veri

noun. wife

The most common word for “wife” in Quenya (VT49/45).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as ᴱQ. veri “wife” under the early root ᴱ√VEŘE [VEÐE] (QL/101), but there it was marked archaic (†). It also had a number of competing forms: archaic ᴱQ. †veruni and ᴱQ. †vesse alongside only one non-archaic form ᴱQ. vestin. One of these forms, ᴹQ. vesse, reappeared for “wife” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES). Later veri “wife” was restored, but derived from a new root √BER for marriage words (VT49/45).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to retain the 1930s root ᴹ√BES for marriage words in order to preserve Noldorin/Sindarin forms, but I would still use the veri for “wife”, just conceived of as a derivative of the root √BES, coming from ✱besī with intervocalic s > z > r.

veri

wife

veri noun "wife" (VT49:45)

verië

boldness

verië noun "boldness" (BER)

veru

husband and wife, married pair

veru (2) dual noun "husband and wife, married pair" (BES). Obsoleted by #1 above? (Notice that the word veru "married pair" comes from the same source that has venno rather than veru as the word for "husband".)

verin

adjective. married

verinu

collective noun. married pair

indis

wife

indis noun, translated "wife" in UT:8, but the form is assigned the meaning "bride" in other places (the regular translation of "wife" is rather veri or vessë). Indis "Bride", name of the goddess Nessa. (NDIS-SĒ /SĀ (NETH, NI1, NDER, I) ); Indis Nessa *"Bride Nessa", title and name of the Valië (NETH) The stem-form of indis "bride" is somewhat obscure; according to VT45:37 the stem could be indiss- (pl. indissi given), but the alternative form pl. form inderi shows a curious shift from i to e as well as the more regular change from s (via z) to r between vowels (compare the pl. of olos, q.v.) The stem indiss- may be preferred by writers.

vessë

wife

vessë noun "wife" (BES). A later source gives the word for "wife" as veri.

tyasta-

verb. to (put to the) test, *verify

Tindómisel

noun. nightingale

PQ. nightingale

indis

noun. wife, [ᴹQ.] bride, [ᴺQ.] *fiancée; [Q.] wife

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “bride” derived from the root ᴹ√NDIS (EtyAC/NDIS). It was translate “wife” in the later phrase Q. Indis i·Ciryamo “The Mariner’s Wife” (UT/8), but I think this is a loose translation and “bride” is more accurate. In The Etymologies Tolkien gave two plural forms: inderi (which might be indesi) and indissi, the latter influenced by the plural ᴹQ. nissi for “women” (EtyAC/NDIS). I’d use the stem form indiss- for this word, to avoid awkward changes of the final consonant from s to r in inflected forms.

Neo-Quenya: In a post on 2024-09-27 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested it might also mean “fiancée”.

morilindë

nightingale

morilindë noun "nightingale" (MOR)

tindómerel

noun. nightingale

TQ. nightingale

tindómizel

noun. nightingale

PQ. nightingale

verī

noun. wife

tasta-

verb. to (put to the) test, *verify

A neologism coined by Paul Strack in 2018 specifically for Eldamo, the Sindarin equivalent of [ᴱQ.] tyasta- “put to the test, ✱verify”, and inspired by Fayanzār’s neologism [ᴺS.] tastaith “test”.

dúlinn

nightingale

1) dúlinn (i dhúlinn) (dusk-singer), same form pl. except with article (i núlinn) (SD:302). 2) merilin (i verilin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i merilin), coll. pl. merilinnath. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” ”moerilind” = mörilind. 3) tinúviel (”daughter of twilight”, a poetic kenning) (i dinúviel, o thinúviel), pl. ?tinúvil (i thinúvil), coll. pl. tinúviellath (MR:373, WJ:62)

merilin

nightingale

(i** verilin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i** merilin), coll. pl. merilinnath. Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” ”moerilind” = mörilind.

Tinnúviel

noun. nightingale

nightingale

bess

noun. wife, wife; [N.] woman

A word for “wife” appearing in the King’s Letter written towards the end of the 1940s (SD/129).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to G. bess “wife” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where it was a derivative of the early root ᴱ√Beđ (GL/22). In Early Noldorin Word-lists, Tolkien changed ᴱN. {bess >>} gweth “wife” based on the modified root ᴱ√wed- (PE13/139, 146); it also had a negated form ᴱN. urweth “without wife” (PE13/156). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien restored N. bess, now a derivative of the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES). However in that document the sense “†wife” was archaic, and it has come to mean “woman” in modern speech, replacing archaic N. †dî “woman” (Ety/BES, NDIS, NĪ¹). In the scenario of The Etymologies, the normal word for “wife” was herves (Ety/BES, KHER). However, in the late-1940s King’s Letter, it seems the sense “wife” was restored to bess.

At some point in the mid-to-late 1960s, Tolkien changed the root for marriage words from ᴹ√BES to √BER (VT49/45), apparently motivated by a need to deal with some etymological problems with the name S. Elbereth. Indeed, in The Road Goes Ever On from 1967, Tolkien said S. bereth meant “spouse”, also “used of one who is queen as spouse of a king” (RGEO/66). This calls into question the continued validity of bess from ᴹ√BES.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I prefer to retain the root ᴹ√BES for marriage words; see that entry for further details. I’d therefore keep bess, but I recommend using it only in the sense “wife”. For “woman” I’d use dî, much as I recommend using S. dîr for “man” over N. benn, which had similar conceptual developments.

dúlin

noun. nightingale

dúlin

noun. nightingale

A word for “nightingale” appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a combination of N. dû “night” and N. lhinn “tune” (Ety/DOƷ, Ety/LIN², TIN). It appeared as both dúlinn (Ety/LIN²) and dúlin (Ety/TIN). In The Notion Club Papers of the 1940s, Tolkien instead gave duilin “nightingale” as a derivative of primitive ᴹ✶dōmilindē, demonstrating a phonetic development whereby the ancient m became v and then vanished after the u, but the medial i was preserved. However, Christopher Tolkien used the form dúlin in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/dú), and that form is thus better known.

bess

wife

(i vess, construct bes) (woman), pl. biss (i miss). The word bess was later used = ”woman” (in general).

dúlinn

nightingale

(i** dhúlinn) (dusk-singer), same form pl. except with article (i** núlinn) (SD:302).

herves

wife

1) herves (i cherves, o cherves), pl. hervis (i chervis), coll. pl. hervessath, 2) archaic bess (i vess, construct bes) (woman), pl. biss (i miss). The word bess was later used = ”woman” (in general).

herves

wife

(i cherves, o cherves), pl. hervis (i chervis), coll. pl. hervessath

tinúviel

nightingale

(”daughter of twilight”, a poetic kenning) (i** dinúviel, o thinúviel), pl. ?tinúvil (i** thinúvil), coll. pl. tinúviellath** **(MR:373, WJ:62)

Tinnúviel

noun. nightingale

nightingale

duilin

noun. nightingale

dúlin

noun. nightingale

dúlin(n)

noun. nightingale

dúlind

noun. nightingale

dúlinn

noun. nightingale

herves

noun. wife

herves

noun. wife

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s for “wife”, a combination of ᴹ√KHER “govern” and N. bess “woman” (which itself archaically meant “wife”), the latter element based on the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES, KHER).

Conceptual Development: A precursor to this word was ᴱQ. herivesti “wife, ✱lady spouse” from Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, which was assembled from elements similar to N. herves, but in the Qenya branch of the language instead.

Neo-Sindarin: In later writings, Tolkien seems to have revised ᴹ√BES > √BER as the basis for marriage words (VT49/45). However, I prefer to retain the 1930s root ᴹ√BES and would therefore use herves for “wife”. However, in later writings Tolkien also used the short form bess for “wife” as well (SD/129), so I consider herves to be more formal.

hervess

noun. wife

hervess

noun. wife

merilin

noun. nightingale

merilin(n)

noun. nightingale

A noun for “nightingale” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, adapted from Ilkorin myrilind “since mori did not = ‘night’ in N” (Ety/TIN). S. dúlin “nightingale” is better attested.

mœrilind

noun. nightingale

banâth

noun. wife

The noun for “wife”, given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead.