Primitive elvish

wel

root. *boil, bubble

Primitive elvish Group: Eldamo - neologism/adaptations. Published by

-iel

suffix. feminine suffix

Primitive elvish [MR/388; NM/349; NM/353; PE17/190] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ye Reconstructed

suffix. feminine suffix

Quenya 

-iel

suffix. -daughter; feminine suffix

The most common Quenya suffix for “daughter of” such as in Elerondiel “✱Daughter of Elrond” (PE17/56) or Uinéniel “Daughter of Uinen” (UT/182).

Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this suffix was ᴱQ. -il mentioned by Tolkien in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as the equivalent of feminine patronymic ᴱQ. -wen (QL/103), but its only use in this period was in the masculine name ᴱQ. Indorildo, a variant of ᴱQ. Indorion and hence probably meaning “son of” (LT2/217). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien mentioned ᴹQ. -iel as a feminine patronymic under the root ᴹ√YEL “daughter” (Ety/YEL¹), but this root was rejected and in that document Tolkien seems to have replaced it with ᴹQ. -ien (EtyAC/YŌ).

In later writings Tolkien considered a bewildering variety of suffixes for the feminine patronymic, including -iel(d), -well, -wend and -ien (PE17/170, 190). In practice, though, only -iel appeared in actual names for “daughter of” (see above), perhaps because it is was the cleanest equivalent of the well-established masculine patronymic -ion “son of”.

Quenya [PE17/023; PE17/170; PE17/190] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Sindarin 

-il

suffix. feminine suffix

A fairly common feminine suffix appearing as -il in Sindarin, either formed on its own or as a variant of the feminine suffix -iel. This suffix was also common Noldorin words in The Etymologies of the 1930s, along with an alternate form -ril that seems to be a feminine agental suffix, the equivalent of masculine -(r)on, seen in pairs like N. melethril/melethron “lover” and N. odhril/odhron “parent” (Ety/MEL, ONO). The -il suffix and its -ril variant are seen all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s in pairs like G. gwadhril/gwadhron “inhabitant” (GL/47) and G. ainil/ainos “god”, female and male respectively (GL/18). So it seems this feminine suffix was well established in Tolkien’s mind.

Noldorin 

-il

suffix. feminine suffix

Adûnaic

-êth

suffix. feminine suffix

A feminine suffix appearing in several names, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/11). On SD/427, Tolkien said that the affix -th was often found in feminine forms.

suffix. feminine suffix

A suffix used to form feminine nouns from common or masculine nouns (SD/435). Another common variant was (SD/438).


Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Early Primitive Elvish

gwele

root. *boil, bubble

A root appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as {ᴱ√WELE >>} ᴱ√GWELE with derivatives like ᴱQ. wele-/G. gwel- “to boil, bubble” and ᴱQ. welbe/G. gwelc “bubble” (QL/103; GL/44).

Neo-Eldarin: There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth retaining this root for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, since there are no other good candidates for “boil” words elsewhere in the published corpus. I’d update the form to ᴺ√WEL, since otherwise the (Neo) Sindarin forms would begin with b-.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/103] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

-ni

suffix. feminine suffix

A common feminine suffix in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like varyani “foreigner (fem.)”, probably a suffixal form of ᴱQ. “woman” (GL/60) and often paired with its masculine equivalent ᴱQ. -nu.

Early Quenya [QL/036; QL/039; QL/040; QL/049; QL/095; QL/100; QL/101] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-si

suffix. feminine suffix

A feminine suffix in several words from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s such as ᴱQ. felusi “witch” (QL/38) and ᴱQ. varitsi “foreigner (fem.)” (QL/100).

Early Quenya [QL/038; QL/100; QL/105] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-sse

suffix. feminine suffix

Early Quenya [QL/040; QL/055] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-tsi

suffix. feminine suffix

pus

noun. boil

A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “boil” under the early root ᴱ√PUŘU [PUÐU] “consume by fire” (QL/75). Its stem form was pust-, so presumably ancient ðt became st.

Early Quenya [QL/075] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

-eye

suffix. feminine suffix

Middle Primitive Elvish [PE23/086; PE23/087] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Primitive adûnaic

-th

suffix. feminine suffix

A (primitive?) feminine suffix used in the formation of mîth “baby girl” from the root ✶Ad. √MIYI (SD/427). Tolkien stated that th was one of the “favoured” feminine consonants (SD/427).

Primitive adûnaic [SD/427] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Doriathrin

-il Reconstructed

suffix. feminine suffix

Apparently a feminine suffix attested in the name Thuringwethil “(Woman of) Secret Shadow” (Ety/THUR) and the noun tóril “queen” (Ety/TĀ).

Doriathrin [Ety/TĀ; Ety/THUR] Group: Eldamo. Published by