fang

noun. beard

fang

noun. beard

fang

noun. beard, beard, [G.] long beard

The Sindarin word for “beard”, best known as an element in the name S. Fangorn “Treebeard, (lit.) beard of tree” (LotR/1131, PE17/84). The word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared as G. fang “a long beard” (GL/34), though in that document it had a rejected variant bang “beard” (GL/21). ᴱN. fang “beard” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/143), and N. fang “beard” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√SPANAG (Ety/SPÁNAG). Thus this word was well established in Tolkien’s mind.

fang

beard

fang (pl. feng)

fang

beard

(pl. feng)

fanga

beard

fanga noun "beard" (SPÁNAG)

fanga

noun. beard

A noun for “beard” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√SPANAG (Ety/SPÁNAG), where the [[aq|initial [sp-] became the voiceless spirant [f]]]. It reappeared in the 1960s as an element in the name Q. Andafangar “Longbeards” (PM/321 note #21).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien gave ᴱQ. fange as cognate of G. fang “a long beard” (GL/34). Elsewhere in the same document he had ᴱQ. vanga as cognate of G. bang “beard”, but both these words were deleted (GL/21). Other early “beard” words include ᴱQ. velte under the early root ᴱ√VETE (QL/101), and ᴱQ. poa as a cognate to G. pau “a beard” (GL/63).

poa

beard

poa noun "beard" (GL:63). Rather fanga in Tolkien's later Quenya

vanga

beard

vanga noun "beard" (LT2:344, GL:21; in Tolkien's later Quenya fanga)

turg Reconstructed

noun. beard