Uinen (Uinend-, as in dative Uinenden) fem. name, used of a Maia, spouse of Ossë (UY, NEN). Adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:404), though it is also said that it contains -nen "water" (SA:nen); the latter explanation may be folk etymology. In the Etymologies, the name is derived from the same stem (UY) as uilë "long trailing plant, especially seaweed".
Quenya
uinen
feminine name. Uinen
Element in
Uinen
water
Uinen
Uinen
Two explanations exist for the name Uinen. In The Etymologies, the first element came from a root UY-. Several other words under this lemma mean "seaweed", though the name Uinen itself is not explained. A later note pertaining to the name instead suggests it is a name of non-Elvish (Valarin) origin of unknown meaning. Christopher Tolkien has noted that Uinen contains the element nen ("water"). It is unknown if he had access to unpublished manuscripts by his father to corroborate this suggestion or if he speculated on the matter.
Valatári
vala-queen
Valatári noun "Vala-queen" (BAL; this entry of the Etymologies states that Vala has no feminine form except this compound, but Silm gives Valië as a feminine form). The word Valatári is apparently also the unchanged plural form, so used in this quote: "The Valatári were Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Vana, Vaire, Este, Nessa, Uinen" (BAL; Tolkien later reclassified Uinen as a Maia, not a Valatári/Valië). Notice that the plural form of Valatar would apparently also be *Valatári.
nén
noun. water, water, [ᴱQ.] river
The word for “water”, a derivative of the root √NEN of the same meaning (PE17/52; Ety/NEN). Its stem form was nen- (Ety/NEN) and its primitive form was given as ✶nē̆n, the vowel length variation due to distinct subjective nēn versus objective/inflected nĕn- in ancient monosyllables (PE21/64).
Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with two senses: “river” and (archaic) “†water”. Tolkien indicated the two senses were based on distinct roots: ᴱ√NEŘE [NEÐE] and ᴱ√NENE respectively, with two distinct stem forms nend- and nēn (QL/64-65). The Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa also mentions the forms nen (nēn-) “water” versus nen(d-) “river” (PME/64-65). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the mid-1920s Tolkien had both nēn “river” (PE15/76) and nēn “water” (PE15/78), but in the Early Qenya Grammar he had only nēn “water” (PE14/43, 72), also appearing as nen “water” in documents on The Valmaric Script from this period (PE14/110).
In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had ᴹQ. nēn “water”, but in this document it had nēn- with long ē in its inflected forms as well (PE21/23). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, uninflected nén “water” had a stem form of nen- with short e (Ety/NEN), and the reasons for this variation was discussed in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936, the nominative/objective distinction noted above (PE21/64). This seems to be the paradigm Tolkien stuck with thereafter, as evidenced by S. nen “water” rather than ✱✱nîn.
Cognates
- S. nen “water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, water; lake, pool; (lesser) river, [ᴱN.] stream” ✧ PE17/052; SA/nen
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Cuiviénen “Water of Awakening” ✧ SA/nen
- Q. Nénar
- Q. nenda “wet”
- Q. nendil “beast that lives in the water”
- Q. Nendili “Water-lovers”
- ᴺQ. nengarmo “otter, (lit.) water-wolf”
- Q. Nénimë “February, *Wet-ness”
- ᴺQ. nenungol “octopus, (lit.) water-spider”
- Q. Nenya “(Ring) of Water” ✧ SA/nen
- Q. Nísinen “*Fragrant Water”
- Q. Uinen ✧ SA/nen
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √NEN > nēn [nēn] ✧ PE17/052 √nen > nen [nen] ✧ SA/nen Variations
- nēn ✧ PE17/052
- nen ✧ SA/nen
Nénar
water
Nénar noun name of a star (or planet), evidently derived from nén "water" (Silm), tentatively identified with Uranus (MR:435)
nén
water
nén (nen-) noun "water" (NEN).
A Maia, Lady of the Seas (S/30). The meaning of this name is unclear, and it is probably adapted from her Valarin title like the name of her spouse Ossë (WJ/404).
Conceptual Development: The earliest form of her name was ᴱQ. Ówen, from the “Poetical and Mythological Words of Eldarissa” (PME/70). A similar word ᴱQ. ówen “mermaid” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as a derivative of the root ᴱ√’O’O “Sea” (QL/70). This name also appeared the earliest Lost Tales, but was quickly replaced ᴱQ. Ónen (LT1/58, 61). At this early stage, G. Uinen was the Gnomish equivalent of her name (GL/74), but Uinen gradually supplanted Ónen in the writing of the Lost Tales (LT1/121, 130 note #6).
In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, her name in Quenya was also ᴹQ. Uinen, and this name appeared in The Etymologies alongside N. Uinen as a combination of the roots ᴹ√UY “seaweed” and ᴹ√NEN “water” (Ety/UY, NEN). At this stage, the genitive form of her name was given as ᴹQ. Uinenden (Ety/UY) implying a stem form of Uinend-, but Tolkien may have abandoned this form, as evidenced by the later name Q. Uinéniel “Daughter of Uinen” (Uinen + -iel). The idea that her name was derived from Valarin did not emerge until the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (WJ/404).