nieninquë

snowdrop

nieninquë ("q") noun "snowdrop", etymologically "white tear" (NIK-W, LT1:262, 266)

nieninquë

noun. snowdrop, snowdrop, [ᴹQ.] (lit.) white tear

A word for “snowdrop”, perhaps a reference to that species of flower, appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a combination of ᴹQ. nie “tear” and ᴹQ. ninqe “white”, so literally “white tear” (Ety/NEI, NIK-W). ᴱQ. nieninqe also appeared with the same form, meaning and etymology in the Qenya Lexicon and the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s (QL/68; PME/68). In later writings, it appeared in adjectival form nieninquëa “like a snowdrop” in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë poem (PE16/96); the same form appeared in the version of the poem written around 1930, and its drafts (MC/215; PE16/90, 92). The word nieninquë likewise served as the title of that poem.

Element in

• Q. nieninquëa “like a snowdrop” ✧ PE16/096

Elements

Word	Gloss
nie	“tear”
ninquë	“white; chill, cold; pallid”

fauta-

to snow

fauta- vb. *"to snow" (actually glossed fauta = "it snows") (GL:35)

hriz-

to snow

#hriz- vb. "to snow", impersonal, given in the form hríza "it is snowing". Normally z would turn to r in Exilic Quenya, but since two r's close to one another were disliked, it may be that hriz- became *hris- instead (compare razë "sticks out" becoming rasë instead of **rarë, PE19:73) Past tense hrinsë (with s from the original root SRIS) and another form which the editor tentatively reads as hrissë (the development ns > ss is regular). (PE17:168)

los

noun. snow

loss

noun. snow

The usual Sindarin word for “snow” (Let/278; PE17/161; RGEO/62), especially fallen and long-lying snow (VT42/18), derived from primitive ✶lossē (PE17/161) based on the root √(G)LOS (PE17/26; RGEO/62). It sometimes appeared in a shorter form los (PE17/26, 161). See the entry on [s] for a discussion of these long vs. short variations; for purposes of Neo-Sindarin loss is probably preferable.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest iteration of this word was G. glui “snow” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, likely related to nearby words like G. gloss “white” (GL/40). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. gloss from the root ᴹ√GOLOS was both noun “snow” and adjective “snow-white” (Ety/GOLÓS), but in later writing Tolkien split these into S loss “snow” (see above) and S. gloss “(dazzling) white” (RGEO/62; VT42/18).

Cognates

• Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/161; SA/los; RGEO/61

Derivations

• √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/026; RGEO/61; SA/los; VT42/18
• ✶lossē “snow” ✧ PE17/161
  • √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18

Element in

• S. Aeglos “Snow-point” ✧ SA/los
• S. aeglos “icicle, (lit.) snow-point; snowthorn (a plant)”
• S. Amon Uilos “Hill of Ever-snow” ✧ SA/los
• S. Fanuilos “Bright (Angelic) Figure upon Uilos” ✧ Let/278
• S. Lossarnach “Flowery Arnarch” ✧ VT42/18
• S. lossen “snowy” ✧ RGEO/62
• S. Lossoth “Snowmen” ✧ PE17/161; RGEO/62
• S. Nimphelos “Pale ?Snow”
• S. Uilos “Ever-snow”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√LŎS > los	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ PE17/026
✶lossē > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ PE17/161
√los > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ RGEO/61
√los > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ SA/los
√(G)LOS > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ VT42/18

Variations

• los ✧ PE17/026
• lŏs ✧ PE17/161
• Loss ✧ VT42/18

nínim

snowdrop

(”white tear”), no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. nínimmath. – The niphredil seems to be a flower similar to the snowdrop (no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. niphrediliath)

nínim

snowdrop

(a flower) nínim (”white tear”), no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. nínimmath. The niphredil seems to be a flower similar to the snowdrop (no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. niphrediliath)

loss

snow

(construct los; pl. lyss if there is a pl.) (RGEO:61-62, Letters:278, VT42:18) (Note: homophones mean ”flower” [more commonly loth] and ”wilderness”.).

lossen

snowy

(pl. lessin, for archaic lössin). Adj.

lossoth

snow-men

(a coll. pl.)

gloss

white as snow, dazzling white

(in compounds -los), lenited ’loss; pl. glyss.  

lossē

noun. snow

Derivations

• √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18

Derivatives

• Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/161
• S. loss “snow” ✧ PE17/161

Variations

• loss- ✧ VT42/18

sris

root. snow

An apparently verbal root as √SRIS “snow” appearing in etymological notes from around 1959 with derivatives like Q. hrisse “fall of snow” and Q. hríza “it is snowing”; it replaced a deleted root √SRITH “snow” (PE17/168).

Derivatives

• Q. hriz- “to snow” ✧ PE17/168
• Q. hrissë “fall of snow” ✧ PE17/168

Element in

• Q. hristil “snow (?peak)” ✧ PE17/168

srith

root. snow

Derivatives

• Q. hrisya- “to snow (impersonal)” ✧ PE17/168

nínim

noun. snowdrop

Cognates

• ᴹQ. nieninqe “snowdrop, (lit.) white tear” ✧ Ety/NEI

Elements

Word	Gloss
nîn	“tear”
nimp	“pale”

nínim

noun. snowdrop (flower)