orn

noun. (tall straight) tree

A “tree” word in Sindarin, derived from primitive ✶ornē (Let/426; NM/349; UT/266). This word can be compared to the more general galadh “tree”. Of these Tolkien said:

> There was not in Sindarin much distinction in size between galað and orn. But oak (norð, Q nordo) and beech were galað for instance and birch and ash orn. A galað was more thick, dense & branching (PE17/25).

And:

> ... ✱ornē “tree” originally and usually applied to the taller, straighter, and more slender trees, such as birches [as opposed to] ... stouter and more spreading trees, such as oaks and beeches, were called in C.E. galadā “great growth” (NM/349 and note #1).

In this second set of notes Tolkien also said “In S. orn < ✱ornē fell out of common use and was used only in verse and songs, though it survived in many names, of trees and persons. All trees were called galað < ✱galadā” (NM/349 note #1). I can find no evidence that S. orn was archaic this outside of this note. As such, I would use orn in Sindarin for tall straight trees, and galadh either for trees in generally, or where applicable for broad and spreading trees.

Conceptual Development: This word was very well established in Tolkien’s mind. In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, G. orn was the ordinary word for “tree”, as opposed to archaic/poetic G. †alwen (GL/19, 62). ᴱN. orn “tree” appeared in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s where it was derived from ᴱ✶orne- (PE13/151, 164), and N. orn “tree” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ᴹ✶ÓR-NI “high tree”, though in this document Tolkien said this Noldorin word was “used of any large tree” (Ety/ÓR-NI).