then

pronoun. this

si

root. this, this, [ᴹ√] here, now

Tolkien used √SI as the basis for “near demonstratives” like “here” and “now” from very early in his writings on Elvish. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had two competing roots ᴱ√HYA “this by us” with derivatives like ᴱQ. hyá “here by us” (QL/41) and ᴱ√KI “this by me” with derivative ᴱQ. tyá (< ᴱ✶kı̯-ā) “now” (QL/41, 49). Indications of the latter can be seen words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. cî {“now” >>} “here” and G. cîrin “present (place or time), modern” [gloss deleted] (GL/26). However, Tolkien also introduced a new root ᴱ√si(n) “this here by me” with derivatives like G. sî “here” and G. sith “hither” (GL/68). Revisions of Gnomish ci- word glosses indicate Tolkien was vacillating on which forms were temporal and which were spatial.

In The Etymologies Tolkien gave the root ᴹ√SI “this, here, now” with derivatives like ᴹQ. sí or sin “now” and ᴹQ. sinya/N. sein “new” (Ety/SI). The root √SI was mentioned a couple times in Tolkien’s later writings, usually glossed “this” (PE17/67; VT48/25; VT49/18) and in one place with the variant √SIN (PE17/67). This root was not entirely without competition in Tolkien’s later notes, however: in one place he gave primitive ✶khĭn- as the possible basis for Q. hí “here” and S. hí “now” in 1968 notes on demonstratives, though it appeared beside primitive ✶si- forms (VT49/34 note #21).

sin

root. this

sinā

adjective. this

hen

pronoun. this

pl1. hin _ dem. pron. _this.

sen

adjective. this

This demonstrative adjective is probably enclitic. We have suggested that this possibility could perhaps explain why the mutated form of tîw on the Doors of Durin is thiw instead of the expected thîw, see HL/69

sen

pronoun. this

pl1. sín {ī}_ dem. pron. _this.

sen

pronoun. this

se

pronoun. this

sen

this

*sen, lenited hen. Only attested in lenited pl. form hin* (unlenited sin) ”these” in the Moria Gate inscription (i thiw hin**, ”these letters”).

sen

this

lenited hen. Only attested in lenited pl. form hin (unlenited ✱sin) ”these” in the Moria Gate inscription (i thiw hin, ”these letters”).

sillë

adverb. like this, like this, *in this way

A word for “like this”, a combination of si “this” and the suffix -llë related to lé “way, method, manner” (PE17/74), so perhaps more literally “✱in this way”.

Conceptual Development: Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 instead had ᴹQ. sil(de) “so, in this way, like this”, but using the earlier suffix -l(de) (PE23/111).

sina

this

sina demonstrative "this" (following its noun in our sole example: vanda sina "this oath"). (CO, VT49:18; in the latter source, sina _is called an adjective). _This word would, like Sindarin hen, be derived from primitive ¤sĭnā (VT49:34). Cf. sin #1.

sina

this

A word for “this” appearing in Cirion’s Oath (UT/305). It also appeared in a list of demonstratives from 1968 as an adjectival form of si “this” (VT49/18), and appeared again in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/135). Similarly formed ᴹQ. sina appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/104-105) where it could also be used both adjectivally (“this”) and substantively (“this fact”).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. táma for “this” rather than “that” (QL/87); compare ᴱQ. ena “that by you” (QL/34). The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had {qinta >>} ᴱQ. qinda “this” (PE14/55), but a sentence in contemporaneous Qenya Word-lists seems to have sinda for “this” (PE16/146).