vasar

noun. veil

Cognates

• S. gwath “shadow, dim light, shadow, dim light, [N.] shade” ✧ VT42/09

Derivations

• √WATHAR “*shadow, veil” ✧ VT42/09; VT42/10

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√Wathar > waþar > vasar	[watʰar] > [waθar] > [βaθar] > [vaθar] > [vasar]	✧ VT42/09
√waþar > vasar	[watʰar] > [waθar] > [βaθar] > [vaθar] > [vasar]	✧ VT42/10

vasar

veil

vasar (þ) noun "veil" (VT42:10, the word was "not in daily use", VT42:9). Older form waþar.

vasarya-

to veil

vasarya- (þ) vb. "to veil" (VT42:10)

vasarya-

verb. to veil

Derivations

• √WATHAR “*shadow, veil” ✧ VT42/10

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√waþar > vasarya-	[watʰarja-] > [waθarja-] > [βaθarja-] > [vaθarja-] > [vasarja-]	✧ VT42/10

fanwa

veil, screen

fanwa noun "veil, screen" (PE17:176, 180)

fanwa

noun. veil, screen

Derivations

• ✶phanmā “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/176; PE17/180
  • √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/174
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Element in

• Q. henfanwa “eye-screen, veil upon eyes” ✧ PE17/176
• Q. úfanwëa “not veiled, unveiled” ✧ PE17/176; PE17/180

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶fanma > fanwa	[pʰanma] > [ɸanma] > [ɸanwa] > [fanwa]	✧ PE17/176
✶fan-mā > fanwa	[pʰanmā] > [ɸanmā] > [ɸanwā] > [ɸanwa] > [fanwa]	✧ PE17/180

ixal

noun. cast shadow

top-

cover

top- vb. "cover" (1st pers. aorist topë "covers"), pa.t. tompë (TOP). Variant tup-, q.v.

tup-

cover

#tup- vb. "cover", isolated from untúpa, q.v. Variant top- in the Etymologies.

fanta-

to veil, cloak, mantle

fanta- vb. "to veil, cloak, mantle" (VT43:22), mainly used of veils cast over things that shone, or that were brighter and more vivid (PE17:174); according to Tolkien usually the strong past tense fánë and perfect afánië were used, but later also fantanë in the past tense (and then perhaps *afantië in the perfect?) (PE17:179-180) Cf halya- (q.v.), the stem of which Tolkien contrasted with the stem of this verb (PE17:184).

fanta-

verb. to veil, cloak, mantle

Cognates

• S. fanna- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174

Derivations

• ✶phantā- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174
  • √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ VT43/22
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Element in

• ᴺQ. fantarcenya “perspicacious, penetrating of sight or understanding”
• Q. fantarcenya “perspicacious, penetrating of sight or understanding” ✧ PE17/176
• Q. úfantima “not concealable” ✧ PE17/176
• Q. terfantië “*temptation”
• Q. Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar ar larmar “Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment” ✧ PE17/174; PE17/175

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶phantā- > fanta-	[pʰanta-] > [ɸanta-] > [fanta-]	✧ PE17/174
√phan- > fanta-	[pʰanta-] > [ɸanta-] > [fanta-]	✧ VT43/22

hala

noun. cast shadow, cast shadow, *shade

A Quenya word meaning “a cast shadow” appearing in two forms, hala and (archaic) †ixal, both cognates to S. esgal and derived from the root √SKAL “cover, veil, cloak, conceal” (PE17/184). The form hala is the normal development from primitive ✶skalā where the initial sk eventually became h, whereas ixal shows a vowel i developing before syllabic ṣ and then the surviving sk undergoing metathesis to ks (x).

Neo-Quenya: Given that primitive ✶skalā is actually “the action or effect of overshadowing”, I think hala can mean both “(cast) shadow” and “✱shade” as in a shaded region beneath a screen of leaves or something similar. For the screen itself I’d use fanwa.

Cognates

• S. esgal “cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding, veil, cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding; veil” ✧ PE17/184

Derivations

• ✶skalā “a cast shadow; the action or effect of overshadowing” ✧ PE17/184
  • √SKAL “cover, veil, cloak, conceal, cover, veil, cloak, conceal, [ᴹ√] screen, hide (from light), overshadow” ✧ PE17/184

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶skalā > ixal	[ṣkal] > [iskal] > [iksal]	✧ PE17/184
✶skalā > hala	[skalā] > [xalā] > [halā] > [hala]	✧ PE17/184

Variations

• ixal ✧ PE17/184 (ixal)

fanya

(white) cloud

fanya noun "(white) cloud" (translated "sky" in FS); pl. fanyar in Namárië(Nam, RGEO:67). ). Used "only of white clouds, sunlit or moonlit, or clouds gilded or silvered at the edges by light behind them", not "of storm clouds or cloud canopies shutting out the light" (PE17:174). Cf. lumbo, q.v. According to VT46:15, fanya was originally given as an adjective "white" in the Etymologies; the printed version in LR wrongly implies that fanya and fána both mean "cloud", whereas actually the first was at this stage meant to be an adjective "white" whereas fána is both noun "cloud" and adj. "white". However, Namárië and later emendations to the entry SPAN in Etym indicate that Tolkien would later think of fanya as a noun "cloud", perhaps giving it the same double meaning as fána: noun "cloud" as well as adjective "white". According to PE17:26, fanya was originally an adjectival form "white and shining" that was however often used as a noun "applied to various things, notably to white clouds lit by sun or moon". In Namárië, the word is used poetically with reference to the hands of Varda (she lifted her hands ve fanyar "like clouds").

halya-

veil, conceal, screen from light

halya- vb. "veil, conceal, screen from light" (SKAL1, VT46:13) Tolkien noted that "√SKAL applied to more opaque things that cut off light and cast shadows over other things" (PE17:184), contrasting it with √SPAN, the rejected stem of fanta-, q.v.

larma

raiment

#larma (1) noun "raiment", attested in pl. form larmar (PE17:175)

larma

noun. raiment

A word from the late 1960s for “raiment” appearing only its plural form in the phrase Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar al larmar “Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment” (PE17/175). It’s derivation is unclear, but it might be tied to ᴹ√LAD “lie flat” from the 1940s (PE22/126).

Element in

• ᴺQ. páselarma “linen-raiment”
• Q. Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar ar larmar “Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment” ✧ PE17/175

fur-

to conceal, to lie

fur- vb. "to conceal, to lie" (LT2:340) Read perhaps *hur- in a LotR-compatible form of Quenya, since Tolkien decided that fu- tended to become hu-.

fana

noun. raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit

Cognates

• S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/174; RGEO/66

Derivations

• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/179; RGEO/66
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
• ✶phanā “veil, cloud” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • √PHAY “spirit, spirit; [ᴹ√] radiate, send out rays of light” ✧ NM/237
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
  • √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Element in

• Q. Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar ar larmar “Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment” ✧ PE17/174; PE17/175

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√FAN > fana	[pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana]	✧ PE17/026
✶phanā > fana	[pʰanā] > [ɸanā] > [ɸana] > [fana]	✧ PE17/173
✶phanā > fana	[pʰanā] > [ɸanā] > [ɸana] > [fana]	✧ PE17/174
√PHAN > fanar	[pʰanar] > [ɸanar] > [fanar]	✧ PE17/179
√Fana- > fana	[pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana]	✧ RGEO/66

fân

noun. veil

fân

a veil

n. a veil, a covering concealing what lay within or behind. Frequently used of clouds in the sky, as veils over the blue heaven or the sun, the moon, etc. (white cloud). It became its leading sense. Usual word for 'cloud', floating clouds, or those for a while resting upon or wreathing hills and mountain-top. It was seldom applied to any but things of soft textures (woven veils, mantles, or curtains). The lengthening of the vowel only took place where the word was used alone as a stressed monosyllable. After the coming of the Noldorin Exiles in Middle-earth, the meaning of Q. fana (_i.e. _shining shape, 'angelic' spirit) was assumed by S. fân. >> fain, fanui, Fanuidhol

fanha-

verb. to veil

v. to veil, cloak. Q. fanta-. Naturally mainly used of veils cast over things that shone, or were brighter and more vivid.

esgal

noun. veil, screen, cover that hides

esgal

a cast shadow

_n. _a cast shadow. Q. hala, poet. ixal. . This gloss was rejected.

esgal

noun. cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding, veil, cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding; veil

A word meaning either “veil, screen, hiding” (Ety/SKAL¹; SA/esgal) or “a cast shadow” (PE17/184) derived from the root √SKAL “cover, veil”, most notably an element in the name Esgalduin (S/121) translated “River under Veil” (Ety/SKAL¹) or “River under Shade” (PE17/15, 184).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s esgal was translated “screen, hiding, roof of leaves”, but there it (and the river name) were from the Ilkorin language. In notes from around 1966-67, however, Tolkien shift the sense of the root, saying:

> √SKAL was applied to more opaque things that cut off light and cast shadows over other things ... √SPAN was applied to things of lighter texture, and corresponds closer to our “veil” ... They appear also to have differed in that while SKAL was primitively verbal SPAN was primitively nominal. Thus the most primitive derivative of SKAL was skalā and this meant the action or effect of overshadowing: a cast shadow, S esgal, Q †ixal & hala. But spanā meant a thing that veiled, a veil (PE17/184).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I think esgal can refer to both a shading screen (as it did in the 1930s) or the shadow under that screen (as it did in the 1960s), but it is unlikely that Tolkien himself maintained these two senses simultaneously. However, there are a number of other Sindarin good words for “shadow” but not many for “screen, veil”, especially since fân < ✶spanā or ✶phanā is used mainly with the sense “cloud”. However, I would limit esgal to genuinely opaque screens and curtains, ones that block most if not all light, and for a diaphanous veil I’d use fân.

Cognates

• Q. hala “cast shadow, cast shadow, *shade” ✧ PE17/184

Derivations

• ✶skalā “a cast shadow; the action or effect of overshadowing” ✧ PE17/184
  • √SKAL “cover, veil, cloak, conceal, cover, veil, cloak, conceal, [ᴹ√] screen, hide (from light), overshadow” ✧ PE17/184

Element in

• S. Esgalduin “River under Veil, River under Shade” ✧ PE17/184; SA/esgal
• S. Esgaliant “Bridge of Esgalduin”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶skalā > esgal	[ṣkalā] > [ṣkala] > [eskala] > [eskal] > [esgal]	✧ PE17/184

fanha-

verb. to veil, cloak

gwathra-

verb. to overshadow, dim, veil, obscure

A verb meaning “overshadow, dim, veil, obscure” appearing in The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor of the late 1960s, from the root √WATH (VT42/9).

Derivations

• √WATH “*shade, [ᴹ√] shade” ✧ VT42/09

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√WATH > gwathra-	[watʰra-] > [waθra-] > [gwaθra-]	✧ VT42/09

gwathra-

verb. to overshadow, dim, veil, obscure

fân

noun. (white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]

The usual Sindarin word for “cloud” (PE17/36, 174; RGEO/66). As Tolkien explained it “The S. form fân, fan- was usually applied to clouds, as veils over the blue sky or the sun or moon, or resting hills” (RGEO/66). This use meant it was largely limited to white clouds in fair weather (PE17/36; Let/278); a dark or stormy cloud would be [ᴺS.] lum (see that entry for discussion). In an essay written around 1967 Tolkien indicated that fân had a second meaning:

> In Sindarin ✱phanā > fân meant a “veil”: a covering concealing what lay within or behind. It was frequently used of clouds in the sky, as veils over the blue heaven or the sun, moon, stars. This indeed became its leading sense, so that when it was still used of lesser and handmade things this was felt to be a transference of the sense “cloud” and fân was seldom applied to any but things of soft textures, such as woven veils, mantles, or curtains (PE17/173).

Thus in addition to “cloud”, fân applied to soft handmade veils or curtains (from its original sense). But the word had a third meaning as well, with a more complex origin:

> √PHAN-. The basic sense of this was “cover, screen, veil”, but it had a special development in the Eldarin tongues ... In Quenya, owing to close relations of the Eldar in Valinor with the Valar, and other lesser spirits of their order, fana developed a special sense. It was applied to the visible bodily forms adopted by these spirits, when they took up their abode on Earth, as the normal “raiment” of their otherwise invisible being ... This Quenya meaning of fana after the coming of the Exiles to Middle-earth was also assumed by Sindarin fân, at first in the Sindarin as used by the exiled Noldor, and eventually also by the Sindar themselves, especially those in close contact with the Noldor or actually mingled with them (PE17/174-176).

Thus, owing to the Quenya meaning of the word, the Sindar also used fân to referred physical form of the Valar and other spiritual beings, as well as visions of such beings (PE17/26), since the Sindar had relatively little direct experience of the Valar. For spirits, being embodied was not their natural state, so their fân was like “clothing” a spirit could wear to interact with the physical world.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s this word was N. faun “cloud” derived from primitive ᴹ✶spāna based on the root ᴹ√SPAN “white” (Ety/SPAN). In one note from around 1957 Tolkien considered using S. fân for an embodied spirit or soul, the equivalent of Q. fëa (NM/237), but elsewhere this was S. fae (MR/165; PM/343). For the most part in later writings, Tolkien used fân for “cloud” and related senses, as discussed above. Furthermore, in later writings it was a derivative of √PHAN rather than 1930s ᴹ√SPAN.

Cognates

• Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/174; RGEO/66
• Q. fanya “(white) cloud, white and shining [thing], (white) cloud, white and shining [thing]; [ᴹQ.] sky; white” ✧ PE17/173

Derivations

• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/036; RGEO/66
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
• ✶phanā “veil, cloud” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • √PHAY “spirit, spirit; [ᴹ√] radiate, send out rays of light” ✧ NM/237
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
  • √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Element in

• S. fanui “cloudy, (lit.) having much cloud” ✧ PE17/173; RGEO/66
• S. Fanuilos “Bright (Angelic) Figure upon Uilos” ✧ Let/278; PE17/026; PE17/174; PE17/176; PE17/180; RGEO/66

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√phan > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ NM/237
√FAN > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ PE17/026
√FAN > Fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ PE17/026
√PHAN > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ PE17/036
✶phanā > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ PE17/173
✶phanā > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ PE17/174
√Fana- > fân	[pʰanā] > [pʰana] > [ɸana] > [fana] > [fan] > [fān]	✧ RGEO/66

Variations

• fan ✧ Let/278
• Fân ✧ PE17/026

fân

noun. cloud (applied to clouds, floating as veils over the blue sky or the sun or moon, or resting on hills)

escal

veil

(screen, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).

escal

veil

(noun) 1) escal (screen, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail). 2) fân (cloud, manifested body of a Vala), construct fan, pl. fain

fân

veil

(cloud, manifested body of a Vala), construct fan, pl. fain

gwathra

veil

(i ’wathra, in gwathrar) (dim, obscure, overshadow)

gwathra

veil

(verb) gwathra- (i **wathra, in gwathrar**) (dim, obscure, overshadow)

delia

conceal

(i dhelia, i neliar), pa.t. daul (whence the passive participle dolen ”concealed”), later pa.t. deliant.

escal

cover

(a cover that hides) escal (screen, veil), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).

escal

cover

(screen, veil), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).

fanna- Reconstructed

verb. to veil, cloak

Cognates

• Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ PE17/174

Derivations

• ✶phantā- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174
  • √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶phantā- > fanha-	[pʰanta-] > [pʰantʰa-] > [pʰanθa-] > [ɸanθa-] > [fanθa-] > [fanna-]	✧ PE17/174

Variations

• fanha- ✧ PE17/174

toba

cover

toba- (i doba, i thobar) (roof over). Cited as a ”Noldorin” infinitive in -o (tobo)

toba

cover

(i doba, i thobar) (roof over). Cited as a ”Noldorin” infinitive in -o (tobo)

doltha

conceal

(i dholtha, i noltar). Pa.t. †daul, an archaic form that was maybe replaced by dolthant later. Passive participle dolen (see

gwathra

overshadow

gwathra- (i **wathra, in gwathrar**) (dim, veil, obscure)

gwathra

overshadow

(i ’wathra, in gwathrar) (dim, veil, obscure)

ugrudâ-

verb. to overshadow

A verb translated “overshadow”, given as an example of a derived-verb (SD/439). It appears to contain the element ugru “shadow”, so perhaps the final element -dâ- is a causative verbal suffix.

Elements

Word	Gloss
ugru	“shadow”
-dâ-	“verbal suffix”

Variations

• ugrudā- ✧ SD/439

phanā

noun. veil, cloud

Derivations

• √PHAY “spirit, spirit; [ᴹ√] radiate, send out rays of light” ✧ NM/237
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237
• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Derivatives

• Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
• S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174

Variations

• phănā ✧ NM/237

phanmā

noun. veil, screen

Derivations

• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/174
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Derivatives

• Q. fanwa “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/176; PE17/180

Variations

• fanma ✧ PE17/176 (fanma)
• fan-mā ✧ PE17/180

wathar

root. *shadow, veil

Derivatives

• Q. Avathar “Shadows”
• Q. vasar “veil” ✧ VT42/09; VT42/10
• Q. vasarya- “to veil” ✧ VT42/10

Variations

• Wathar ✧ VT42/09 (Wathar)
• waþar ✧ VT42/10

phantā-

verb. to veil, cloak

Derivations

• √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ PE17/173
  • √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Derivatives

• Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ PE17/174
• S. fanna- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174

skal

root. cover, veil, cloak, conceal, cover, veil, cloak, conceal, [ᴹ√] screen, hide (from light), overshadow

A root appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√SKAL “screen, hide (from light), overshadow” (Ety/SKAL¹) with a couple rejected variant meanings “cower, hide” and “conceal, hide (from light)” (EtyAC/SKAL¹, SKAL³). It had derivatives like ᴹQ. halda/N. hall “veiled, hidden, shadowed, shady” and Ilk. esgal “screen, hiding, roof of leaves” as in Ilk. Esgalduin “River under Veil” (Ety/SKAL¹).

The root reappeared as √SKAL “cover, veil, cloak, conceal” with a “privative” √S- prefix added to √KAL “light”, again as the basis for S. esgal “a cast shadow” in S. Esgalduin “River under Shade” (PE17/184). In this note, Tolkien contrasted √SKAL with √SPAN of similar meaning, saying that “√SKAL was applied to more opaque things that cut off light and cast shadows over other things ... √SPAN was applied to things of lighter texture, and corresponds closer to our veil” and also:

> SKAL was primitively verbal [whereas] SPAN was primitively nominal. Thus the most primitive derivative of SKAL was skalā and this meant the action or effect of overshadowing ... But spanā meant a thing that veiled, a veil (PE17/184).

Elsewhere the derivatives of √SPAN were more frequently attributed to √PHAN; see those entries for further discussion.

Derivatives

• ✶skalā “a cast shadow; the action or effect of overshadowing” ✧ PE17/184
  • Q. hala “cast shadow, cast shadow, *shade” ✧ PE17/184
  • S. esgal “cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding, veil, cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding; veil” ✧ PE17/184

span

root. cover, veil, cloak, conceal, cover, veil, cloak, conceal; [ᴹ√] white

A root appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√SPAN “white” (Ety/SPAN) with derivatives like ᴹQ. fanya/N. fein “white” and ᴹQ. fána/N. faun “cloud”, the latter an element in ᴹQ. Fantur/N. Fannor “Lord of Cloud” as the basis for N. Gurfannor and N. Olfannor which were alternate names of Mandos and Lórien (Ety/SPAN). In writings from the 1910s, these alternate names were instead based on ᴱQ. Fantur/G. Fanthor < ᴱ√FANA; this early root seem to mostly have to do with dreams and visions (QL/37; GL/34).

Starting in the late 1950s, Tolkien began using √FAN or √PHAN “white” as the basis for cloud words (PE17/26, 36). √SPAN “cover, veil, cloak, conceal” was restored in a 1967 discussion of the root √SKAL of similar meaning where Tolkien said “√SKAL was applied to more opaque things that cut off light and cast shadows over other things ... √SPAN was applied to things of lighter texture, and corresponds closer to our veil” and “SKAL was primitively verbal [whereas] SPAN was primitively nominal” (PE17/184). However, towards the end of this note Tolkien wrote “Keep this part so far as it affects SKAL”, hinting that √SPAN was discarded; this rejection may have been tied to his introduction of a privative sense to prefixal √S- which worked for √S-KAL (“without light”) but not √SPAN. He wrote several other lengthy essays in 1967 with √PHAN = “veil”; see that entry for discussion.

Derivatives

• ✶spanā “a thing that veiled, a veil” ✧ PE17/184

phan

root. cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision

The earliest iteration of this root was unglossed ᴱ√FANA or ᴱ√FṆTṆ (the latter marked with a “?”) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. fanóre “day-dream”, ᴱQ. fansa “swoon”, and ᴱQ. fantl “vision, dream, hazy notion, imaginary idea” (QL/37). The root ᴹ√PHAN also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but the entry was unglossed, empty and eventually deleted (EtyAC/PHAN), perhaps supplanted by ᴹ√SPAN; see that entry for discussion.

√PHAN appeared quite a few times in Tolkien’s later writings, however, mostly in connection to Q. fanya “cloud” from the Namárië poem and S. Fanuilos as a name for Elbereth in the Sindarin prayer A Elbereth Gilthoniel. In connection to Fanuilos Tolkien said: “√FAN ‘white’, but especially applied to reflected light as of clouds, snow, frost, mist. Cf. fanya, Quenya, (white) cloud” (PE17/26). In a more extensive note he wrote:

> The element FAN- (Q fana, S fân) is “elvish” and not easy to translate. It may be said to mean “shape”, but with the added notion of light and whiteness; it is thus often used where we might use “a vision” — of something beautiful or sublime. Yet being elvish, though it may be used of things remote, it has no implication either of uncertainty or unreality. The Fân here is the vision of the majesty of Elbereth upon the mountain where she dwelt. So that Fanuilos really means in full: Figure (bright and majestic) upon Uilos (PE17/26).

Tolkien also wrote a lengthy essay discussing this root in several versions (PE17/173-180). The second version of this essay began:

> √PHAN-. The basic sense of this was “cover, screen, veil”, but it had a special development in the Eldarin tongues. This was largely due to what appears to have been its very ancient application to clouds, especially to separate floating clouds as (partial) veils over the blue sky, or over the sun, moon, or stars. This application of the most primitive derivative ✱phanā (Q fana, S fân) was so ancient that when ✱phanā (or other derivatives) was applied to lesser, handmade, things this was felt to be a transference from the sense “cloud”, and words of this group were mainly applied to things of soft textures, veils, mantles, curtains and the like, of white or pale colours (PE17/174).

Finally, in The Road Goes Ever On (RGEO) from 1967, Tolkien wrote:

> Fana- is an Elvish element, with primary meaning “veil”. The S. form fân, fan- was usually applied to clouds, floating as veils over the blue sky or the sun or moon or resting on hills. In Quenya, however, the simple word fana acquired a special sense. Owing to the close association of the High-Elves with the Valar, it was applied to the “veils” or “raiment” in which the Valar presented themselves to physical eyes ... The High-Elves said these forms were always to some degree radiant, as if suffused from a light within. In Quenya, fana thus came to signify the radiant and majestic figure of one of the great Valar. In Sindarin, especially as used by the High-Elves, the originally identical word fân “cloud” was also given the same sense (RGEO/66).

This discussion in RGEO is essentially a summary of the much lengthier essay on √PHAN noted above. Thus it seems Tolkien’s latest notion of the root was that it originally mean “cover, screen, veil”, and was applied to clouds as veiling the sun, and from this application the root came to refer to white, radiant and soft things. In the Quenya of Valinor the word Q. fana was then applied to the radiant materialized bodies of the Valar, and when the Noldor again encountered the Sindar this sense influenced S. fân (originally just “cloud”) as well.

Derivations

• √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” ✧ NM/237

Derivatives

• ✶phanā “veil, cloud” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
  • S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
• ✶phanmā “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/174
  • Q. fanwa “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/176; PE17/180
• ✶phantā- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/173
  • Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ PE17/174
  • S. fanna- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174
• ✶phanyā “*veiled, veiling” ✧ PE17/174
  • Q. fanya “(white) cloud, white and shining [thing], (white) cloud, white and shining [thing]; [ᴹQ.] sky; white” ✧ PE17/174
  • S. fain “white, shimmering, shining; white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud, white, shimmering, shining, [N.] radiant; [S.] white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud” ✧ PE17/174
• Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/179; RGEO/66
• Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ VT43/22
• Q. fanwë “vapour, steam” ✧ NM/237
• Q. fanya “(white) cloud, white and shining [thing], (white) cloud, white and shining [thing]; [ᴹQ.] sky; white” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/026; PE17/036; PE17/173; RGEO/66
• S. fain “white, shimmering, shining; white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud, white, shimmering, shining, [N.] radiant; [S.] white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/036; PE17/179
• S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/036; RGEO/66
• ᴺS. fanu “vapour, steam”
• S. fanui “cloudy, (lit.) having much cloud” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/036
• S. fanwos “mind-picture (of apparition in dream)”

Element in

• ✶phanmā “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/179
• Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ PE17/179
• S. Fanuilos “Bright (Angelic) Figure upon Uilos” ✧ PE17/026

Variations

• phan ✧ NM/237
• FAN ✧ PE17/026; PE17/026; PE17/153
• Fana- ✧ RGEO/66
• phan- ✧ VT43/22

toba-

verb. to cover, roof over