien abandoned this 1930s paradigm, however, since he used sell for “daughter” in a couple later documents, namely the King’s Letter (SD/129) and the Túrin Wrapper (VT50/5).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use sell for “daughter” but suffixal -iel for “daughter of” under the influence of -ion “son of”, a scenario similar to that of The Etymologies. I would also allow iell as a less commmon variant for “daughter”, derived from the suffix.

Cognates

• Q. seldë “daughter, daughter; [ᴹQ.] child [f.], *girl”

Derivations

• ✶sel(dĕ) “*daughter”
  • ᴹ√SEL(D) “child, child; *daughter”

Element in

• S. ar Meril bess dîn, ar Elanor, Meril, Glorfinniel, ar Eirien sellath dîn “and Rose his wife; and Elanor, Rose, Goldilocks and Daisy his daughters” ✧ SD/129
• S. ar Nienor sel Morwen Níniel “*and Nienor daughter of Morwen, Níniel” ✧ VT50/18
• S. Elrondhel

Variations

• sel ✧ VT50/18

sellath

noun. all the daughters

iell

daughter

1) iell (-iel) (girl, maid), pl. ill, 2) sell (i hell) (girl, maid), pl. sill (i sill), coll. pl. sellath**. **DAUGTHER OF TWILIGHT, see NIGHTINGALE

iell

girl

1) iell (-iel) (daughter, maid), pl. ill; 2) sell (i hell) (daughter, maid), pl. sill (i sill), coll. pl. sellath. 3) (girl in her teens, approaching the adult) neth (also used = ”sister”), pl. nith (VT47:14-16, 33; VT48:6). Notice the homophone neth ”young”. The final element -wen in names means ”girl, maiden, virgin”.