Quenya 

súlë

spirit, breath

súlë (þ) noun "spirit, breath", also name of tengwa #9; originally thúlë (þúlë), before the shift th > s that occurred shortly before the rebellion of the Noldor (Appendix E, THŪ). Its gloss, "blowing forth", was metaphorically used as "the emission of power (of will or desire) from a spirit" (PE17:124). If the element súlë appears in Súlimë and Súlimo (q.v.), the stem-form may seem to be súli-.

súlë

noun. breath; (movement of) spirit, emission of power (of will or desire)

A word for “spirit” appearing in The Lord of the Rings appendices, where it was given as the name of tengwa #9 [“s” from older “th”] (LotR/1123). It also meant “breath” (PE17/124) and was originally derived from the primitive root √THŪ “puff, blow” (NM/237; PE17/124; Ety/THŪ). In this respect, súlë resembled the Ancient Greek word πνεῦμα (“pneuma”), which also originally meant “breath” but came to be used for the spirit or soul.

The meaning of the Quenya word was not quite the same, however. It was not used for a “soul” (which was fëa) or a disembodied spirit (which was fairë). Tolkien said:

> Eldar did not confound ordinary “breath” of the lungs with “spirit” ... the Eldar held that “spirits”, the more as they had native power, could emit their influence to make contact with or act upon things exterior to themselves: primarily on upon other spirits, or other incarnate persons (via the fëar), but also in the case of great spirits (such as the Valar or greater Maiar) directly upon physical things without the mediacy of bodies normally necessary in the case of fairondi or incarnates. To describe this, they used (but by deliberate symbolism taken e.g. from such cases as their breathing upon a cold or frosted surface, which was then melted) the √THŪ [“breath”] ... Hence [primitive Eldarin] thū́lē “blowing forth” was used = “spirit” in this special sense: the emission of power (of will or desire) from a spirit (PE17/124).

Thus súlë was used metaphorically as “spirit” in the sense of the movement of a spirit’s power or will upon the world, alongside its more ordinary meaning as “breath”.

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s, already with the meaning and etymology given above (Ety/THŪ). Its appearance in compounds like Súlimë “March” (LotR/1110) and Súlimo “Breather” (S/26, PE21/85) imply a stem form of súli-, but in one place it was given a primitive form ✶thū́lē, which implies a stem form of súle-. The prefixal form súli- was due to blending with primitive ✶sūli, the basis of S. sûl “wind” (NM/237).

There are cases where, especially in his earlier writing, Tolkien used súle for “spirit” in a more traditional sense, as in the phrase ksaráre psare súle “longing frets the spirit” (PE22/119). Thus it may be that Tolkien originally conceived of a semantic evolution for súle closer to Greek πνεῦμα, before differentiating it more clearly as described above.

Derivations

  • THŪ “blow, cause an air movement, blow, cause an air movement, [ᴹ√] puff” ✧ NM/237
  • thū́lē “blowing forth” ✧ PE17/124
    • THŪ “blow, cause an air movement, blow, cause an air movement, [ᴹ√] puff” ✧ PE17/124

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
thū > thúlë[tʰūlē] > [θūlē] > [θūle] > [sūle]✧ NM/237
thū́lē > thúle > súle[tʰūlē] > [θūlē] > [θūle] > [sūle]✧ PE17/124

Variations

  • thúle ✧ LotR/1123 (thúle)
  • súle ✧ LotR/1123; NM/239; PE17/124
  • thúlë ✧ NM/237; NM/239
Quenya [LotR/1123; NM/237; NM/239; PE17/124] Group: Eldamo. Published by

thúlë

thúlë

thúlë (þúlë) archaic/Vanyarin form of súlë, q.v.

þúlë

noun. spirit

Súlimo

súlimo

Súlimo (þ) surname of Manwë (wind-god) (THŪ, SA:sûl). Compare súlë and perhaps .

vilissë

spirit

vilissë noun "spirit" (GL:23)

fëa

spirit

fëa noun "spirit" (pl. fëar attested, MR:363). The Incarnates are said to live by necessary union of hroa (body) and fëa (WJ:405). In Airëfëa noun "the Holy Spirit", Fëanáro masc. name "Spirit of Fire" (Quenya-Sindarin hybrid form: Fëanor), Fëanturi noun "Masters of Spirits", name of the two Valar Mandos and Lórien (SA:tur), fëafelmë noun "spirit-impulse" (impulses originating with the spirit, e.g. love, pity, anger, hate) (VT41:19 cf. 13, VT43:37). In one source it is said to mean specifically a "spirit indwelling a body", i.e. "soul" (PE17:124), which contradicts such uses as Airefëa or Fëanturi. Cf. fairë.

Rithil-Anamo

ring of doom

Rithil-Anamo place name "Ring of Doom", translation of the foreign word Máhanaxar that was adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:401). Compare Anamo, q.v. Presumably *Risil-Anamo in Exilic Quenya, since the digraph th of rithil must represent the spirant þ (expressed by the letter súlë, older thúlë, in Tengwar writing).

spirit, shadow

noun "spirit, shadow" (PE17:86)

foa

breath, puff of breath

foa (1) noun "breath, puff of breath" (VT47:35, 36)