PART FOUR.
QUENDI
AND
ELDAR.
QUENDI AND ELDAR.
The title Quendi and Eldar clearly belongs properly to the long essay
that is printed here, though my father used it also to include two other
much briefer works, obviously written at much the same time; one of
these, on the origin of the Orcs, was published in Morgoth's Ring (see
X.415, where a more detailed account is given). Quendi and Eldar is
extant in a typescript with carbon copy that can be fairly certainly
dated to the years 1959-60 (ibid.); and both copies are preceded by
a manuscript page that in addition to the following preamble gives a
parallel title Essekenta Eldarinwa.
Enquiry into the origins of the Elvish names for Elves
and their varieties clans and divisions: with Appendices
on their names for the other Incarnates: Men, Dwarves,
and Orcs; and on their analysis of their own language,
Quenya: with a note on the 'Language of the Valar'.
My father corrected the two copies carefully and in precisely the same
ways (except for a few later pencilled alterations). The text printed
here follows the original very closely, apart from very minor changes
made for consistency or clarity, the omission of a passage of extremely
complex phonology, and a reorganisation of the text in respect of the
notes. As often elsewhere in his later writings, my father interrupted
his main text with notes, some of them long; and these I have num-
bered and collected at the end, distinguishing them from my own
numbered notes by referring to them in the body of the text as Note 1,
Note 2, &c., with a reference to the page on which they are found.
Also, and more drastically, I have omitted one substantial section from
Appendix D (see p. 396). This was done primarily for reasons of
space, but the passage in question is a somewhat abstract account
of the phonological theories of earlier linguistic Loremasters and the
contributions of Feanor, relying rather allusively on phonological data
that are taken for granted: it stands apart from the content of the work
at large (and entered, I suspect, from the movement of my father's
train of thought rather than as a planned element in the whole).
Also for reasons of space my commentary is kept to a severe
minimum. Abbreviations used are PQ (Primitive Quendian), CE
(Common Eldarin), CT (Common Telerin), Q (Quenya), T (Telerin),
N (Noldorin), S (Sindarin), V (Valarin).
QUENDI AND ELDAR.
Origin and Meanings of the Elvish words referring to Elves
and their varieties. With Appendices on their names for other
Incarnates.
A. The principal linguistic elements concerned.
1. *KWENE.
(a) PQ *kwene 'person' (m. or f.). CE *kwen (-kwen), pl.
*kweni, person (m. or f.), one, (some)body-, pl. per-
sons', '(some) people'.
(b) PQ and CE *kwende, pl. *kwendf. This form was made
from *kwene by primitive fortification of the median n )
nd. It was probably at first only used in the plural, in the
sense 'people, the people as a whole', sc. embracing all the
three original clans.
(c) *kwendja adj. 'belonging to the *kwendi, to the people as
a whole'.
2. *ELE According to Elvish legend this was a primitive
exclamation, 'lo! ' 'behold! ' made by the Elves when they
first saw the stars. Hence:
(a) CE *el, *ele, *el-a, 'lo!' 'look!' 'see!'
(b) CE *el, pl. *eli, eli, 'star'.
(c) CE *elen, pl. 'elena, 'star', with 'extended base'.
(d) CE *elda, an adjectival formation 'connected or con-
cerned with the stars', used as a description of the *kwendi.
According to legend this name, and the next, were due to
the Vala Orome. They were thus probably at first only used
in the plural, meaning 'star-folk'.
(e) CE *elena, an adjectival form made from the extended
stem *elen, of the same meaning and use as *elda.
3. *DELE.
(a) A verbal base 'dele, also with suffix *del-ja, 'walk, go,
proceed, travel'.
(b) *edelo, an agental formation of primitive pattern: 'one
who goes, traveller, migrant'. A name made at the time of
the Separation for those who decided to follow Orome.
(c) *awa-delo, *awa-delo, ?*wa-delo. Old compounds with
the element *awa 'away' (see below). A name made in
Beleriand for those who finally departed from Middle-
earth.
4. *HEKE. Probably not in origin a verbal base, but an
adverbial element 'aside, apart, separate'.
(a) PQ *heke 'apart, not including'.
(b) PQ and CE verbal derivative, transitive: 'hek-ta 'set aside,
cast out, forsake'.
(c) PQ *hekla 'any thing (or person) put aside from, or left
out from, its normal company'. Also in personal form
*heklo 'a waif or outcast'; adjectival forms 'hekla and
*hekela.
The element *AWA, appearing in 3(c) above, referred to move-
ment away, viewed from the point of view of the thing, person,
or place left. As a prefix it had probably already developed in
CE the form *au-. The form *awa was originally an indepen-
dent adverbial form, but appears to have been also used as a
prefix (as an intensive form of *awa-, 'au-). The form *wa- was
probably originally used as a verbal stem, and possibly also in
composition with verbal stems.
In the Eldarin languages this stem made contact in form with
other elements, distinct in origin and in sense.*ABA 'refuse', 'say
nay (in refusal or denial)': this is the source of the CE *abar, pl.
*abari 'a refuser,' one who declined to follow Orome. *wo in
forms *wo and *wo- (the latter only as a prefix): this was a dual
adverb 'together', referring to the junction of two things, or
groups, in a pair or whole. The plural equivalent was *jo, *jom,
and as a prefix *jo, *jom. *HO in forms >ho and >ho: this was
an adverb 'from, coming from', the point of view being outside
the thing referred to.
The principal derivatives in form (their use is discussed below)
of the CE words given above were as follows:
*KWEN.
QUENYA. 1(a) quen, pl. queni; unstressed, as a pronoun or
final element in a compound, quen.
1(b) Quendi. The sg. quende (not much used) was made in
Quenya from Quendi, on the model of other nouns in -e,
the majority of which formed their plurals in -i. There were
also two old compounds: Kalaquendi 'Light-elves' and Mori-
quendi 'Dark-elves'.
1(c) Quendya, which remained in the Vanyarin dialect, but
in Noldorin became Quenya. This was only used with
reference to language.
TELERIN. 1(a) pen as a pronoun, and -pen in a few old
compounds.
1(b) Pendi, plural only. Also in the compounds Calapendi
and Moripendi.
1(c) Not found.
SINDARIN. 1(a) pen, usually mutated ben, as a pronoun. Also
-ben, -phen in a few old compounds.
1(b) Not found. The compounds Calben (pl. Celbin) and
Morben (pl. Moerbin, Morbin) must certainly have de-
scended from the same source as those mentioned above, but
their final element was evidently altered to agree with the
compounds of *kwen. The unaltered derivatives would have
been *Calbend, *Moerbend; but though final -nd eventually
became -n in Sindarin, this change had not occurred in the
early records, and no cases of -bend are found. In addition,
the form Morben (without affection (1) of the o) shows either
an alteration to *mora- for mori-, after *kala-, or more
probably substitution of S morn- from *morna, the usual S
adjectival form.
1(c) Not found.
*EL
QUENYA. 2(a) ela! imperative exclamation, directing sight to
an actually visible object.
2(b) el, pl. eli, 'star' (poetic word).
2(c) elen, pl. eleni (occasionally in verse eldi), 'star'. The
normal word for a star of the actual firmament. The pl. form
eleni, without syncope, is re-formed after the singular.
2(d) Elda only used as a noun, chiefly in the pl. Eldar. See
also (Quenya) 3(b) below.
2(e) Elda as above. As an adjective referring to stars the
form used was elenya.
TELERIN. 2(a) ela! as in Quenya.
2(b) el, pl. eli. The ordinary word for 'star'.
2(c) elen, pl. elni. An archaic or poetic variant of the
preceding.
2(d) Ella. An occasional variant of Ello, which was
the normal form of the word. This shows contact with the
products of *edelo: see further under (Telerin) 3.
2(e) Not found. The form would have been *Elna.
SINDARIN. 2(a) elo! An exclamation of wonder, admiration,
delight.
2(b) Not found.
2(c) el, pl. elin, class-plural elenath. An archaic word for
'star', little used except in verse, apart from the form elenath
'all the host of the stars of heaven'.
2(d) Ell-, only used in the m. and f. forms Ellon, Elleth,
elf-man, elf-woman; the class-plural El(d)rim; and final -el,
pl. -il, in some old compounds: see (Sindarin) 3(b).
2(e) Elen, pl. Elin, with class-plural Eledhrim, Elf, Elves.
dhr is < n-r in secondary contact. On usage see further below.
*DEL.
QUENYA. 3(a) lelya-'go, proceed (in any direction), travel,,
past tense lende. This form is due to the early change in Q of
initial d > l. The change was regular in both Vanyarin and
Noldorin dialects of Quenya. It occurs occasionally also in
Telerin languages, though this may be due rather to d/l
variation in PQ, for which there is some evidence. A notable
example being de/le as pronominal elements in the 2nd
person.
In Q *del- seems to have become *led, by dissimilation.
The past form clearly shows *led, while lelya may also be
derived from *ledja, since dj became ly medially in Quenya
3(b) Eldo. An archaic variant of Elda, with which it
coalesced in form and sense. Eldo cannot however be directly
descended from *edelo. Its form is probably due to a change
*edelo > eledo, following the change in the verb. The change
of initial d > l was early and may have preceded syncope, and
the loss of feeling for the etymological connexions of the
word, which finally resulted in the blending of the products of
2 and 3. Unchanged *edelo would by syncope have given
*edlo > *ello (which is not found). See, however, under
Sindarin for reasons for supposing that there may have been a
variant form *edlo (with loss of sundoma):(2) this could have
produced a Quenya form *eldo, since transposition of dl in
primary contact to the favoured sequence Id not infrequently
occurred in the pre-record period of Quenya.
3(c) Aurel < *aw(a)delo. Oarel < *awadelo. In the
Vanyarin dialect Auzel and Oazel. Oarel (Oazel) were the
forms commonly used in Q. The plurals took the forms -eldi.
This shows that the ending -el was associated with the noun
Elda. This was facilitated by a normal development in Q
morphology: a word of such a form independently as *elda,
when used as the final element in a compound of early date,
was shortened to *elda, pl. *elch > *eld, *eldi > historic
Q -el, -eldi. In addition oar was in actual use in Q as an
adverbial form derived from *AWA (see below): a fact which
also accounts for the selection of oarel, oazel.
TELERIN. 3(a) delia 'go, proceed'. Past tense delle.
3(b) Ello. The usual form, preferred to Ella, from which,
however, it did not differ in sense. Both *edelo and *edlo
regularly became ello in Telerin.
3(c) Audel, pl. Audelli. This shows the same association
with -el, the shortened form in composition of ella, ello, as
that seen in Q.
SINDARIN. 3(a) Not found.
3(b) Edhel, pl. Edhil. The most used word in Sindarin; but
only normally used in these forms. As noted above under
(Sindarin) 2(d) the m. and f. forms were Ellon, Elleth; and
there was also a class-plural Eldrim, Elrim (ll-r in secondary
contact > ldr, later again simplified). As suggested under
(Quenya) 3(b), there may have been a variant *edlo, which
would regularly give ell- in Sindarin. Since this shorter form
would be most likely to appear in compounds and extended
forms, it would account for the limitation of Sindarin ell- to
such forms as Ellon, Elleth, Eldrim. It would also account for
the blending of the products of stems 2 El and 3 Del in
Sindarin, as well as in Quenya. The form -el, pl. -il also occurs '
in some old compounds (especially personal names), where it
may be due also to a blending of *elda and *edlo. In later
compounds -edhel is used.
3(c) Odhel, pl. Odhil; beside later more usual Godhel,
Godhil. Also a class-plural Odhellim, Godhellim. Odhel is
from *aw(a)delo, and the exact equivalent of Q Aurel, T
Audel. Godhel could be derived from *wadelo: S initial *wa-
> gwo > go. But since it appears later than Odhel, and after
this term had become specially applied to the Exiled Noldor,
it seems most probable that it took g- from the old clan-name
Golodh, pl. Goelydh, which it practically replaced. Golodh
was the S equivalent of Q Noldo, both from PQ *ngolodo.
*HEK.
QUENYA. 4(a) heka! imperative exclamation 'be gone! stand
aside!'. Normally only addressed to persons. It often appears
in the forms hekat sg. and hekal pl. with reduced pronominal
affixes of the 2nd person. Also bequa (? from *hek-wa)
adverb and preposition 'leaving aside, not counting, exclud-
ing, except'.
4(b) hehta-, past tense hehtane, 'put aside, leave out,
exclude, abandon, forsake'.
4(c) hekil and hekilo m., hekile f.: 'one lost or forsaken by
friends, waif, outcast, outlaw'. Also Hekel, pl. Hekeldi,
re-formed to match Oarel, especially applied to the Eldar left
in Beleriand. Hence Hekelmar and Hekeldamar, the name in
the language of the loremasters of Aman for Beleriand. It was
thought of as a long shoreland beside the Sea (cf. Eglamar
under Sindarin below).
TELERIN. 4(a) heca! For Q hequa the T form is heco (? < *hek
+ au).
4(b) hecta- 'reject, abandon'.
4(c) hecul, heculo. Also with special reference to those left
in Beleriand, Hecello; Heculbar or Hecellubar, Beleriand.
SINDARIN. PQ h- only survived in the dialects of Aman. It
disappeared without trace in Sindarin. *hek therefore
appears as *ek, identical in form with PQ *eke 'sharp point'.
4(a) ego! 'be off!' This is from *hek(e) a: a the imperative
particle, being originally independent and variable in place,
survived in S as o > o, though this now always followed the
verb stem and had become an inflexion.
4(b) eitha-. This is in the main a derivative of PQ *ek-ta,
and means 'prick with a sharp point', 'stab'; but the sense
'treat with scorn, insult' (often with reference to rejection or
dismissal) may show the effect of blending with PQ *hek-ta.
To say to anyone ego! was indeed the gravest eithad.
4(c) Eglan, mostly used in the plural Eglain, Egladhrim.
The name that the Sindar gave to themselves ('the Forsaken')
as distinguished from the Elves who left Middle-earth. Eglan
is < an extended adjectival form *heklana. The older shorter
form (*hekla or *hekla) survives in a few place-names, such
as Eglamar (cf. Hekelmar, etc.), Eglarest. These are shown to
be old from their formation, with the genitival element
preceding: *ekla-mbar, *ekla-rista.
*AWA.
QUENYA. au- as a verbal prefix: < either *au or *awa,. as in
au-kiri- 'cut off'. The point of view was in origin 'away from
the speaker or the place of his thought', and this distinction is
usually preserved in Q. Thus aukiri meant 'cut off, so that a
portion is lost or no longer available', but hokiri (see below)
meant 'cut off a required portion, so as to have it or use it'.
oa, oar. Adverbs: < *awa,. the form oar shows addition
of the ending -d (prehistoric -da) indicating motion to or
towards a point. The form awa appears originally to have
been used either of rest or motion, and oa can still be so used
in Q. This adverbial oa, oar was occasionally used as a prefix
in compounds of later formation. Though, as has been
shown, in Oareldi, the most commonly used, the r is in fact of
different origin.
The verb auta- 'go away, leave (the point of the speaker's
thought)' had an old 'strong' past tense anwe, only found in
archaic language. The most frequently used past and perfect
were vane, avanie, made from the stem *wa; together with a
past participle form vanwa. This last was an old formation
(which is also found in Sindarin), and was the most frequent-
ly used part of the verb. It developed the meanings 'gone, lost,
no longer to be had, vanished, departed, dead, past and over'.
With it the forms vane and avanie were specially associated in
use and meaning. In the more purely physical sense 'went
away (to another place)' the regular forms (for a -ta verb of
this class) oante, oantie were used. The form perfect avanie is
regularly developed from *a-waniie, made in the prehistoric
period from the older perfect form of this type *awawiie,
with intrusion of n from the past (the forms of past and
perfect became progressively more closely associated in
Quenya). The accent remained on the wa, since the augment
or reduplication in verbal forms was never accented even in
the retraction period of Quenya (hence no form *oanie
developed: contrast oante < *awa-n-te). The form vanie
appearing in verse has no augment: probably a phonetic
development after a preceding vowel; but such forms are not
uncommon in verse.
SINDARIN. The only normal derivative is the preposition o,
the usual word for 'from, of'. None of the forms of the
element *awa are found as a prefix in S, probably because
they became like or the same as the products of *wo, *wo (see
next). The form Odhel is isolated (see above, Sindarin 3(c)).
As the mutations following the preposition o show, it must
prehistorically have ended in -t or -d. Possibly, therefore, it
comes from *aud, with d of the same origin as that seen in Q
oar (see above). Some have thought that it received the
addition -t (at a period when *au had already become q > o)
by association with *et out, out of . The latter retains its
consonant in the form ed before vowels, but loses it before
consonants, though es, ef, eth are often found before s, f, th.
o, however, is normally o in all positions, though od appears
occasionally before vowels, especially before o-. The in-
fluence of *et > ed is therefore probably only a late one, and
does not account for the mutations.
TELERIN. The Telerin forms are closely similar to those of
Quenya in form and meaning, though the development *aua
> oa does not occur, and v remains w in sound. Thus we have
prefix au-, adverb au or avad; verb auta- with past participle
vanua, and associated past and perfect vane and avanie; and
in physical senses vante, avantie.
*WO.
QUENYA. This does not remain in Q as an independent word.
It is however a frequent prefix in the form o- (usually reduced
to o- when unstressed), used in words describing the meeting,
junction, or union of two things or persons, or of two groups
thought of as units. Thus: o-mentie (meeting or junction of
the directions of two people) as in the familiar greeting
between two people, or two companies each going on a path
that crosses that of the other: Elen sila lumenna omentielvo!(3)
'A star shines upon the hour of the meeting of our ways.'
(Note 1, p. 407)
This prefix was normally unstressed in verbs or derivatives
of verbs; or generally when the next following syllable was
long. When stressed it had the form o-, as in ononi 'twins',
beside the adj. onona 'twin-born', also used as a noun 'one of
a pair of twins'.
TELERIN use does not materially differ; but in form the su-
(lost in Quenya before o) is retained: prefix vo, vo-. (Note 1,
p. 407)
SINDARIN. In the prefix gwa-, go- 'together, co-, com-'. The
dual limitation was no longer made; and go- had the senses
both of *wo and *jo. *jo, *jom- disappeared as a living
prefix. gwa- occurred only in a few S dissyllables, where it
was stressed, or in their recognizable derivatives: e.g. gwanun
'a pair of twins', gwanunig one of such a pair. These were
mostly of ancient formation, and so retained their dual
significance. gwa- is regularly developed from *wo > *wa >
gwa, when stressed in prehistoric Sindarin. go- is from *wo >
gwo > go, when primitively unstressed; and also from gwa-
> go-, when it became again unstressed. Since PQ *wa (one
of the forms of *AWA) would also have produced go-, go-, Or
gwa- if primitively shortened (e.g. before two consonants),
while *au would have produced o-, the same as the frequent
initially mutated form of go- 'together', the prefixal forms of
*AWA were lost in Sindarin.
*HO.
QUENYA. This was evidently an ancient adverbial element,
occurring principally as a proclitic or enclitic: proclitic, as a
prefix to verb stems; and enclitic, as attached to noun stems
(the usual place for the simpler 'prepositional' elements in
PQ). Hence Quenya ho- (usually so, even when it had become
unstressed), as a verb prefix. It meant 'away, from, from
among', but the point of view was outside the thing, place, or
group in thought, whereas in the derivatives of *AWA the
point in thought was the place or thing left. Thus Q hokiri-
'cut off', so as to have or use a required portion; whereas
aukiri- meant 'cut off' and get rid of or lose a portion. hotuli-
'come away', so as to leave a place or group and join another
in the thought or place of the speaker; whereas au could not
be used with the stem tul- 'come'.
As a noun enclitic *-ho became -o, since medial h was very
early lost without trace in CE. This was the source of the most
used 'genitive' inflexion of Quenya. Properly it was used
partitively, or to describe the source or origin, not as a
'possessive', or adjectivally to describe qualities; but naturally
this 'derivative genitive' (as English of) could be used in many
circumstances that might have possessive or adjectival im-
plications, though 'possession' was indicated by the adjectival
suffix -va, or (especially in general descriptions) by a 'loose
compound'. Thus 'Orome's horn' was roma Oromeva (if it
remained in his possession); Orome roma would mean 'an
Orome horn', sc. one of Orome's horns (if he had more than
one); but roma Oromeo meant 'a horn coming from Orome',
e.g. as a gift, in circumstances where the recipient, showing
the gift with pride, might say 'this is Orome's horn'. If he said
'this was Orome's horn', he would say Oromeva. Similarly
lambe Eldaron would not be used for 'the language of the
Eldar' (unless conceivably in a case where the whole language
was adopted by another people), which is expressed either by
Elda-lambe or lambe Eldaiva. (Note 2, p. 407)
There remained naturally many cases where either posses-
sive-adjectival or partitive-derivative genitives might be used,
and the tendency to prefer the latter, or to use them in place of
the former, increased. Thus alkar Oromeo or alkar Oromeva
could be used for 'the splendour of Orome', though the latter
was proper in a description of Orome as he permanently was,
and the former of his splendour as seen at the moment
(proceeding from him) or at some point in a narrative. 'The
Kings of the Eldar' might be either i arani Eldaron or i arani
Eldaive, though the former would mean if accurately used
'those among the Eldar who were kings' and the latter 'those
(kings) in a particular assembly who were Elvish'. In such
expressions as 'Elwe, King of the Sindar (people), or Doriath
(country)' the derivative form was usual: Elwe, Aran
Sindaron, or Aran Lestanoreo.
TELERIN. The Telerin use of the prefix ho- was as in Quenya.
The inflexion was -o, as in Quenya, but it did not receive -n
addition in the plural. It was more widely used than in pure
Quenya, sc. in most cases where English would employ the
inflexion -s, or of; though the possessive, especially when it
concerned a single person or possessor, was expressed
without inflexion: either with the possessor placed first (the
older usage), or (possibly under the influence of the genitival
or adjectival expressions which were placed second) follow-
ing the possessed. In the latter case, the appropriate posses-
sive suffix ('his, hers, its, their') was usually appended to the
noun. So Olue cava; or cava Olue, usually cavaria Olue (sc.
'the house of him, Olwe'); = 'Olwe's house'. The last form
was also used in Quenya with proper names, as koarya Olwe.
Both languages also used the adjectival possessive suffixes in
a curious way, attaching them to adjectives attributed to
proper names (or names of personal functions, like 'king'): as
Varda Aratarya, 'Varda the Lofty, Varda in her sublimity'.
This was most usual in the vocative: as in Meletyalda, or
fuller Aran Meletyalda (literally 'your mighty' or 'king your
mighty'), more or less equivalents of 'Your Majesty'. Cf.
Aragorn's farewell: Arwen vanimalda, namarie!(4)
SINDARIN. Since initial h- disappeared in Sindarin *ho would
have become u and so, clashing with the negative u, naturally
did not survive. >ho as a proclitic might have given o; butg
it does not occur as a verbal prefix, although it possibly
contributed to the Sindarin preposition o (see under *Awa,
Sindarin) which is used in either direction, from or to the
point of view of the speaker. Since all final vowels dis-
appeared in Sindarin, it cannot be determined whether or not
this language had in the primitive period developed inflex-
ional -o. Its presence in Telerin of Aman makes its former
presence in Sindarin probable. The placing of the genitive
noun second in normal Sindarin is also probably derived
from inflexional forms. Compounds of which the first
element was 'genitival' were evidently in the older period still
normal, as is seen in many place- and personal names (such as
Egla-mar), and was still in more limited use later, especially
where the first element was or was regarded as an adjective
(as Mordor 'Land of Darkness' or 'Dark Land'). But genitival
sequences with the possessor or qualifier second in the later
period also became fixed compounds: as Doriath, for Dor
lath 'Land of the Fence'.
*ABA.
Though this became a verbal stem, it is probably derived from
a primitive negative element, or exclamation, such as *BA
'no!' It did not, however, deny facts, but always expressed
concern or will; that is, it expressed refusal to do what others
might wish or urge, or prohibition of some action by others.
As a verbal stem it developed the form *aba- (with connecting
vowel a in the aorist); as a particle or prefix the forms *aba,
*ba, and *aba.
QUENYA. In Quenya the verb ava- was little used in ordinary
language, and revealed that it was not in origin a 'strong' or
basic verbal stem by having the 'weak' past form avane. In
ordinary use it was replaced by the compound va-quet
(vaquetin, vaquenten) 'to say no', sc. 'to say I will not', or 'do
not', 'to refuse' or 'to forbid'.
As a prefix the form used was usually ava-, the force of
which can be observed in avaquetima 'not to be said, that
must not be said', avanyarima 'not to be told or related', as
contrasted with uquetima 'unspeakable', that is, 'impossible
to say, put into words, or unpronounceable', unydrima 'impos-
sible to recount', sc. because all the facts are not known, or
the tale is too long. Compare also Avamanyar 'those who did
not go to Aman, because they would not' (an equivalent of
Avari) with Uamanyar 'those who did not in the event reach
Aman' (an equivalent of Hekeldi).
As a particle (the form of this stem most used in ordinary
language) the Quenya form was usually va! This was an
exclamation or particle expressing the will or wish of the
speaker, meaning according to context 'I will not' or 'Do not! '
Note that it was not used, even in the first person, in a
statement about the speaker's future action, depending on
foresight, or a judgement of the force of circumstances. It
could sometimes, as seen in vaquet- (above), be used as a
verbal prefix.
A longer form ava or ava (stressed on the last syllable),
which shows combination with the imperative particle *a,
was commonly used as a negative imperative 'Don't!', either
used alone or with an uninflected verbal stem, as ava kare!
'Don't do it!' Both va and ava sometimes received verbal
pronominal affixes of the first singular and first plural
exclusive: as avan, van, vanye 'I won't', avamme, vamme 'we
won't'.
An old derivative of *aba- as a quasi-verbal stem was
*abaro > CE *abar. This was an old agental formation, as
seen also in Teler, pl. Teleri, made with the suffix -ro, added
to omataina.(5) (Other forms of this suffix were -ro added to
stem, with or without n-infixion; and -rdo > rd.) *abar thus
meant 'recusant, one who refuses to act as advised or
commanded'. It was specially applied to (or first made to
describe?) the section of the Elves who refused to join in the
Westward March: Q Avar, pl. Avari.
TELERIN. The Telerin use was closely similar to that of
Quenya. The forms were the same, except that Telerin
preserved CE b distinct from v or u: hence the prefix was
aba- (abapetima 'not to be said'); the particle ba; the
exclamation aba. The verbal form, however, was in normal
use: aban 'I refuse, I will not'. In a negative command only the
uninflected aba was used: aba care 'don't do it!'
SINDARIN. In Sindarin the following forms are found. baw!
imperious negative: 'No, no! Don't! ' avo negative adverb
with verbs, as avo garo! 'don't do it'; sometimes used as a
prefix: avgaro (< *aba-kar a). This could be personalized in
the form avon 'I won't', avam 'we won't': these were of
course not in fact derived from avo, which contained the
imperative -o < >a, but from the verb stem *aba, with
inflexions assimilated to the tense stems in -a; but no other
parts of the verb survived in use, except the noun avad
refusal, reluctance'. Derived direct from baw! (*ha) was the
verb boda- 'ban, prohibit' (*ba-ta).
(With the uses of this stem, primary meaning 'refuse, be
unwilling', to form negative imperatives, cf. Latin noli,
nolite.)
B. Meanings and use of the various terms applied to
the Elves and their varieties in Quenya, Telerin, and Sindarin.
Quenya.
1. quen, pl. queni, person, individual, man or woman.
Chiefly used in the unstressed form quen. Mostly found in
the singular: 'one, somebody'; in the pl. 'people, they'. Also
combined with other elements, as in aiquen 'if anybody,
whoever', ilquen 'everybody'. In a number of old compounds
-quen, pl. queni was combined with noun or adjective stems to
denote habitual occupations or functions, or to describe those
having some notable (permanent) quality: as -man in English
(but without distinction of sex) in horseman, seaman, work-
man, nobleman, etc. Q roquen 'horseman, rider'; (Note 3,
p. 407) kiryaquen 'shipman, sailor'; arquen 'a noble'. These
words belong to everyday speech, and have no special reference
to Elves. They were freely applied to other Incarnates, such as
Men or Dwarves, when the Eldar became acquainted with
them.
2. Quendi Elves, of any kind, including the Avari. The sg.
Quende was naturally less frequently used. As has been seen,
the word was made when the Elves as yet knew of no other
'people' than themselves. The sense 'the Elvish people, as a
whole', or in the sg. 'an Elf and not some other similar creature',
developed first in Aman, where the Elves lived among or in
contact with the Valar and Maiar. During the Exile when the
Noldor became re-associated with their Elvish kin, the Sindar,
but met other non-Elvish people, such as Orcs, Dwarves, and
Men, it became an even more useful term. But in fact it had
ceased in Aman to be a word of everyday use, and remained
thereafter mainly used in the special language of Lore: histories
or tales of old days, or learned writings on peoples and
languages. In ordinary language the Elves of Aman called
themselves Eldar (or in Telerin Elloi): see below.
There also existed two old compounds containing *kwendi:
*kala-kwendi and *mori-kwendi, the Light-folk and the Dark-
folk. These terms appear to go back to the period before the
Separation, or rather to the time of the debate among the
Quendi concerning the invitation of the Valar. They were
evidently made by the party favourable to Orome, and referred
originally to those who desired the Light of Valinor (where the
ambassadors of the Elves reported that there was no darkness),
and those who did not wish for a place in which there was no
night. But already before the final separation *mori-kwendi
may have referred to the glooms and the clouds dimming the
sun and the stars during the War of the Valar and Melkor,(6) so
that the term from the beginning had a tinge of scorn, implying
that such folk were not averse to the shadows of Melkor upon
Middle-earth.
The lineal descendants of these terms survived only in the
languages of Aman. The Quenya forms were Kalaquendi
and Moriquendi. The Kalaquendi in Quenya applied only to
the Elves who actually lived or had lived in Aman; and the
Moriquendi was applied to all others, whether they had come
on the March or not. The latter were regarded as greatly inferior
to the Kalaquendi, who had experienced the Light of Valinor,
and had also acquired far greater knowledge and powers by
their association with the Valar and Maiar.
In the period of Exile the Noldor modified their use of these
terms, which was offensive to the Sindar. Kalaquendi went out
of use, except in written Noldorin lore. Moriquendi was now
applied to all other Elves, except the Noldor and Sindar, that is
to Avari or to any kind of Elves that at the time of the coming
of the Noldor had not long dwelt in Beleriand and were not
subjects of Elwe. It was never applied, however, to any but
Elvish peoples. The old distinction, when made, was represen-
ted by the new terms Amanyar 'those of Aman', and Uamanyar
or Umanyar 'those not of Aman', beside the longer forms
Amaneldi and Umaneldi.
3. Quendya, in the Noldorin dialect Quenya. This word
remained in ordinary use, but it was only used as a noun 'the
Quendian language'. (Note 4, p. 407) This use of Quendya
must have arisen in Aman, while Quendi still remained in
general use. Historically, and in the more accurate use of the
linguistic Loremasters, Quenya included the dialect of the
Teleri, which though divergent (in some points from days before
settlement in Aman, such as *kw > p), remained generally
intelligible to the Vanyar and Noldor. But in ordinary use it
was applied only to the dialects of the Vanyar and Noldor, the
differences between which only appeared later, and remained,
up to the period just before the Exile, of minor importance.
In the use of the Exiles Quenya naturally came to mean the
language of the Noldor, developed in Aman, as distinct from
other tongues, whether Elvish or not. But the Noldor did not
forget its connexion with the old word Quendi, and still
regarded the name as implying 'Elvish', that is the chief Elvish
tongue, the noblest, and the one most nearly preserving the
ancient character of Elvish speech. For a note on the Elvish
words for 'language', especially among the Noldorin Lore-
masters, see Appendix D (p. 391).
4. Elda and Eldo. The original distinction between these
forms as meaning 'one of the Star-folk, or Elves in general', and
one of the 'Marchers', became obscured by the close approach
of the forms. The form Eldo went out of use, and Elda remained
the chief word for 'Elf' in Quenya. But it was not in accurate use
held to include the Avari (when they were remembered or
considered); i.e. it took on the sense of Eldo. It may, however,
have been partly due to its older sense that in popular use it
was the word ordinarily employed for any Elf, that is, as an
equivalent of the Quende of the Loremasters. When one of the
Elves of Aman spoke of the Eldalie, 'the Elven-folk', he meant
vaguely all the race of Elves, though he was probably not
thinking of the Avari.
For, of course, the special kinship of the Amanyar with those
left in Beleriand (or Hekeldamar) was remembered, especially
by the Teleri. When it was necessary to distinguish these two
branches of the Eldar (or properly Eldor), those who had come
to Aman were called the Odzeldi N Oareldi, for which another
form (less used) was Auzeldi, N Aureldi; those who had re-
mained behind were the Hekeldi. These terms naturally be-
longed rather to history than everyday speech, and in the period
of the Exile they fell out of use, being unsuitable to the situation
in Beleriand. The Exiles still claimed to be Amanyar, but in
practice this term usually now meant those Elves remaining in
Aman, while the Exiles called themselves Etyangoldi 'Exiled
Noldor', or simply (since the great majority of their clan had
come into exile) Noldor. All the subjects of Elwe they called
Sindar or 'Grey-elves'.
Telerin.
1. The derivatives of *KWEN were more sparingly represen-
ted in the Telerin dialects, of Aman or Beleriand. This was in
part due to the Common Telerin change of kw > p, (Note 5,
p. 407) which caused *pen < *kwen to clash with the PQ stem
*PEN 'lack, be without', and also with some of the derivatives of
*PED 'slope, slant down' (e.g. *penda 'sloping'). Also the Teleri
felt themselves to be a separate people, as compared with the
Vanyar and Noldor, whom taken together they outnumbered.
This sentiment began before the Separation, and increased on
the March and in Beleriand. In consequence they did not feel
strongly the need for a general word embracing all Elves, until
they came in contact with other non-Elvish Incarnates.
As a pronoun enclitic (e.g. in aipen, Q aiquen; ilpen, Q
ilquen) *kwen survived in Telerin; but few of the compounds
with pen 'man' remained in ordinary use, except arpen 'noble
(man)', and the derived adjective arpenia.
Pendi, the dialectal equivalent of Q Quendi, survived only as
a learned word of the historians, used with reference to ancient
days before the Separation; the adjective *Pendia (the equiva-
lent of Quendya) had fallen out of use.. (Note 6, p. 408) The
Teleri had little interest in linguistic lore, which they left to the
Noldor. They did not regard their language as a 'dialect' of
Quenya, but called it Lindarin or Lindalambe. Quenya they
called Goldorin or Goldolambe; for they had few contacts with
the Vanyar.
The old compounds in Telerin form Calapendi and Moripen-
di survived in historical use; but since the Teleri in Aman re-
mained more conscious of their kinship with the Elves left in
Beleriand, while Calapendi was used, as Kalaquendi in Quenya,
to refer only to the Elves of Aman, Moripendi was not applied
to the Elves of Telerin origin who had not reached Aman.
2. Ello and Ella. The history of the meanings of these words
was almost identical with that of the corresponding Elda and
Eldo in Quenya. In Telerin the -o form became preferred, so
that generally T Ello was the equivalent of Q Elda. But Ella
remained in use in quasi-adjectival function (e.g. as the first
element in loose or genitival compounds): thus the equivalent of
Q Eldalie was in T Ellalie.
In contrast to the Elloi left in Beleriand those in Aman were in
histories called Audel, pl. Audelli. Those in Beleriand were the
Hecelloi of Heculbar (or Hecellubar).
Sindarin.
1. Derivatives of *KWEN were limited to the sense: pronomin-
al 'one, somebody, anybody', and to a few old compounds that
survived. PQ *kwende, *kwendi disappeared altogether. The
reasons for this were partly the linguistic changes already cited;
and partly the circumstances in which the Sindar lived, until the
return of the Noldor, and the coming of Men. The linguistic
changes made the words unsuitable for survival; the circum-
stances removed all practical need for the term. The old unity
of the Elves had been broken at the Separation. The Elves of
Beleriand were isolated, without contact with any other people,
Elvish or of other kind; and they were all of one clan and
language: Telerin (or Lindarin). Their own language was the
only one that they ever heard; and they needed no word to
distinguish it, nor to distinguish themselves.
As a pronoun, usually enclitic, the form pen, mutated ben,
survived. A few compounds survived, such as rochben 'rider'
(m. or f.), orodben 'a mountaineer' or 'one living in the
mountains', arphen 'a noble'. Their plurals were made by
i-affection, originally carried through the word: as roechbin,
oerydbin, erphin, but the normal form of the first element was
often restored when the nature of the composition remained
evident: as rochbin, but always erphin. These words had no
special association with Elves.
Associated with these compounds were the two old words
Calben (Celbin) and Morben (Moerbin). On the formal relation
of these to Quenya Kalaquendi and Moriquendi see p. 362.
They had no reference to Elves, except by accident of circum-
stance. Celbin retained what was, as has been said, probably its
original meaning: all Elves other than the Avari; and it included
the Sindar. It was in fact the equivalent (when one was needed)
of the Quenya Eldar, Telerin Elloi. But it referred to Elves only
because no other people qualified for the title. Moerbin was
similarly an equivalent for Avari; but that it did not mean only
'Dark-elves' is seen by its ready application to other Incarnates,
when they later became known. By the Sindar anyone dwelling
outside Beleriand, or entering their realm from outside, was
called a Morben. The first people of this kind to be met were
the Nandor, who entered East Beleriand over the passes of the
Mountains before the return of Morgoth; soon after his return
came the first invasions of his Orcs from the North.(7) Somewhat
later the Sindar became aware of Avari, who had crept in small
and secret groups into Beleriand from the South. Later came the
Men of the Three Houses, who were friendly; and later still
Men of other kinds. All these were at first acquaintance called
Moerbin. (Note 7, p. 408) But when the Nandor were recog-
nized as kinsfolk of Lindarin origin and speech (as was still
recognizable), they were received into the class of Celbin. The
Men of the Three Houses were also soon removed from the
class of Moerbin. (Note 8, p. 408) They were given their own
name, Edain, and were seldom actually called Celbin, but they
were recognized as belonging to this class, which became
. practically equivalent to 'peoples in alliance in the War against
Morgoth'. The Avari thus remained the chief examples of
Moerbin. Any individual Avar who joined with or was admitted
among the Sindar (it rarely happened) became a Calben; but the
Avari in general remained secretive, hostile to the Eldar, and
untrustworthy; and they dwelt in hidden places in the deeper
woods, or in caves. (Note 9, p. 408) Moerbin as applied to them
is usually translated 'Dark-elves', partly because Moriquendi in
the Quenya of the Exiled Noldor usually referred to them. But
that no special reference to Elves was intended by the Sindarin
word is shown by the fact that Moerbin was at once applied to
the new bands of Men (Easterlings) that appeared before the
Battle of the Nirnaeth. (Note 9, p. 408) If in Sindarin an Avar, as
distinct from other kinds of Morben, was intended, he was
called Mornedhel.
2. Edhel, pl. Edhil. In spite of its ultimate derivation (see
p. 360) this was the general word for 'Elf, Elves'. In the earlier
days it naturally referred only to the Eldarin Sindar, for no other
kind was ever seen; but later it was freely applied to Elves of any
kind that entered Beleriand. It was however only used in these
two forms.
The masculine and feminine forms were Ellon m. and Elleth f.
and the class-plural was Eldrim, later Elrim, when this was not
replaced by the more commonly used Eledhrim (see below). The
form without the m. and f. suffixes was not in use, and survived
only in some old compounds, especially personal names, in the
form el, pl. il, as a final element.
The form Elen, pl. Elin was only used in histories or the
works of the Loremasters, as a word to include all Elves (Eldar
and Avari). But the class-plural Eledhrim was the usual word
for 'all the Elvish race', whenever such an expression was
needed.
All these words and forms, whatever their etymologies (see
above), were applicable to any kind of Elf. In fact Edhel was
properly applied only to Eldar; Ell- may have a mixed origin;
and Elen was an ancient general word. (Note 10, p. 410)
3. The Sindar had no general name for themselves as distinct
from other varieties of Elf, until other kinds entered Beleriand.
The descendant of the old clan name *Lindai (Q Lindar) had
fallen out of normal use, being no longer needed in a situation
were all the Edhil were of the same kind, and people were more
aware of the growing differences in speech and other matters
between those sections of the Elves that lived in widely sundered
parts of a large and mostly pathless land. They were thus in
ordinary speech all Edhil, but some belonged to one region and
some to another: they were Falathrim from the sea-board of
West Beleriand, or lathrim from Doriath (the land of the Fence,
or iath), or Mithrim who had gone north from Beleriand and
inhabited the regions about the great lake that afterwards bore
their name. (Note 11, p. 410)
The old clan-name *Lindai survived in the compound
Glinnel, pl. Glinnil, a word only known in historical lore, and
the equivalent of Quenya Teleri or Lindar; see the Notes on the
Clan-names below. All the Sindarin subjects of King Elu-
Thingol, as distinguished from the incoming Noldor, were
sometimes later called the Eluwaith. Dunedhil 'West-elves' (the
reference being to the West of Middle-earth) was a term made to
match Dunedain 'West-men' (applied only to the Men of the
Three Houses). But with the growing amalgamation, outside
Doriath, of the Noldor and Sindar into one people using the
Sindarin tongue as their daily speech, this soon became applied
to both Noldor and Sindar.
While the Noldor were still distinct, and whenever it was
desired to recall their difference of origin, they were usually
called Odhil (sg. Odhel). This as has been seen was originally a
name for all the Elves that left Beleriand for Aman. These were
also called by the Sindar Gwanwen, pl. Gwenwin (or Gwanwel,
Gwenwil) 'the departed': cf. Q vanwa. This term, which could
not suitably be applied to those who had come back, remained
the usual Sindarin name for the Elves that remained in Aman.
Odhil thus became specially the name of the Exiled Noldor.
In this sense the form Godhel, pl. Godhil soon replaced the
older form. It seems to have been due to the influence of the
clan-name Golodh, pl. Goelydh; or rather to a deliberate
blending of the two words. The old clan-name had not fallen
out of memory (for the Noldor and the Sindar owing to the
great friendship of Finwe and Elwe were closely associated
during their sojourn in Beleriand before the Departure) and it
had in consequence a genuine Sindarin form (< CE *ngolodo).
But the form Golodh seems to have been phonetically unpleas-
ing to the Noldor. The name was, moreover, chiefly used by
those who wished to mark the difference between the Noldor
and the Sindar, and to ignore the dwelling of the Noldor in
Aman which might give them a claim to superiority. This was
especially the case in Doriath, where King Thingol was hostile
to the Noldorin chieftains, Feanor and his sons, and Fingolfin,
because of their assault upon the Teleri in Aman, the people of
his brother Olwe. The Noldor, therefore, when using Sindarin,
never applied this name (Golodh) to themselves, and it fell out
of use among those friendly to them.
4. Eglan, pl. Eglain, Egladrim. This name, 'the Forsaken',
was, as has been said, given by the Sindar to themselves. But it
was not in Beleriand a name for all the Elves who remained
there, as were the related names, Hekeldi, Hecelloi, in Aman. It
applied only to those who wished to depart, and waited long in
vain for the return of Ulmo, taking up their abode on or near
the coasts. There they became skilled in the building and
management of ships. Cirdan was their lord.
Cirdan's folk were made up both of numbers of the following
of Olwe, who straying or lingering came to the shores too late,
and also of many of the following of Elwe, who abandoned the
search for him and did not wish to be separated for ever from
their kin and friends. This folk remained in the desire of Aman
for long years, and they were among the most friendly to the
Exiles.
They continued to call themselves the Eglain, and the regions
where they dwelt Eglamar and Eglador. The latter name fell out
of general use. It had originally been applied to all western
Beleriand between Mount Taras and the Bay of Balar, its eastern
boundary being roughly along the River Narog. Eglamar,
however, remained the name of the 'Home of the Eglain': the
sea-board from Cape Andras to the headland of Bar-in-Myl
('Home of the Gulls'),(8) which included the ship-havens of
Cirdan at Brithonbar (9) and at the head of the firth of Eglarest.
The Eglain became a people somewhat apart from the inland
Elves, and at the time of the coming of the Exiles their language
was in many ways different. (Note 12, p. 411) But they
acknowledged the high-kingship of Thingol, and Cirdan never
took the title of king.(10)
*Abari.
This name, evidently made by the Eldar at the time of the
Separation, is found in histories in the Quenya form Avari, and
the Telerin form Abari. It was still used by the historians of the
Exiled Noldor, though it hardly differed from Moriquendi,
which (see above) was no longer used by the Exiles to include
Elves of Eldarin origin. The plural Evair was known to Sindarin
loremasters, but was no longer in use. Such Avari as came into
Beleriand were, as has been said, called Morben, or Mornedhel.
C. The Clan-names,
with notes on other names for divisions of the Eldar.
In Quenya form the names of the three great Clans were
Vanyar, Noldor, and Lindar. The oldest of these names was
Lindar, which certainly goes back to days before the Separa-
tion. The other two probably arose in the same period, if
somewhat later: their original forms may thus be given in PQ as
*wanja, *ngolodo, and linda /glinda. (Note 13, p. 411)
According to the legend, preserved in almost identical form
among both the Elves of Aman and the Sindar, the Three Clans
were in the beginning derived from the three Elf-fathers: Imin,
Tata, and Enel (sc. One, Two, Three), and those whom each
chose to join his following. So they had at first simply the names
Minyar 'Firsts', Tatyar 'Seconds', and Nelyar 'Thirds'. These
numbered, out of the original 144 Elves that first awoke, 14, 56,
and 74; and these proportions were approximately maintained
until the Separation.(11)
It is said that of the small clan of the Minyar none became
Avari. The Tatyar were evenly divided. The Nelyar were most
reluctant to leave their lakeside homes; but they were very
cohesive, and very conscious of the separate unity of their Clan
(as they continued to be), so that when it became clear that their
chieftains Elwe and Olwe were resolved to depart and would
have a large following, many of those among them who had at
first joined the Avari went over to the Eldar rather than be
separated from their kin. The Noldor indeed asserted that most
of the 'Teleri' were at heart Avari, and that only the Eglain
really regretted being left in Beleriand.
According to the Noldorin historians the proportions, out of
144, that when the March began became Avari or Eldar were
approximately so:
Minyar 14: Avari 0 Eldar 14
Tatyar 56: Avari 28 Eldar 28
Nelyar 74: Avari 28 Eldar 46 > Amanyar Teleri 20;
Sindar and Nandor 26
In the result the Noldor were the largest clan of Elves in Aman;
while the Elves that remained in Middle-earth (the Moriquendi
in the Quenya of Aman) outnumbered the Amanyar in the
proportion of 82 to 62.(12)
How far the descriptive Clan-names, *wanja, *ngolodo, and
*linda were preserved among the Avari is not now known; but
the existence of the old clans was remembered, and a special
kinship between those of the same original clan, whether they
had gone away or remained, was still recognized. The first Avari
that the Eldar met again in Beleriand seem to have claimed to be
Tatyar, who acknowledged their kinship with the Exiles, though
there is no record of their using the name Noldo in any
recognizable Avarin form. They were actually unfriendly to the
Noldor, and jealous of their more exalted kin, whom they
accused of arrogance.
This ill-feeling descended in part from the bitterness of the
Debate before the March of the Eldar began, and was no doubt
later increased by the machinations of Morgoth; but it also
throws some light upon the temperament of the Noldor in
general, and of Feanor in particular. Indeed the Teleri on their
side asserted that most of the Noldor in Aman itself were in
heart Avari, and returned to Middle-earth when they discovered
their mistake; they needed room to quarrel in. For in contrast
the Lindarin elements in the western Avari were friendly to the
Eldar, and willing to learn from them; and so close was
the feeling of kinship between the remnants of the Sindar, the
Nandor, and the Lindarin Avari, that later in Eriador and the
Vale of Anduin they often became merged together.
Lindar (Teleri).(13)
These were, as has been seen, much the largest of the ancient
clans. The name, later appearing in Quenya form as Lindar
(Telerin Lindai), is already referred to in the legend of 'The
Awakening of the Quendi', which says of the Nelyar that 'they
sang before they could speak with words . The name *Linda
is therefore clearly a derivative of the primitive stem *LIN
(showing reinforcement of the medial x and adjectival -a). This
stem was possibly one of the contributions of the Nelyar to
Primitive Quendian, for it reflects their predilections and
associations, and produces more derivatives in Lindarin tongues
than in others. Its primary reference was to melodious or
pleasing sound, but it also refers (especially in Lindarin) to
water, the motions of which were always by the Lindar
associated with vocal (Elvish) sound. The reinforcements, either
medial lind- or initial glin-, glind-, were however almost solely
used of musical, especially vocal, sounds produced with intent
to please. It is thus to the love of the Nelyar for song, for vocal
music with or without the use of articulate words, that the name
Lindar originally referred; though they also loved water, and
before the Separation never moved far from the lake and
waterfall (14) of Cuivienen, and those that moved into the West
became enamoured of the Sea. (Note 14, p. 411)
In Quenya, that is, in the language of the Vanyar and Noldor,
those of this clan that joined in the March were called the Teleri.
This name was applied in particular to those that came at last
and latest to Aman; but it was also later applied to the Sindar.
The name Lindar was not forgotten, but in Noldorin lore it
was chiefly used to describe the whole clan, including the Avari
among them. Teleri meant 'those at the end of the line, the
hindmost', and was evidently a nickname arising during the
March, when the Teleri, the least eager to depart, often lagged
far behind. (Note 15, p. 411)
Vanyar.
This name was probably given to the First Clan by the Noldor.
They accepted it, but continued to call themselves most often by
their old numerical name Minyar (since the whole of this clan
had joined the Eldar and reached Aman). The name referred to
the hair of the Minyar, which was in nearly all members of the
clan yellow or deep golden. This was regarded as a beautiful
feature by the Noldor (who loved gold), though they were
themselves mostly dark-haired. Owing to intermarriage the
golden hair of the Vanyar sometimes later appeared among
the Noldor: notably in the case of Finarfin, and in his children
Finrod and Galadriel, in whom it came from King Finwe s
second wife, Indis of the Vanyar.
Vanyar thus comes from an adjectival derivative *wanja from
the stem *WAN. Its primary sense seems to have been very
similar to English (modern) use of 'fair' with reference to hair
and complexion; though its actual development was the reverse
of the English: it meant 'pale, light-coloured, not brown or
dark', and its implication of beauty was secondary. In English
the meaning 'beautiful' is primary. From the same stem was
derived the name given in Quenya to the Valie Vana wife of
Orome.
Since the Lindar had little contact with the Vanyar either on
the March or later in Aman, this name was not much used by
them for the First Clan. The Amanyar Teleri had the form
Vaniai (no doubt taken from the Noldor), but the name appears
to have been forgotten in Beleriand, where the First Clan (in
lore and history only) were called Miniel, pl. Minil.
Noldor.
This name was probably older than Vanyar, and may have been
made before the March. It was given to the Second Clan by the
others. It was accepted, and was used as their regular and
proper name by all the Eldarin members of the clan throughout
their later history.
The name meant 'the Wise', that is those who have great
knowledge and understanding. The Noldor indeed early
showed the greatest talents of all the Elves both for intellectual
pursuits and for technical skills.
The variant forms of the name: Q Noldo, T Goldo, S Golodh
(Ngolodh), indicate a PQ original *ngolodo. This is a derivative
of the stem *NGOL 'knowledge, wisdom, lore'. This is seen in Q
Role 'long study (of any subject)', ingole 'lore', ingolmo
'loremaster'. In T gole, engole had the same senses as in Q but
were used most often of the special 'lore' possessed by the
Noldor. In S the word gul (equivalent of Q nole) had less
laudatory associations, being used mostly of secret knowledge,
especially such as possessed by artificers who made wonderful
things; and the word became further darkened by its frequent
use in the compound morgul 'black arts', applied to the
delusory or perilous arts and knowledge derived from Morgoth.
Those indeed among the Sindar who were unfriendly to the
Noldor attributed their supremacy in the arts and lore to their
learning from Melkor-Morgoth. This was a falsehood, coming
itself ultimately from Morgoth; though it was not without any
foundation (as the lies of Morgoth seldom were). But the great
gifts of the Noldor did not come from the teaching of Melkor.
Feanor the greatest of them all never had any dealings with
Melkor in Aman, and was his greatest foe.
Sindar.
Less commonly the form Sindel, pl. Sindeldi, is also met in Exilic
Quenya. This was the name given by the Exiled Noldor (see
Note 11) to the second largest of the divisions of the Eldar.
(Note 16, p. 412) It was applied to all the Elves of Telerin origin
that the Noldor found in Beleriand, though it later excluded the
Nandor, except those who were the direct subjects of Elwe, or
had become merged with his people. The name meant 'the
Grey', or 'the Grey-elves', and was derived from *THIN, PQ
*thindi 'grey, pale or silvery grey', Q pinde, N dialect sinde.
On the origin of this name see Note 11. The Loremasters also
supposed that reference was made to the hair of the Sindar. Elwe
himself had indeed long and beautiful hair of silver hue, but this
does not seem to have been a common feature of the Sindar,
though it was found among them occasionally, especially in the
nearer or remoter kin of Elwe (as in the case of Cirdan).(15) In
general the Sindar appear to have very closely resembled the
Exiles, being dark-haired, strong and tall, but lithe. Indeed they
could hardly be told apart except by their eyes; for the eyes of
all the Elves that had dwelt in Aman impressed those of
Middle-earth by their piercing brightness. For which reason the
Sindar often called them Lachend, pl. Lechind 'flame-eyed'.
Nandor.
This name must have been made at the time, in the latter days of
the March, when certain groups of the Teleri gave up the
March; and it was especially applied to the large following of
Lenwe, (Note 17, p. 412) who refused to cross the Hithaeglir.(16)
The name was often interpreted as 'Those who go back'; but in
fact none of the Nandor appear to have returned, or to have
rejoined the Avari. Many remained and settled in lands that they
had reached, especially beside the River Anduin; some turned
aside and wandered southwards. (Note 18, p. 412) There was,
however, as was later seen, a slow drift westward of the
Moriquendi during the captivity of Melkor, and eventually
groups of the Nandor, coming through the Gap between the
Hithaeglir and Eryd Nimrais, spread widely in Eriador. Some of
these finally entered Beleriand, not long before the return of
Morgoth.(17) These were under the leadership of Denethor, son
of Denweg (see Note 17), who became an ally of Elwe in the
first battles with the creatures of Morgoth. The old name
Nandor was however only remembered by the Noldorin
historians in Aman; and they knew nothing of the later history
of this folk, recalling only that the leader of the defection before
the crossing of the dread Hithaeglir was named Lenwe (i.e.
Denweg). The Sindarin loremasters remembered the Nandor
as Danwaith, or by confusion with the name of their leader
Denwaith.
This name they at first applied to the Nandor that came into
Eastern Beleriand; but this people still called themselves by the
old clan-name *Lindai, which had at that time taken the form
Lindi in their tongue. The country in which most of them
eventually settled, as a small independent folk, they called
Lindon (< *Lindana): this was the country at the western feet
of the Blue Mountains (Eryd Luin), watered by the tributaries of
the great River Gelion, and previously named by the Sindar
Ossiriand, the Land of Seven Rivers. The Sindar quickly
recognized the Lindi as kinsfolk of Lindarin origin (S Glinnil),
using a tongue that in spite of great differences was still
perceived to be akin to their own; and they adopted the names
Lindi and Lindon, giving them the forms Lindil (sg. Lindel) or
Lindedhil, and Lindon or Dor Lindon. In Exilic Quenya the
forms used (derived from the Sindar or direct from the Nandor)
were Lindi and Lindon (or Lindone). The Exiled Noldor also
usually referred to the Eryd Luin as Eryd Lindon, since the
highest parts of that range made the eastern borders of the
country of Lindon.
These names were however later replaced among the Sindar
by the name 'Green-elves', at least as far as the inhabitants of
Ossiriand were concerned; for they withdrew themselves and
took as little part in the strife with Morgoth as they could. This
name, S Laegel, pl. Laegil, class-plural Laegrim or Laegel(d)-
rim, was given both because of the greenness of the land of
Lindon, and because the Laegrim clothed themselves in green as
an aid to secrecy. This term the Noldor translated into Quenya
Laiquendi; but it was not much used.
Appendix A. Elvish names for Men.
The first Elves that Men met in the world were Avari, some of
whom were friendly to them, but the most avoided them or
were hostile (according to the tales of Men). What names Men
and Elves gave to one another in those remote days, of which
little was remembered when the Loremasters in Beleriand made
the acquaintance of the After-born, there is now no record. By
the Dunedain the Elves were called Nimir (the Beautiful).(18)
The Eldar did not meet Men of any kind or race until the
Noldor had long returned to Beleriand and were at war with
Morgoth. The Sindar did not even know of their existence, until
the coming of the Nandor; and these brought only rumour of a
strange people (whom they had not themselves seen) wandering
in the lands of the East beyond the Hithaeglir. From these
uncertain tales the Sindar concluded that the 'strange people'
were either some diminished race of the Avari, or else related to
Orcs, creatures of Melkor, bred in mockery of the true Quendi.
But the Noldor had already heard of Men in Aman. Their
knowledge came in the first place from Melkor and was
perverted by his malice, but before the Exile those who would
listen had learned more of the truth from the Valar, and they
knew that the newcomers were akin to themselves, being also
Children of Iluvatar, though differing in gifts and fate. There-
fore the Noldor made names for the Second Race of the
Children, calling them the Atani 'the Second Folk'. Other names
that they devised were Apanonar 'the After-born', and Hildor
'the Followers'.
In Beleriand Atan, pl. Atani, was the name most used at first.
But since for a long time the only Men known to the Noldor
and Sindar were those of the Three Houses of the Elf-friends,
this name became specially associated with them, so that it was
seldom in ordinary speech applied to other kinds of Men that
came later to Beleriand, or that were reported to be dwelling
beyond the Mountains. The Elf-friends (Note 19, p. 412) were
sometimes called by the Loremasters Nunatani (S Dunedain),
'Western Men', a term made to match Dunedhil, which was a
name for all the Elves of Beleriand, allied in the War (see
p. 378). The original reference was to the West of Middle-earth,
but the name Nunatani, Dunedain was later applied solely
to the Numenoreans, descendants of the Atani, who removed to
the far western isle of Numenore.
Apanonar 'the After-born' was a word of lore, not used in
daily speech. A general term for Men of all kinds and races, as
distinct from Elves, was only devised after their mortality and
brief life-span became known to the Elves by experience. They
were then called Firyar 'Mortals', or Firimar of similar sense
(literally 'those apt to die'). (Note 20, p. 412) These words were
derived from the stem *PHIRI 'exhale, expire, breathe out',
which had no original connexion with death.(19) Of death, as
suffered by Men, the Elves knew nothing until they came into
close association with the Atani; but there were cases in which
an Elf, overcome by a great sorrow or weariness, had resigned
life in the body. The chief of these, the departure of Miriel wife
of King Finwe, was a matter of deep concern to all the Noldor,
and it was told of her that her last act, as she gave up her life in
the body and went to the keeping of Mandos, was a deep sigh of
weariness.
These Quenya names were later adapted to the forms of
Sindarin speech: Atan > Adan, pl. Edain; Firya > Feir, pl. Fir
(with Firion m.sg., Firieth f.sg.), class-plural Firiath; Firima >
Fireb, pl. Firib, class-plural Firebrim. These forms, which
cannot for historical reasons have been inherited from CE, but
are those which the words if inherited would have taken, show
that they were adapted by people with considerable knowledge
of both tongues and understanding of their relations to one
another; that is, they were probably first made by the Noldor
for use in Sindarin, when they had adopted this language for
daily use in Beleriand. Fireb as compared with Firima shows the
use of a different suffix, (Note 21, p. 412) since the S equivalent
of Q -ima (*-ef) was not current. Apanonar was rendered by
Abonnen, pl. Eboennin, using a different participial formation
from the stem *ONO 'beget, give birth to'. Hildor, since the stem
*KHILI 'follow' was not current in Sindarin, was rendered by
Aphadon, pl. Ephedyn, class-plural Aphadrim, from S aphad-
'follow' < *ap-pata 'walk behind, on a track or path'.
Appendix B. Elvish names for the Dwarves.
The Sindar had long known the Dwarves, and had entered into
peaceful relations with them, though of trade and exchange of
skills rather than of true friendship, before the coming of the
Exiles. The name (in the plural) that the Dwarves gave to
themselves was Khazad, and this the Sindar rendered as they
might in the terms of their own speech, giving it the form
*chadod > *chadaud > Hadhod. (Note 22, p. 412) Hadhod,
Hadhodrim was the name which they continued to use in actual
intercourse with the Dwarves; but among themselves they
referred to the Dwarves usually as the Naugrim 'the Stunted
Folk'. The adjective naug 'dwarf(ed), stunted', however, was
not used by itself for one of the Khazad. The word used was
Nogoth, pl. Noegyth, class-plural Nogothrim (as an occasional
equivalent of Naugrim). (Note 23, p. 413) They also often
referred to the Dwarves as a race by the name Dornhoth 'the
Thrawn Folk', because of their stubborn mood as well as bodily
toughness.
The Exiles heard of the Dwarves first from the Sindar, and
when using the Sindarin tongue naturally adopted the already
established names. But later in Eastern Beleriand the Noldor
came into independent relations with the Dwarves of Eryd
Lindon, and they adapted the name Khazad anew for use in
Quenya, giving it the form Kasar, pl. Kasari or Kasari. (Note
24, p. 413) This was the word most commonly used in Quenya
for the Dwarves, the partitive plural being Kasalli, and the
race-name Kasallie. But the Sindarin names were also adapted
or imitated, a Dwarf being called Nauko or Norno (the whole
people Naukalie or Nornalie). Norno was the more friendly
term. (Note 25, p. 413)
The Petty-dwarves. See also Note 7. The Eldar did not at first
recognize these as Incarnates, for they seldom caught sight of
them in clear light. They only became aware of their existence
indeed when they attacked the Eldar by stealth at night, or if
they caught them alone in wild places. The Eldar therefore
thought that they were a kind of cunning two-legged animals
living in caves, and they called them Levain tad-dail, or simply
Tad-dail, and they hunted them. But after the Eldar had made
the acquaintance of the Naugrim, the Tad-dail were recognized
as a variety of Dwarves and were left alone. There were then
few of them surviving, and they were very wary, and too fearful
to attack any Elf, unless their hiding-places were approached
too nearly. The Sindar gave them the names Nogotheg 'Dwarf-
let', or Nogoth niben 'Petty Dwarf'.(20)
The great Dwarves despised the Petty-dwarves, who were (it
is said) the descendants of Dwarves who had left or been driven
our from the Communities, being deformed or undersized, or
slothful and rebellious. But they still acknowledged their
kinship and resented any injuries done to them. Indeed it was
one of their grievances against the Eldar that they had hunted
and slain their lesser kin, who had settled in Beleriand before
the Elves came there. This grievance was set aside, when treaties
were made between the Dwarves and the Sindar, in considera-
tion of the plea that the Petty-dwarves had never declared
themselves to the Eldar, nor presented any claims to land or
habitations, but had at once attacked the newcomers in
darkness and ambush. But the grievance still smouldered, as
was later seen in the case of Mim, the only Petty-dwarf who
played a memorable part in the Annals of Beleriand.
The Noldor, for use in Quenya, translated these Sindarin
names for the Petty-dwarves by Attalyar 'Bipeds', and Pikinau-
kor or Pitya-naukor.
The chief dwellings of the Dwarves that became known to the
Sindar (though few ever visited them) were upon the east side of
the Eryd Luin. They were called in the Dwarf-tongue Gabilga-
thol and Tumunzahar. The greatest of all the mansions of the
Dwarves, Khazad-dum, beneath the Hithaeglir far to the east,
was known to the Eldar only by name and rumour derived from
the western Dwarves.
These names the Sindar did not attempt to adapt, but
translated according to their sense, as Belegost 'Mickleburg';
Novrod, later Nogrod, meaning originally 'Hollowbold'; and
Hadhodrond 'Dwarrowvault'.(21) (Note 26, p. 414) These names
the Noldor naturally used in speaking or writing Sindarin, but
for use in Quenya they translated the names anew as Turosto,
Navarot, and Casarrondo.
Appendix C. Elvish names for the Orcs.
The opening paragraphs of this Appendix have been given in
Morgoth's Ring p. 416 and are not repeated here. The words that
now follow, 'these shapes and the terror that they inspired', refer to
the 'dreadful shapes' that haunted the dwellings of the Elves in the
land of their awakening.
For these shapes and the terror that they inspired the element
chiefly used in the ancient tongue of the Elves appears to have
been *RUKU. In all the Eldarin tongues (and, it is said, in the
Avarin also) there are many derivatives of this stem, having such
ancient forms as: ruk-, rauk-, uruk-, urk(u), runk-, rukut/s,
besides the strengthened stem gruk-, and the elaborated guruk-,
nguruk. (Note 27, p. 415) Already in PQ that word must have
been formed which had in CE the form *rauku or *rauko. This
was applied to the larger and more terrible of the enemy shapes.
But ancient were also the forms uruk, urku/o, and the adjectival
urka 'horrible'. (Note 28, p. 415)
In Quenya we meet the noun urko, pl. urqui, deriving as the
plural form shows from *urku or *uruku. In Sindarin is found
the corresponding urug; but there is in frequent use the form
orch, which must be derived from *urko or the adjectival
*urka.
In the lore of the Blessed Realm the Q urko naturally seldom
occurs, except in tales of the ancient days and the March, and
then is vague in meaning, referring to anything that caused fear
to the Elves, any dubious shape or shadow, or prowling
creature. In Sindarin urug has a similar use. It might indeed be
translated 'bogey'. But the form orch seems at once to have been
applied to the Orcs, as soon as they appeared; and Orch, pl.
Yrch, class-plural Orchoth remained the regular name for these
creatures in Sindarin afterwards. The kinship, though not
precise equivalence, of S orch to Q urko, urqui was recognized,
and in Exilic Quenya urko was commonly used to translate
S orch, though a form showing the influence of Sindarin, orko,
pl. orkor and orqui, is also often found.
These names, derived by various routes from the Elvish
tongues, from Quenya, Sindarin, Nandorin, and no doubt
Avarin dialects, went far and wide, and seem to have been the
source of the names for the Orcs in most of the languages of the
Elder Days and the early ages of which there is any record. The
form in Adunaic urku, urkhu may be direct from Quenya or
Sindarin; and this form underlies the words for Orc in the
languages of Men of the North-West in the Second and Third
Ages. The Orcs themselves adopted it, for the fact that it
referred to terror and detestation delighted them. The word
uruk that occurs in the Black Speech, devised (it is said) by
Sauron to serve as a lingua franca for his subjects, was probably
borrowed by him from the Elvish tongues of earlier times. It
referred, however, specially to the trained and disciplined Orcs
of the regiments of Mordor. Lesser breeds seem to have been
called snaga.(22)
The Dwarves claimed to have met and fought the Orcs long
before the Eldar in Beleriand were aware of them. It was indeed
their obvious detestation of the Orcs, and their willingness to
assist in any war against them, that convinced the Eldar that the
Dwarves were no creatures of Morgoth. Nonetheless the
Dwarvish name for Orcs, Rukhs, pl. Rakhas, seems to show
affinity to the Elvish names, and was possibly ultimately derived
from Avarin.
The Eldar had many other names for the Orcs, but most of
these were 'kennings', descriptive terms of occasional use. One
was, however, in frequent use in Sindarin: more often than
Orchoth the general name for Orcs as a race that appears in the
Annals was Glamhoth. Glam meant 'din, uproar, the confused
yelling and bellowing of beasts', so that Glamboth in origin
meant more or less 'the Yelling-horde', with reference to the
horrible clamour of the Orcs in battle or when in pursuit - they
could be stealthy enough at need. But Glamhoth became so
firmly associated with Orcs that Glam alone could be used of
any body of Orcs, and a singular form was made from it,
glamog. (Compare the name of the sword Glamdring.)
Note. The word used in translation of Q urko, S orch, is
Orc. But that is because of the similarity of the ancient English
word orc, 'evil spirit or bogey', to the Elvish words. There is
possibly no connexion between them. The English word is now
generally supposed to be derived from Latin Orcus.
The word for Orc in the now forgotten tongue of the
Druedain in the realm of Gondor is recorded as being (? in
the plural) gorgun. This is possibly derived ultimately from the
Elvish words.
Appendix D.
*Kwen, Quenya, and the Elvish (especially Noldorin)
words for 'Language'.
The Noldorin Loremasters state often that the meaning of
Quendi was 'speakers', 'those who form words with voices' -
i karir quettar omainen. Since they were in possession of
traditions coming down from ancient days before the Separa-
tion, this statement cannot be disregarded; though the develop-
ment of sense set out above may also stand as correct.
It might be objected that in fact no stem *KWEN clearly
referring to speech or vocal sound is found in any known Elvish
tongue. The nearest in form is the stem *KWET 'speak, utter
words, say'. But in dealing with this ancient word we must go
back to the beginnings of Elvish speech, before the later
organisation of its basic structure, with its preference (especially
in stems of verbal significance) for the pattern X-X(-), with a
fixed medial consonant, as e.g. in stems already exemplified
above, such as *Dele, *Heke, *Tele, *Kala, *Kiri, *Nuku,
*Ruku, etc. A large number of monosyllabic stems (with only
an initial consonant or consonant group) still appear in the
Eldarin tongues; and many of the dissyllabic stems must have
been made by elaboration of these, just as, at a later stage again,
the so-called *kalat- stems were extended from the disyllabic
forms: *kala > *kalat(a).
If we assume, then, that the oldest form of this stem referring
to vocal speech was *KWE, of which *KWENE and *KWETE were
elaborations, we shall find a striking parallel in the forms of
*KWA. This stem evidently referred to 'completion'. As such it
survives as an element in many of the Eldarin words for 'whole,
total, all, etc. But it also appears in the form *KWAN, and
cannot well be separated from the verb stem *KWATA, Q quat-
'fill'. The assumption also helps to explain a curious and
evidently archaic form that survives only in the languages of
Aman: *ekwe, Q eque, T epe. It has no tense forms and usually
receives no pronominal affixes, (Note 29, p. 415) being mostly
used only before either a proper name (sg. or pl.) or a full
independent pronoun, in the senses say / says or said. A
quotation then follows, either direct, or less usually indirect
after a 'that'-conjunction.
In this *ekwe we have plainly a last survivor of the primitive
*KWE. It is again paralleled by a similar formation (though of
different function) from *KWA: *akwa. This survives in Quenya
only as aqua 'fully, completely, altogether, wholly'. (Note 30,
p. 415) Compare the use of -kwa in the formation of adjectives
from nouns, such as -ful in English, except that the sense has
been less weakened, and remains closer to the original meaning
of the stem: completely . (Note 31, p. 415)
In Quenya the form eques, originally meaning 'said he, said
someone' (see Note 29) was also used as a noun eques, with the
analogical plural equessi, 'a saying, dictum, a quotation from
someone's uttered words', hence also 'a saying, a current or
proverbial dictum'.
We may therefore accept the etymology of *kwene, *kwen
that would make its original meaning 'speaking, speaker, one
using vocal language'. It would indeed be natural for the Elves,
requiring a word for one of their own kind as distinguished
from other creatures then known, to select the use of speech as a
chief characteristic. But once formed the word must have taken
the meaning 'person', without specific reference to this talent of
the Incarnates. Thus *nere, *ner a male person, a man was
derived from *NERE referring to physical strength and valour,
but it was possible to speak of a weak or cowardly ner; or
indeed to speak of a dumb or silent kwen.
It might therefore still be doubted that in the derivative
*kwendi the notion of speaking was any longer effectively
present. The statement of the Loremasters cannot, however, be
dismissed; while it must be remembered that the Elves were
always more deeply concerned with language than were other
races. Up to the time at least of the Separation, then, *Kwendi
must still have implied 'we, the speaking people'; it may indeed
have primarily applied to concourses for discussion, or for
listening to speeches and recitations. But when the Elves came to
know of other creatures of similar forms, and other Incarnates
who used vocal language, and the name *Kwendi, Quendi was
used to distinguish themselves from these other kinds, the
linguistic sense must have been no longer present in ordinary
language.
With regard to the word Quenya: an account is given above
of the way in which this word became used first in Aman for
Elvish speech, (Note 32, p. 416) and then for the dialects of the
Eldar in Aman, and later for the language of the Vanyar and
Noldor, and finally in Middle-earth for the ancient tongue of the
Noldor preserved as a language of ritual and lore. This is
historically correct, whatever may be the ultimate etymology of
Quenya before the Eldar came to Aman. The view taken above
(p. 360) is that it is derived from an adjective *kwendja formed
upon the stem *kwende (of which *kwendi was the plural),
meaning 'belonging to the Quendi or Elves'.
Pengolodh the Loremaster of Eressea says, in his Lammas or
Account of Tongues, that Quenya meant properly 'language,
speech', and was the oldest word for this meaning. This is not a
statement based on tradition, but an opinion of Pengolodh; and
he appears to mean only that Quendya, Quenya is actually
never recorded except as the name of a language, and that
language was the only one known to exist when this word was
first made.
In any case it is clear that Quenya was always in fact
particular in its reference; for when the Noldorin Loremasters
came to consider linguistic matters, and required words for
speech or vocal language in general, as a mode of expression or
communication, and for different aspects of speech, they made
no use of the element *kwen, quen or its derivatives.
The usual word, in non-technical use, for 'language' was
'lambe, Q and T lambe, S lam. This was undoubtedly related to
the word for the physical tongue: *lamba, Q and T lamba,
S lam. It meant 'tongue-movement, (way of) using the tongue'.
(Note 33, p. 416) This use of a word indicating the tongue and
its movements for articulate language no doubt arose, even in a
period when all known speakers spoke substantially the same
language, from elementary observation of the important part
played by the tongue in articulate speaking, and from noticing
the peculiarities of individuals, and the soon-developing minor
differences in the language of groups and clans.
Lambe thus meant primarily 'a way of talking', within a
common generally intelligible system, and was nearer to our
'dialect' than to 'language'; but later when the Eldar became
aware of other tongues, not intelligible without study, lambe
naturally became applied to the separate languages of any
people or region. The Loremasters, therefore, did not use lambe
as a term for language or speech in general. Their terms were
derived from the stem *TEN 'indicate, signify', from which
was formed the already well-known word *tenwe > Q tengwe
'indication, sign, token'. From this they made the word
tengwesta 'a system or code of signs'. Every 'language' was one
such system. A lambe was a tengwesta built of sounds (hloni).
For the sense Language, as a whole, the peculiar art of the
Incarnates of which each tengwesta was a particular product,
they used the abstract formation tengwestie.
Now *TEN had no special reference to sound. Ultimately it
meant 'to point at', and so to indicate a thing, or convey a
thought, by some gesture, or by any sign that would be
understood. This was appreciated by the Loremasters, who
wished for a word free from any limitations with regard to the
kind of signs or tengwi used. They could thus include under
tengwesta any group of signs, including visible gestures, used
and recognized by a community.
They knew of such systems of gesture. The Eldar possessed a
fairly elaborate system, (Note 34, p. 416) containing a large
number of conventional gesture-signs, some of which were as
'arbitrary' as those of phonetic systems. That is, they had no
more obvious connexion with self-explanatory gestures (such as
pointing in a desired direction) than had the majority of vocal
elements or combinations with 'echoic' or imitative words (such
ps *mama, Q mama sheep, or *k(a)wak, Q quako 'crow').
The Dwarves indeed, as later became known, had a far more
elaborate and organized system. They possessed in fact a
secondary tengwesta of gestures, concurrent with their spoken
language, which they began to learn almost as soon as they
began learning to speak. It should be said rather that they
possessed a number of such gesture-codes; for unlike their
spoken language, which remained astonishingly uniform and
unchanged both in time and in locality, their gesture-codes
varied greatly from community to community. And they were
differently employed. Not for communication at a distance, for
the Dwarves were short-sighted, but for secrecy and the
exclusion of strangers.
The component sign-elements of any such code were often so
slight and so swift that they could hardly be detected, still less
interpreted by uninitiated onlookers. As the Eldar eventually
discovered in their dealings with the Naugrim, they could speak
with their voices but at the same time by 'gesture' convey to
their own folk modifications of what was being said. Or they
could stand silent considering some proposition, and yet confer
among themselves meanwhile.
This 'gesture-language', or as they called it iglishmek, the
Dwarves were no more eager to teach than their own tongue.
But they understood and respected the disinterested desire for
knowledge, and some of the later Noldorin loremasters were
allowed to learn enough of both their lambe (aglab) and their
iglishmek to understand their systems.
Though a lambe was thus theoretically simply a tengwesta
that happened to employ phonetic signs, hloniti tengwi, the
early loremasters held that it was the superior form, capable
of producing a system incalculably more subtle, precise and
extensive than any hwerme or gesture-code. When unqualified,
therefore, tengwesta meant a spoken language. But in technical
use it meant more than lambe. The study' of a language included
not only lambe, the way of speaking (that is what we should call
its phonetics and phonology), but also its morphology, gram-
mar, and vocabulary.
The section omitted from Appendix D (see p. 359) begins here. The
remainder of the text, which now follows, was all included in this
Appendix.
Before he turned to other matters Feanor completed his
alphabetic system, and here also he introduced a change in
terms that was afterwards followed. He called the written
representation of a spoken tengwe (according to his defini-
tion)(23) a tengwa. A 'letter' or any individual significant mark
had previously been called a sarat, from *SAR 'score, incise' >
'write'.(24) The Feanorian letters were always called tengwar in
Quenya, though sarati remained the name for the Rumilian
letters. Since, however, in the mode of spelling commonly used
the full signs were consonantal, in ordinary non-technical use
tengwar became equivalent to 'consonants', and the vowel-signs
were called omatehtar. When the Feanorian letters were
brought to Beleriand and applied (first by the Noldor) to
Sindarin, tengwa was rendered by its recognized Sindarin
equivalent tew, pl. tiw. The letters of the native S alphabet were
called certh, pl. cirth. The word in Exilic Quenya certa, pl.
certar was an accommodated loan from Sindarin; there was no
such word in older Quenya. The Sindarin certh is probably
from *kirte 'cutting', a verbal derivative of a type not used in
Quenya, the form of which would in any case have been *kirte,
if inherited.
Though Feanor after the days of his first youth took no more
active part in linguistic lore and enquiry, he is credited by
tradition with the foundation of a school of Lambengolmor or
'Loremasters of Tongues' to carry on this work. This continued
in existence among the Noldor, even through the rigours and
disasters of the Flight from Aman and the Wars in Beleriand,
and it survived indeed to return to Eressea.
Of the School the most eminent member after the founder
was, or still is, Pengolodh,(25) an Elf of mixed Sindarin and
Noldorin ancestry, born in Nevrast, who lived in Gondolin
from its foundation. He wrote both in Sindarin and in Quenya.
He was one of the survivors of the destruction of Gondolin,
from which he rescued a few ancient writings, and some of his
own copies, compilations, and commentaries. It is due to this,
and to his prodigious memory, that much of the knowledge of
the Elder Days was preserved.
All that has here been said concerning the Elvish names and
their origins, and concerning the views of the older loremasters,
is derived directly or indirectly from Pengolodh. For before the
overthrow of Morgoth and the ruin of Beleriand, he collected
much material among the survivors of the wars at Sirion's
Mouth concerning languages and gesture-systems with which,
owing to the isolation of Gondolin, he had not before had any
direct acquaintance. Pengolodh is said to have remained in
Middle-earth until far on into the Second Age for the further-
ance of his enquiries, and for a while to have dwelt among the
Dwarves of Casarrondo (Khazad-dum). But when the shadow
of Sauron fell upon Eriador, he left Middle-earth, the last of the
Lambengolmor, and sailed to Eressea, where maybe he still
abides.
Note on the 'Language of the Valar'.
Little is said in Noldorin lore, such as has been preserved,
concerning the 'language of the Valar and Maiar'; though it has
been supposed above that the application of Quenya to the
speech of the Elves in Aman was due to the contrast between the
tongue of the Valar and the tongue of the Elves, which they had
before supposed to be the only language in the world. Consider-
ing the interest of the Noldor in all matters concerning speech
this is strange. Pengolodh indeed comments upon it and offers
explanations. What he says in the beginning of his Lammas is
here summarized; for his comment contains all that is now
known of the matter.
'Even if we had no knowledge of it,' he says, 'we could not
reasonably doubt that the Valar had a lambe of their own. We
know that all members of their order were incarnated by their
own desire, and that most of them chose to take forms like those
of the Children of Eru, as they name us. In such forms they
would take on all the characters of the Incarnates that were due
to the co-operation of hroa with indwelling fea, for otherwise
the assumption of these forms would have been needless, and
they arrayed themselves in this manner long before they had any
cause to appear before us visibly. Since, then, the making of a
lambe is the chief character of an Incarnate, the Valar, having
arrayed them in this manner, would inevitably during their long
sojourn in Arda have made a lambe for themselves.
'But without argument we know that they did so; for there
are references to the Lambe Valarinwa in old lore and histories,
though these are few and scattered. Most of these references
appear to be derived, by tradition of mouth, from "the Sayings
of Rumil" (I Equessi Rumilo), the ancient sage of Tirion,
concerning the early days of the Eldar in Aman and their first
dealings with the Valar. Only part of these Equessi (26) were
preserved in the memory of the Lambengolmor during the dark
years of the Flight and the Exile. All that I can find or remember
I have here put together.'
The information that Pengolodh then gives is here set out
more briefly. His preliminary points are these. Few of the Eldar
ever learned to speak Valarin, even haltingly; among the people
as a whole only a small number of words or names became
widely known. Feanor indeed, before the growth of his dis-
content, is said to have learned more of this tongue than any
others before his time, and his knowledge must at any rate have
far surpassed the little that is now recorded; but what he knew
he kept to himself, and he refused to transmit it even to the
Lambengolmor because of his quarrel with the Valar.
Our knowledge (Note 35, p. 416) is therefore now limited (1)
to statements of the 'ancients' that certain words in Quenya
were actually derived from Valarin; (2) to the occasional
citation of words and names purporting to be Valarin (neither
adopted in Quenya nor adapted to it), though undoubtedly
recorded with only approximate accuracy, since no signs or
letters not already known in the Elvish alphabets are employed;
(3) to statements that certain names (especially those of the
Valar or of places in Valinor) were translations of the Valarin
forms. In cases (1) and (3) the actual Valarin words are not
always indicated.
With regard to group (1) Pengolodh cites a 'Saying' of Rumil:
'The Eldar took few words from the Valar, for they were rich in
words and ready in invention at need. But though the honour
which they gave to the Valar might have caused them to take
words from their speech, whether needed or not, few words of
Valarin could be fitted to Elvish speech without great change or
diminution. For the tongues and voices of the Valar are great
and stern, and yet also swift and subtle in movement, making
sounds that we find hard to counterfeit; and their words are
mostly long and rapid, like the glitter of swords, like the rush of
leaves in a great wind or the fall of stones in the mountains.'
pengolodh comments: 'Plainly the effect of Valarin upon
Elvish ears was not pleasing.' It was, he adds, as may be seen
or guessed from what survives, filled with many consonants
unfamiliar to the Eldar and alien to the system of their speech.(27)
The examples that Pengolodh gives are as follows.
(1) (a) words.
Ainu 'one of the "order" of the Valar and Maiar, made before
Ea'. Valarin ayanuz. It was from this ainu that in Quenya
was made the adjective aina 'holy', since according to Quenya
derivation ainu appeared to be a personal form of such an
adjective.
aman 'blessed, free from evil'. Chiefly used as the name of the
land in which the Valar dwelt. V form not given; said to mean
'at peace, in accord (with Eru)'. See Manu e.
apar, N asar 'fixed time, festival'. V apara 'appointed'.
axan 'law, rule, commandment'. V akasan, said to mean 'He
says', referring to Eru.
indil 'a lily, or other large single flower'. V inidil.
mahalma 'throne'. V maxallam (adapted to Quenya), pro-
perly one of the seats of the Valar in the Mahanaxar or 'Doom
Ring'. The element maxan, said to mean 'authority, authorita-
tive decision', was also used in the form Mahan, one of the eight
chiefs of the Valar, usually translated as Aratar.
miruvore, miruvor 'a special wine or cordial'. V mirubhoze-;
said to be the beginning of a longer word, containing the
element mirub- 'wine'.(28)
telluma 'dome', especially the 'Dome of Varda' over Valinor;
but also applied to the domes of the mansion of Manwe and
Varda upon Taniquetil. V delguma, altered by association with
Q telume. See Note 15.
Pengolodh also cites the colour-words, which he says may be
found in ancient verse, though they are used only by the Vanyar,
'who, as Rumil reports, adopted many more words than did the
Noldor':
ezel, ezella 'green'. See Ezellohar.
nasar 'red'; ulban 'blue'. V forms not given.
tulka 'yellow'. See Tulkas.
(b) names.
Aule V Azulez (meaning not given).
Manwe Reduction and alteration to fit Quenya, in which
words of this shape, ending in -we, were frequent in personal
names. V Manawenuz 'Blessed One, One {closest) in accord
with Eru'. Oldest Q forms Manwen, Manwe.
Tulkas V Tulukhastaz; said to contain V elements tuluk-
ha(n) 'yellow', and (a)sata- 'hair of head': 'the golden-haired'.
Osse, Orome On these two names, the only ones that
became known to the Eldar before they reached Aman, see note
below.
Ulmo Like Manwe, a reduction and alteration to fit
Quenya, in which the ending -mo often appeared in names or
titles, sometimes with an agental significance: Ulmo was
interpreted as 'the Pourer' < *UL 'pour out'. The V form is
given as Ul(l)uboz, containing the element ul(l)u 'water'.
Osse and Orome. Orome was the first of the Valar that any of
the Eldar saw. Osse they met in Beleriand, and he remained long
upon the coasts, and became well known to the Sindar
(especially to the Eglain). Both these names therefore have
Sindarin forms. To Osse corresponds S Yssion or Gaerys; to
Orome the S Araw. The V forms are given as Os(o)sai (said
to mean 'spuming, foaming'); and Aromez.
The first name was evidently adopted in the form Ossai,
which became naturally Q Osse. In S Ossai would become ossi
> ussi > yssi to which the ending (of male names) -on was
added; or else the adjective *gaira 'awful, fearful' was prefixed,
producing Gaerys. The latter was more often used by the inland
Teleri. *gaira is from *gay- 'astound, make aghast', which was
also used in the oldest Eldarin word for the Sea: *gayar, Q ear,
S gaear.
Aromez evidently, as was pointed out by Feanor, contained
the open a-like q (which did as a matter of later observation
occur frequently in Valarin). This was treated as was the Eldarin
q, so that the Sindarin development was > *arame > aromae >
araum(a) > araum, arauv > araw. (In North Sindarin or
Mithrim, where the diphthongization of o and the opening of
intervocalic m did not occur, the form produced was Arum; cf.
the North Sindarin transformation of the Exilic Noldorin name
Hisilome > Hithlum.) The Quenya form with Orome for
*Arome < *Arome, may show assimilation of the initial o to
the following o before the retraction of the normal Q accent to
the first syllable; but Pengolodh says that it was due to the
association of the name with the native Q *rom, used of the
sound of trumps or horns, seen in the Q name for the great horn
of Orome, the Vala-roma (also in Q romba 'horn, trumpet',
S rom).
'The Eldar,' he says, 'now take the name to signify "horn-
blowing" or "horn-blower"; but to the Valar it had no such
meaning. Now the names that we have for the Valar or the
Maiar, whether adapted from the Valarin or translated, are not
right names but titles, referring to some function or character of
the person; for though the Valar have right names, they do not
reveal them. Save only in the case of Orome. For it is said in the
histories of the most ancient days of the Quendi that, when
Orome appeared among them, and at length some dared to
approach him, they asked him his name, and he answered:
Orome. Then they asked him what that signified, and again he
answered: Orome. To me only is it given; for I am Orome. Yet
the titles that he bore were many and glorious; but he withheld
them at that time, that the Quendi should not be afraid.'
Nahar, the name of Orome's horse. 'Otherwise it was,' says
Pengolodh, 'with the steed upon which the Lord Orome rode.
When the Quendi asked his name, and if that bore any meaning,
Orome answered: "Nahar, and he is called from the sound of
his voice, when he is eager to run>.' But the V form that is
recorded by Rumil was naexaerra.
Ezellohar (also translated as Koron Oiolaire, Korollaire), the
Green Mound upon which grew the Two Trees. V Ezelloxar.
Mahanaxar, the 'Doom-ring' in which were set the thrones of
the Valar whereon they sat in council (see mahalma above,
p. 399). Reduced and altered from V maxananaskad. Also
translated as Rithil-Anamo.
(2) Valarin words and names, recorded but not adopted.
(a) words
urus, rusur 'fire'.
ithtr 'light'.
ul(l)u 'water'.
sebeth 'air'.
(b) names
Arda: V Aparaphelun (said to mean 'appointed dwelling').
Arda Unmarred: Aparaphelun Amanaisal; Arda Marred:
Aparaphelun Dusamanudan.
Telperion: V Ibrtnidilpathanezel.
Laurelin: V Tulukhedelgorus.
Ithil 'moon': V Phanaikeluth. Said to mean 'bright mirror'.
Anar Sun: V Aparaigas. Said to mean appointed heat .
At the end of this short list Pengolodh cites another eques of
Rumil, which might seem contrary to that already quoted
above: 'Let none be surprised who endeavour to learn some-
what of the tongue of the Lords of the West, as have I, if they
find therein many words or parts of words that resemble our
own words for the same or similar meanings. For even as they
took our form for love of us, so in that form their voices would
be likely to light upon similar tengwi.'
Upon this Pengolodh comments: He knew not of Men or of
Dwarves. But we who have dwelt among Men know that
(strange though that seems to some) the Valar love them no less.
And for my part I perceive a likeness no less, or indeed greater,
between the Valarin and the tongues of Men, notably the
language of the Dunedain and of the Children of Marach (sc.
Adunaic). Also in general manner it resembles the tongues of the
Kasari; though this is not to be wondered at, if the tradition that
they have is true that Aule devised for them their tongue in its
beginning, and therefore it changes little, whereas the iglishmek
which they made for themselves is changeable.'
(3) [Cf. p. 398: 'statements that certain names (especially
those of the Valar or of places in Valinor) were translations of
the Valarin forms']
Arda Q arda (< *garda, S gardh) meant any more or less
bounded or defined place, a region. Its use as a proper name for
the World was due to V Aparaphelun.
Aratar 'the Supreme', was a version of the V maxanaz, pl.
maxanumaz 'Authorities', also adapted as Mahan, pl. Mahani.
Ea 'All Creation', meaning 'it is', or 'let it be'. Valarin not
recorded.
Ambar 'the Earth', meaning 'habitation'. Though the Eldar
often used Arda in much the same sense, the proper meaning of
Ambar was the Earth only, as the place where the Aratar had
taken up their dwelling, and the Incarnate were destined to
appear.(29)
Eru 'the One'. Iluvatar was, however, a name made by the
Eldar (when they had learned of Eru from the Valar), which
they used more often than Eru, reserved for the most solemn
occasions. It was made from iluve 'allness, the all', an equivalent
of Ea, and atar 'father'.
Varda 'the Sublime'. V form not given.
Melkor 'He who arises in Might', oldest Q form *mbelekoro.
V form not given.
Namo 'Judge'; usually called by the Eldar Mandos, the place
of his dwelling.
Irmo 'Desirer'; usually called by the name of his dwelling
Lorien.
Este 'Repose'. (*SED: CE *esde > *ezde, Q Este, .T Ede (as
names only); S idh 'rest, repose'.)
Vala 'has power' (sc. over the matter of Ea), 'a Power'; pl.
Valar, 'they have power, the Powers'. Since these words are
from the point of Q structure verbal in origin, they were
probably versions of V words of verbal meaning. Cf. axan
(p. 399), Ea; and also Q eques.
Atan, pl. Atani 'Men', meaning 'the Second, those coming
next'. The Valar called them in full 'the Second Children of Eru',
but the Quendi were 'the first Children of Eru'. From these terms
the Q Minnonar 'First-born' and Apanonar 'After-born' were
imitated; but Q Eruhin, pl. Eruhini 'Children of Eru', or 'Elves
and Men', is a translation of the Valarin expression 'Children of
Eru' (of which the actual Valarin form is not recorded, probably
because the V equivalent of Eru is nowhere revealed). Besides
the form -hin, -hini only used in composition after a parental
name, Q has hina 'child', and hina only used in the vocative
addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) 'my
child'. S has hen, pl. hin, mostly used as a prefix in patronymics
or metronymics: as Hin Hurin 'The Children of Hurin'. These
words are derivatives of stem *khin: khina (in composition
khina > Q -hin), and khina.
Kalakiryan 'the Cleft of Light', the pass in the Pelori not far
from the north side of Taniquetil through which the Light of the
Trees in Valinor flowed out to the shores of Aman.
Taniquetil, the highest of the mountains of the Pelori, upon
which were the mansions of Manwe and Varda. The name was
properly only that of the topmost peak, meaning High-Snow-
Peak. The whole mountain was most often called by the Eldar
(Oron) Oiolosse, '(Mount) Everwhite' or 'Eversnow'. There
were many names for this mountain in Quenya. A variant or
close equivalent of Taniquetil was Arfanyaras(se). The Sindarin
forms of the names were made by the Noldor, for the Sindar
knew nothing of the land of Aman except by report of the
Exiles: e.g. Amon-Uilos and Ras-Arphain.
Pelori 'the fencing, or defensive Heights'. The mountains of
Aman, ranging in a crescent from North to South, close to the
western shores.
On this list Pengolodh comments: 'These are all that I can find
in old lore or remember to have read or heard. But the list is
plainly incomplete. Many of the names once known and used,
whether they be now found in the surviving histories or passed
over, must have belonged to the first or the last group. Among
those that are still remembered I note Avathar, the name of the
dim and narrow land between the southern Pelori and the Sea in
which Ungoliante housed. This is not Elvish. There are also the
names Nessa, the spouse of Tulkas, and Uinen the spouse of
Osse. These too are not Elvish, so far as can now be seen; and
since the names Tulkas and Osse come from Valarin, the names
of their spouses may also represent titles in the Valarin tongue,
or such part of them as the Eldar could adapt. I say "so far as
can now be seen", for there is no certainty in this matter
without record. It is clear that some, or indeed many, of these
adoptions and translations were made in very early days, when
the language of the Eldar was otherwise than it became before
the Exile. In the long years, owing to the restlessness and
inventiveness of the Eldar (and of the Noldor in particular),
words have been set aside and new words made; but the names
of the enduring have endured, as memorials of the speech of the
past. There is also this to consider. When words of Elvish
tongue had been used to make the names of things and persons
high and admirable, they seem to have been felt no longer
suitable to apply to lesser things, and so passed from the daily
speech.
'Thus we see that vala is no longer used of any power or
authority less than that of the Valar themselves. One may say
A vala Manwe! "may Manwe order it!"; or Valar valuvar "the
will of the Valar will be done"; but we do not say this of any
lesser name. In like manner Este or Ede is the name only of the
spouse of Lorien, whereas the form that that word has in
Sindarin (idh) means "rest", such as even a tired hound may
find before a fire.' (Note 36, p. 416)
The reasons that Pengolodh gives or surmises for the scanty
knowledge of Valarin preserved in Noldorin lore are here
summarized. Some have already been alluded to.
Though Valarin had many more sounds than Eldarin, some
alien to the Eldarin style and system, this only imposed any real
difficulty upon the borrowing of words and their adaptation to
Eldarin. To learn Valarin was probably not beyond the powers
of the Eldar, if they had felt the need or desire to do so;
references to the difficulty of Valarin are mainly due to the fact
that for most of the Eldar learning it was an ungrateful and
profitless task.
For the Eldar had no need to learn the language of Valinor for
the purposes of communication; and they had no desire either
to abandon or to alter their own tongue, which they loved and
of which they were proud. Only those among them, therefore,
who had special linguistic curiosity desired to learn Valarin for
its own sake. Such 'loremasters' did not always record their
knowledge, and many of the records that were made have been
lost. Feanor, who probably knew more of the matter than any of
the younger generations born in Aman, deliberately withheld
his knowledge.
It was probably only in the very early days that the Eldar
heard Valarin much spoken, or had opportunity for learning it,
unless by special individual effort. The Teleri had little immedi-
ate contact with the Valar and Maiar after their settlement on
the shores. The Noldor became more and more engrossed with
their own pursuits. Only the Vanyar remained in constant
association with the Valar. And in any case the Valar appear
quickly to have adopted Quenya.
All the orders of Eru's creatures have each some special talent,
which higher orders may admire. It was the special talent of the
Incarnate, who lived by necessary union of hroa and fea, to
make language. The Quendi, first and chief of the Incarnate,
had (or so they held) the greatest talent for the making of lambe.
The Valar and Maiar admired and took delight in the Eldarin
lambe, as they did in many other of the skilled and delicate
works of the Eldar.
The Valar, therefore, learned Quenya by their own choice, for
pleasure as well as for communication; and it seems clear that
they preferred that the Eldar should make new words of their
own style, or should translate the meanings of names into fair
Eldarin forms, rather than [that] they should retain the Valarin
words or adapt them to Quenya (a process that in most cases
did justice to neither tongue).
Soon after the coming of the Vanyar and Noldor the Valar
ceased to speak in their own tongue in the presence of the Eldar,
save rarely: as for instance in the great Councils, at which the
Eldar were sometimes present. Indeed, it is said that often the
Valar and Maiar might be heard speaking Quenya among
themselves.
In any case, to speak of the early days of the settlement at
Tirion, it was far easier and swifter for the Valar to learn
Quenya than to teach the Eldar Valarin. For in a sense no lambe
was 'alien' to the Self-incarnate. Even when using bodily forms
they had less need of any tengwesta than had the Incarnate; and
they had made a lambe for the pleasure of exercising the powers
and skills of the bodily form, and (more remotely) for the better
understanding of the minds of the Incarnate when they should
appear, rather than for any need that they felt among them-
selves. For the Valar and Maiar could transmit and receive
thought directly (by the will of both parties) according to their
right nature;(30) and though the use of bodily form (albeit
assumed and not imposed) in a measure made this mode of
communication less swift and precise, they retained this faculty
in a degree far surpassing that seen among any of the Incarnate.
At this point Pengolodh does not further discuss this matter
of the transmission and reception of thought, and its limitations
in any order of creatures. But he cites, as an example of the
speed with which by its aid a tengwesta may be learned by a
higher order, the story of the Finding of the Edain. According to
this the Noldorin king, Finrod, quickly learned the tongue of
the folk of Beor whom he discovered in Ossiriand, for he
understood in large measure what they meant while they spoke.
'Now Finrod,' he says, 'was renowned among the Eldar for this
power which he had, because of the warmth of his heart and his
desire to understand others; yet his power was no greater than
that of the least of the Maiar.'(31)
Pengolodh concludes as follows. 'In the histories the Valar are
always presented as speaking Quenya in all circumstances.
(Note 37, p. 417) But this cannot proceed from translation by
the Eldar, few of whose historians knew Valarin. The transla-
tion must have been made by the Valar or Maiar themselves.
Indeed those histories or legends that deal with times before the
awaking of the Quendi, or with the uttermost past, or with
things that the Eldar could not have known, must have been
presented from the first in Quenya by the Valar or the Maiar
when they instructed the Eldar. Moreover this translation must
have concerned more than the mere words of language. If we
consider the First History, which is called the Ainulindale: this
must have come from the Aratar themselves (for the most part
indeed from Manwe, it is believed). Though it was plainly put
into its present form by Eldar, and was already in that form
when it was recorded by Rumil, it must nonetheless have been
from the first presented to us not only in the words of Quenya,
but also according to our modes of thought and our imagina-
tion of the visible world, in symbols that were intelligible to us.
And these things the Valar understood because they had learned
our tongue.'
Author's Notes to Quendi and Eldar.
Note 1 (p. 367; referred to in two passages).
Distinguish yomenie 'meeting, gathering' (of three or more
coming from different directions). The Telerin form was: el sila
lumena vomentienguo.
Note 2 (p. 369).
It was a later development in Quenya, after the elements -o and
-va had become inflexions, applicable to all nouns, to pluralize
-o by the addition of the plural sign -n, when added to a plural
stem (as by natural function it could be): as lasseo 'of a leaf',
lassio > lassion 'of leaves'. Similarly with -va; but this was and
remained an adjective, and had the plural form -ve in plural
attribution (archaic Q -vai); it could not, however, indicate
plurality of source, originally, and the Q distinction Eldava
Elf s and Eldaiva Elves ?was a Q innovation.
Note 3 (p. 372).
roquen is < *roko-kwen with Quenya syncope, *roko being an
older simpler form of the stem, found in some compounds and
compound names, though the normal form of the independent
word 'horse' had the fortified form rokko. These compounds
being old were accented as unitary words and the main stress
came on the syllable preceding -quen: kirya:quen, kirya:queni.
Note 4 (p. 373).
That is, elliptically for Quenya lambe, as English for English
language. When historians needed a general adjective 'Quen-
dian, belonging to the Elves as a whole', they made the new
adjective Quenderin (on the model of Eldarin, Noldorin, etc.);
but this remained a learned word.
Note 5 (p. 375).
This change took place far back in Elvish linguistic history;
possibly before the Separation. It is in any case common to the
Telerin of Aman, Sindarin, and Nandorin.
Note 6 (p. 375).
The Noldorin Loremasters record that Pendi was used by the
Teleri only of the earliest days, because they felt that it meant
the lacking, the poor (*PEN), with reference to the indigence
and ignorance of the primitive Elves.
Note 7 (p. 377).
The Dwarves were in a special position. They claimed to have
known Beleriand before even the Eldar first came there; and
there do appear to have been small groups dwelling furtively in
the highlands west of Sirion from a very early date: they
attacked and waylaid the Elves by stealth, and the Elves did not
at first recognize them as Incarnates, but thought them to be
some kind of cunning animal, and hunted them. By their own
account they were fugitives, driven into the wilderness by their
own kin further east, and later they were called the Noegyth
Nibin (32) or Petty-dwarves, for they had become smaller than the
norm of their kind, and filled with hate for all other creatures.
When the Elves met the powerful Dwarves of Nogrod and
Belegost, in the eastern side of the Mountains, they recognized
them as Incarnates, for they had skill in many crafts, and
learned the Elvish speech readily for purposes of traffic. At first
the Elves were in doubt concerning them, believing them to be
related to Orcs and creatures of Morgoth; but when they found
that, though proud and unfriendly, they could be trusted to keep
any treaties that they made, and did not molest those who left
them in peace, they traded with them and let them come and go
as they would. They no longer classed them as Moerbin, but
neither did they ever reckon them as Celbin, calling them the
Dornhoth ('the thrawn folk') or the Naugrim ('the stunted
people'). [See further on the Petty-dwarves pp. 388 - 9.]
Note 8 (p. 377).
Though Morben might still be applied to them by any who
remained hostile to Men (as were the people of Doriath for the
most part); but this was intended to be insulting.
Note 9 (p. 377; referred to in two passages).
The implication that as opposed to Celbin the Moerbin were
allies of Morgoth, or at least of dubious loyalty, was, however,
untrue with regard to the Avari. No Elf of any kind ever sided
with Morgoth of free will, though under torture or the stress of
great fear, or deluded by lies, they might obey his commands:
but this applied also to Celbin. The 'Dark-elves', however, often
were hostile, and even treacherous, in their dealings with the
Sindar and Noldor; and if they fought, as they did when
themselves assailed by the Orcs, they never took any open part
in the War on the side of the Celbin. They were, it seems, filled
with an inherited bitterness against the Eldar, whom they
regarded as deserters of their kin, and in Beleriand this feeling
was increased by envy (especially of the Amanyar), and by
resentment of their lordliness. The belief of the Celbin that, at
the least, they were weaker in resistance to the pressures or lies
of Morgoth, if this grievance was concerned, may have been
justified; but the only case recorded in the histories is that of
Maeglin, the son of Eol. Eol was a Mornedhel, and is said to
have belonged to the Second Clan (whose representatives
among the Eldar were the Noldor).(33) He dwelt in East Beleriand
not far from the borders of Doriath. He had great smith-craft,
especially in the making of swords, in which work he surpassed
even the Noldor of Aman; and many therefore believed that he
used the morgul, the black arts taught by Morgoth. The Noldor
themselves had indeed learned much from Morgoth in the days
of his captivity in Valinor; but it is more likely that Eol was
acquainted with the Dwarves, for in many places the Avari
became closer in friendship with that people than the Amanyar
or the Sindar. Eol found Irith,(34) the sister of King Turgon, astray
in the wild near his dwelling, and he took her to wife by force: a
very wicked deed in the eyes of the Eldar. His son Maeglin was
later admitted to Gondolin, and given honour as the king's
sisterson; but in the end he betrayed Gondolin to Morgoth.
Maeglin was indeed an Elf of evil temper and dark mind, and he
had a lust and grudge of his own to satisfy; but even so he did
what he did only after torment and under a cloud of fear. Some
of the Nandor, who were allowed to be Celbin, were not any
better. Saeros, a counsellor of King Thingol, who belonged to a
small clan of Nandor living in eastern Doriath, was chiefly
responsible for the driving into outlawry of Turin son of Hurin.
Turin's mother was named Morwen 'dark maiden', because of
her dark hair, and it was one of Saeros' worst insults to call her
Morben. For that Turin smote him in the king's hall.(35)
This resentment on the part of the Avari is illustrated by the
history of PQ *kwendi. This word, as has been shown, did not
survive in the Telerin languages of Middle-earth, and was
almost forgotten even in the Telerin of Aman. But the Lore-
masters of later days, when more friendly relations had been
established with Avari of various kinds in Eriador and the Vale
of Anduin, record that it was frequently to be found in Avarin
dialects. These were numerous, and often as widely sundered
from one another as they were from the Eldarin forms of Elvish
speech,. but wherever the descendants of *kwendi were found,
they meant not 'Elves in general', but were the names that the
Avari gave to themselves. They had evidently continued to call
themselves *kwendi, the People, regarding those who went
away as deserters - though according to Eldarin tradition the
numbers of the Eldar at the time of the Separation were in the
approximate proportion of 3:2, as compared with the Avari (see
p. 381). The Avarin forms cited by the Loremasters were: kindi,
cuind, hwenti, windan, kinn-lai, penni. The last is interesting as
showing the change kw > p. This might be independent of the
Common Telerin change; but it suggests that it had already
occurred among the Lindar before the Separation. The form
penni is cited as coming from the 'Wood-elven' speech of the
Vale of Anduin, and these Elves were among the most friendly
to the fugitives from Beleriand, and held themselves akin to the
remnants of the Sindar.
Note 10 (p. 378).
It is not surprising that the Edain, when they learned Sindarin,
and to a certain extent Quenya also, found it difficult to discern
whether words and names containing the element el referred to
the stars or to the Elves. This is seen in the name Elendil, which
became a favourite name among the Edain, but was meant to
bear the sense 'Elf-friend'. Properly in Quenya it meant 'a lover
or student of the stars', and was applied to those devoted to
astronomical lore. 'Elf-friend' would have been more correctly
represented by Quen(den)dil or Eldandil.
Note 11 (p. 378).
Lake Mithrim, meaning originally 'Lake of the Mithrim'.
Mithrim was a name given to them by the southern-dwellers,
because of the cooler climate and greyer skies, and the mists of
the North. It was probably because the Noldor first came into
contact with this northerly branch that they gave in Quenya the
name Sindar or Sindeldi 'Grey-elves' to all the Telerin inhabi-
tants of the Westlands who spoke the Sindarin language.
Though this name was also later held to refer to Elwe's name
Thingol (Sindikollo) 'Grey-cloak', since he was acknowledged
as high-king of all the land and its peoples. It is said also that the
folk of the North were clad much in grey, especially after
the return of Morgoth when secrecy became needed; and the
Mithrim had an art of weaving a grey cloth that made its
wearers almost invisible in shadowy places or in a stony land.
This art was later used even in the southern lands as the dangers
of the War increased.
Note 12 (p. 380).
The language of Mithrim was also a marked dialect; but none of
the dialects of Sindarin differed widely enough to interfere with
intercourse. Their divergences were no greater than those that
had arisen between the Quenya as spoken by the Vanyar, and as
spoken by the Noldor at the time of the Exile.
Note 13 (p. 380).
For the late PQ gl- as an initial variation of l- see General
Phonology.(37) Though this Clan-name has *glind- in Sindarin,
the g- does not appear in Amanya Telerin, nor in Nandorin, so
that in this case it may be an addition in Sindarin, which
favoured and much increased initial groups of this kind.
Note 14 (p. 382).
For this reason the most frequently used of the 'titles' or
secondary names of the Lindar was Nendili 'Water-lovers'.
Note 15 (p. 382).
A simple agental formation (like *abaro > *abar from *ABA)
from the stem *TELE, the primary sense of which appears to
have been 'close, end, come at the end': hence in Q telda 'last,
final'; tele- intransitive verb 'finish, end', or 'be the last thing or
person in a series or sequence of events'; telya transitive verb
'finish, wind up, conclude'; telma 'a conclusion, anything used
to finish off a work or affair'. This was possibly distinct from
*tel-u 'roof in, put the crown on a building', seen in Q telume
'roof, canopy'. (This was probably one of the earliest Quendian
words for the heavens, the firmament, before the increase of
their knowledge, and the invention of the Eldarin word Menel.
Cf. Telumehtar 'warrior of the sky', an older name for
Menelmakil, Orion.) The word telluma 'dome, cupola' is an
alteration of telume under the influence of Valarin delgsima: see
p. 399. But *telu may be simply a differentiated form of *TELE,
since the roof was the final work of a building; cf. telma, which
was often applied to the last item in a structure, such as a
coping-stone, or a topmost pinnacle.
Note 16 (p. 384).
See above, p. 381. The proportion, per 144, of the Eldar
remaining in Middle-earth was reckoned at 26, of which about
8 were Nandor.
Note 17 (p. 384).
Lenwe is the form in which his name was remembered in
Noldorin histories. His name was probably *Denwego, Nan-
dorin Denweg. His son was the Nandorin chieftain Denethor.
These names probably meant 'lithe-and-active' and 'lithe-and-
lank', from *dene- 'thin and strong, pliant, lithe', and *thara-
'tall (or long) and slender'.
Note 18 (p. 384).
The name Nandor was a derivative of the element *dan, *ndan-
indicating the reversal of an action, so as to undo or nullify its
effect, as in 'undo, go back (the same way), unsay, give back (the
same gift: not another in return)'. The original word *ndando,
therefore, probably only implied 'one who goes back on his
word or decision'.
Note 19 (p. 386).
In Q Eldameldor, S Elvellyn. That is, 'Elf-lovers'. The words
Quendili, Eldandili (see Note 10), though not excluding
affection and personal loyalties, would have implied also deep
concern with all lore relative to the Elves, which was not
necessarily included in the words meldor, mellyn 'lovers,
friends'.
Note 20 (p. 387).
That is, to die by nature, of age or weariness, and inevitably, not
only (as the Elves) of some grievous hurt or sorrow.
Note 21 (p. 387).
S -eb is from *ikwa, CT *-ipa, probably related to the Q -inqua.
Cf. S aglareb 'glorious', Q alkarinqua. Both are probably
related to the element *kwa, *kwa-ta seen in Eldarin words for
'full'.
Note 22 (p. 388).
S ch was only an approximation; the Dwarvish kh was in fact
a strong aspirate, not a spirant. Similarly at the time of the
borrowing Sindarin did not possess either the sound z or long a.
This does not mean that the Elves could not imitate or acquire
sounds alien to their native speech. All the Elves had great skill
in language, and far surpassed Men in this matter. The Noldor
were the chief linguists of the Elves, but their superiority was
shown not so much in the acquisition of new tongues as in their
love of language, their inventiveness, and their concern with the
lore of language, and the history and relations of different
tongues. In adopting a word for use in their own tongue (which
they loved) Elves fitted it to their own style for aesthetic reasons.
Note 23 (p. 388)
These words are derived from the stem *NUKU 'dwarf, stunted,
not reaching full growth or achievement, failing of some mark
or Standard', seen in *nukta-, Q nuhta- 'stunt, prevent from
coming to completion, stop short, not allow to continue', S
nuitha- of similar senses. An adjectival formation was *nauka,
from which were derived S naug, Q nauka, especially applied to
things that though in themselves full-grown were smaller or
shorter than their kind, and were hard, twisted or ill-shapen.
Nogoth is probably from some such form as *nukotto/a 'a
stunted or ill-shapen thing (or person)'.
Note 24 (p. 388).
The Q h had become too weak to represent aspirate kh which
was therefore rendered by k. Final d had become r, and this
change was recognized in the adaptation. Medial z < s had
become r in the Noldorin dialect of Q except when an adjacent
syllable, or (as here) the same syllable, already contained an r.
Note 25 (p. 388).
Norno is a personalized form of the adjective norna 'stiff,
tough', the Q equivalent of S dorn. Both are from the stem
*DORO 'dried up, hard, unyielding'. With the frequent initial
enrichment d > nd this appears in PQ *ndore 'the hard, dry
land as opposed to water or bog > land in general as opposed to
sea; a land (a particular region with more or less defined
bounds)'. Hence S dor (-ndor > -nor, -nnor) 'land'. In Q this
word became confused or blended with the distinct *nore from
the stem *ONO (see p. 387), family, tribe or group having
a common ancestry, the land or region in which they dwelt'.
Thus Q nore was generally used for 'land' associated with a
particular people, and the old *ndore survived only in name-
compounds: as Valinore < *Valinore 'the people and land of the
Valar', beside Valinor, Valandor. A particular land or region
was in Q arda,. land as opposed to water or sea was nor
(< *ndoro) as opposed to ear. The Q forms norna, Norno may
also contain nd-, though S dorn does not; but this is probably
one of the cases in which Q initial d became n-, not l-, by
assimilation to an n occurring later in the word.
Note 26 (p. 389).
Novrod was the oldest form, and appears in the earlier annals,
beside the variant Grodnof. These contain the CE elements
*naba 'hollow', and (g)rota 'excavation, underground dwel-
ling'. Novrod retains the older Eldarin (and the Dwarvish)
order with the adjectival element first. At the time of its making
*naba-grota had no doubt already reached its archaic S form
*nov-3rot > novrod. Grodnof has the same elements in the
later more usual Sindarin order. The form Nogrod which later
became usual is due to the substitution of Nog-, taken as a form
of Naug 'dwarf' (with the usual change of au > o), after the
element Nov- had become obscure. The adjective *naba > nov,
nof only remained current in the Northern dialect, where the
name Novrod originated. In the other dialects nov, as a stressed
independent word, proceeded to nauv > naw (with the usual
loss of final v after au, u), and this word ceased to be used in
current speech. Novrod in earlier annals is sometimes found
glossed Bar-goll 'hollow dwelling', using the more current
adjective coll < *kulda.
Hadhodrond uses the adapted form Hadhod = Khazad. The
element rond is not related to grod, -rod. The latter is from
*groto 'dig, excavate, tunnel'. S rond, Q rondo are from *rono
'arch over, roof in'. This could be applied both to natural and to
artificial structures, but its view was always from below and
from the inside. (Contrast the derivatives of *tel, *telu men-
tioned in Note 15.) CE *rondo meant 'a vaulted or arched roof,
as seen from below (and usually not visible from outside)', or 'a
(large) hall or chamber so roofed'. It was still often applied
pictorially to the heavens after the Elves had obtained much
greater knowledge of 'Star-lore'. Cf. the name Elrond 'Star-
dome' (Elros meant 'Star-glitter'). Cf. also S othrond applied to
an underground stronghold, made or enlarged by excavation,
containing one or more of such great vaulted halls. othrond is
< S ost+ rond. CE *osto, Q osto, S ost, is derived from *soto
'shelter, protect, defend', and was applied to any fortress or
stronghold made or strengthened by art. The most famous
example, after the great dwelling of Elwe at Menegroth, was
Nargothrond < Narog-ost-rond ('the great underground burg
and halls upon the River Narog'), which was made by Finrod,
or completed and enlarged by him from the more primitive
dwellings made by the Petty-dwarves.
Though distinct in origin the derivatives of *groto and *rono
naturally came into contact, since they were not dissimilar in
shape, and a 'rondo was usually made by excavation. Thus
S groth < *grotta (an intensified form of grod < *grota) 'a large
excavation' might well apply to a rond. Menegroth means 'the
Thousand Caves or Delvings', but it contained one great rond
and many minor ones.
Note 27 (p. 390).
*(n)guruk is due to a combination of *(g)ruk with *NGUR
'horror', seen in S gorth, gorthob 'horror, horrible', and (redupli-
cated) gorgor 'extreme horror'.
Note 28 (p. 390)
Some other derivatives are in Quenya: rukin 'I feel fear or
horror' (constructed with 'from' of the object feared); ruhta-
'terrify'; rukima 'terrible'; rauko and arauko < *grauk-) 'a
powerful, hostile, and terrible creature', especially in the
compound Valarauko 'Demon of Might', applied later to the
more powerful and terrible of the Maia servants of Morgoth. In
Sindarin appear, for instance, raug and graug, and the com-
pound Balrog (equivalents of Q rauko, etc.); groga- 'feel terror';
gruitha 'terrify'; gorog (< *guruk) 'horror'.
Note 29 (p. 392).
Affixes appear in equen 'said I', eques 'said he I she', used in
reporting a dialogue.
Note 30 (p. 392).
*ekwe was probably a primitive past tense, marked as such by
the 'augment' or reduplicated base-vowel, and the long stem-
vowel. Past tenses of this form were usual in Sindarin 'strong' or
primary verbs: as *akara 'made, did' > S agor. *akwa, however,
was probably not verbal, but an extension or intensification of
*kwa, used adverbially.
Note 31 (p. 392).
In Eldarin languages this is usually found in the forms -ikwa or
-ukwa, or with nasal infixion -inkwa, -unkwa. The vowels i, u
were probably derived from the terminations of nouns or other
stems to which kwa was added, but the dissyllabic suffixal
forms had become quite independent of this origin. The forms
using u were mainly applied to things heavy, clumsy, ugly or
bad.
Note 32 (p. 393).
Little is said in Noldorin lore concerning the language of the
Valar and Maiar; but on this point a note is added at the end of
this Appendix (pp. 397 ff.).
Note 33 (p. 394).
lamba is derived from *LABA 'move the tongue, lick', and may
be referred to *lab-ma (with a suffix frequent in the names of
implements): the group bm > mb in CE and possibly earlier.
lambe is probably from *lab-me, denoting the action of *LABA,
or the use of the *lamba. (Cf. *JULU 'drink', *julma, Q yulma,
S ylf 'drinking-vessel'; *julme, Q yulme, 'drinking, carousal'.)
These words have no original connexion with *LAMA which
refers to sounds, especially to vocal sounds, but was applied
only to those that were confused or inarticulate. It was generally
used to describe the various cries of beasts. Hence the word
*laman(a), *laman, Q laman, pl. lamni or lamani; S lavan, pl.
levain, 'animal', usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and
never to reptiles or birds. (This may be compared with *kwene
'user of articulate speech'.) The Sindarin glam < glamb/glamm
(p. 391) is an elaboration of *LAM.
Note 34 (p. 394).
In genuine independent use mainly employed between persons
out of earshot: the Elves had astonishingly acute eyesight at a
distance. These 'signals' were really distinct from the gestures
(especially those of the hands) made as concomitants to speech
and additions to tone-changes for the conveyance of feeling,
though some of the gestures in both systems were similar. The
Elves made considerable use of the concomitant gestures,
especially in oration or recitation.
Note 35 (p. 398).
By which Pengolodh meant the knowledge available in Middle-
earth. The Lammas was composed in Eriador.
Note 36 (p. 404).
Other later Loremasters conjectured that Nessa was in fact
Elvish in form (though archaic, on Pengolodh's own principle),
being < *neresa, a feminine adjectival formation from *NER,
meaning 'she that has manlike valour or strength'. They also
would remove Taniquetil from the group of 'translations'.
Arfanyarasse, they say, is the translation: 'high (i.e. noble,
revered) - shining white - peak', but Taniquetil is an adapta-
tion, though one that has probably greatly altered the original
in the attempt to give the name some kind of Eldarin sig-
nificance: ? high white point. As they say, ta- does not mean
'lofty' in Eldarin, though it may remind one of tara 'tall, high'
(*TAR); nique does not refer to snow, but to cold; and Q tilde,
-til is not a mountain peak, but a fine sharp point (mostly used
of small and slender things). For nique cf. Q niku- 'be chill, cold
(of weather)'; nique 'it is cold, it freezes'; ninque 'chill, pallid',
nixe 'frost', niquis, niquesse 'frost-patterns' (the latter by
association with quesse 'feather').
Most significant, they cite from an ancient legend of the Flight
the tale that as the mists of Araman wrapped the distant
mountains of Valinor from the sight of the Noldor, Feanor
raised his hands in token of rejection and cried: 'I go. Neither in
light or shadow will I look upon you again, Dahanigwishtil-
gun.' So it was recorded, though the writers of the histories no
longer knew what he meant. For which reason the strange word
may have been ill transmitted. But even so it still bears some
likeness to Taniquetil, though it can no longer be analysed. (In
a few versions, say the Loremasters, it is written dahan-
igwis-telgun.) They also cite Fionwe [read Eonwe?] (the herald
of Manwe) as another name for which no Elvish etymology is
known.
Note 37 (p. 406).
Usually in a formal and elevated style. Often, when there were
differences, rather according to the Vanyarin manner than the
Noldorin, for the Vanyar were most in their company; though
the Noldorin writers have sometimes substituted their own
forms.
Editorial Notes.
1. 'affection': mutation (of the vowel o caused by the following i in
Mori(quendi) ).
2. sundoma: see p. 319.
3. omentielvo: this was typed omentielmo, subsequently changed to
omentielvo. The same change was made in the Second Edition of
The Fellowship of the Ring (p. 90).
4. The Fellowship of the Ring p. 367 (at the end of the chapter
Lothlorien); First Edition vanimalda, Second Edition vanimelda.
5. The term omataina or 'vocalic extension' is used of the addition
to the 'base' of a final vowel identical to the sundoma (p. 319).
6. 'The glooms and the clouds dimming the sun and the stars': an
explicit reference, it seems, to some form of the changed
astronomical myth adumbrated in Text II of the section 'Myths
Transformed' in Morgoth's Ring. In that text my father raised the
question 'how can the Eldar be called the "Star-folk"?' if the Sun
is 'coeval with the Earth' (X.375); and proposed a complex story
(X.377 - 8) in which the darkening of the world by Melkor, who
brought up vast glooms to shut out all vision of the heavens, is a
chief element. See further pp. 423-4.
7. 'The first people of this kind to be met were the Nandor': this
strangely contradicts the history recorded in the Annals (GA $19,
p. 9; also AAm $84, X.93), according to which the Dwarves first
entered Beleriand in Valian Year 1250, and the building of
Menegroth was achieved before the coming of Denethor, leader
of the Nandor, in 1350 (pp. 11-13). The following statement here
that the first invasions of the Orcs followed Morgoth's return is
an equally striking contradiction of the Annals: according to
GA $27 Orcs entered Beleriand in 1330 (cf. also X.106, $85):
'Whence they came, or what they were, the Elves knew not then,
deeming them to be Avari, maybe, that had become evil and
savage in the wild.'
8. 'from Cape Andras to the headland of Bar-in-Myl': Cape Andras
was entered on the map (p. 184, square G 2), but the headland to
the south (itself an extension of the coastline as originally drawn)
is there called Ras Mewrim (p. 190, $63). The name in the
present text was typed Bar-in-Gwael; the translation 'Home of
the Gulls' was added at the same time as the change to Bar-in-Myl
(by a later pencilled change on one copy -in- > -i-).
9. Brithonbar, not Brithombar, is the form typed, and not cor-
rected.
10. With this passage on the subject of the Eglain cf. p. 189, $ 57, and
pp. 343-4. The concluding sentence 'But they acknowledged the
high-kingship of Thingol, and Cirdan never took the title of king'
differs from the Annals, where Cirdan either acknowledged
Felagund of Nargothrond as overlord, or else was (as it seems) an
independent Lord of the Falas 'yet ever close in friendship with
Nargothrond' (GA $85, and commentary p. 117).
11. For the legend of Imin, Tata, and Enel see pp. 420 ff.
12. The story found in the Annals of Aman of the kindreds of Morwe
and Nurwe, who refused the summons of the Valar and became
the Avari (X.81-2, 88, 168), had been abandoned.
13. The name Lindar 'Singers' of the Teleri has appeared in the
'Glossary' to the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth (X.349); it was
for long the name of the First Kindred, the later Vanyar.
14. On the waterfall of Cuivienen see p. 424.
15. In other late writing Cirdan is said to have been of the kin of
Elwe, but I have not found any statement of the nature of the
kinship.
16. Lenwe has replaced the long-standing name Dan of Denethor's
father; from this text it was adopted in The Silmarillion.
17. The statement that the Nandor entered Beleriand 'not long before
the return of Morgoth' is another remarkable contradiction of
the Annals (cf. note 7 above). Earlier (p. 377) it is said that they
came 'before the return of Morgoth', which no doubt implies the
same. But in GA $31 there is a marvellous evocation of 'the long
years of peace that followed after the coming of Denethor', and
they were indeed long: from 1350 to 1495, 145 Valian Years, or
1389 Years of the Sun. I am at a loss to explain these profound
changes in the embedded history.
18. On the Adunaic word Nimir 'Elf' see The Drowning of Anadune
(Vol. IX, Index II, p. 473).
19. Firimar: the old form was Firimor (QS $83, V.245, footnote). An
account of the development of meaning in the verb fire is given in
connection with Firiel, the later name of Miriel, in X.250.
20. The name Nogoth niben was adopted in The Silmarillion (in the
plural, Noegyth nibin: see Note 7 to the present text, p. 408); the
word nogoth of the Dwarves has not occurred before (see note 32
below). For other names and name-forms of the Petty-dwarves
see p. 187, $26.
21. In the revision of the QS chapter on the Dwarves the Sindarin
name of Khazad-dum was Nornhabar, translated 'Dwarrowdelf'
(p. 206). 'Dwarrowdelf' is found also in The Fellowship of the
Ring; in the present text the Sindarin name was typed Hadhodrud
and translated 'Dwarrowmine', but the change to Hadhodrond
'Dwarrowvault' was made immediately. Hadhodrond was
adopted in The Silmarillion.
22. Cf. Appendix F to The Lord of the Rings, p. 409: 'The lesser
kinds were called, especially by the Uruk-hai, snaga "slave".'
23. Feanor held that, in spite of the usual mode of spelling, vowels
were each independent tengwi or word-building elements.
24. On one copy only a later pencilled correction changed *SAR to
*SYAR.
25. At the head of the page is a pencilled note on one copy only:
'Change Pengolodh to Thingodhel'.
26. For the word equessi see p. 392. Both in that passage and in the
present one the word was typed Equeri and then corrected.
27. For the old conception in the Lhammas of the 1930s, according
to which the origin of all Elvish speech was in the language of the
Valar (communicated to the Elves by Orome), see V.168, 192-3.
28. In The Road Goes Ever On, p. 61, the name miruvore (occurring
in Namarie) is said to be of Valarin origin.
29. Cf. Note 2 on the Commentary on the Athrabeth Finrod ah
Andreth (X.337), where it is said that 'Physically Arda was what
we should call the Solar System', and that in Elvish traditions 'the
principal part of Arda was the Earth (Imbar "the Habitation") ...
so that loosely used Arda often seems to mean the Earth'. For
Ambar see the references given in X.359, note 12.
30. Cf. AAm $164 (X.129): without voices in silence [the gods] may
hold council one with another', and the passage cited from The
Return of the King in my note on that passage (X.135).
31. Cf. the late QS chapter Of the Coming of Men into the West,
p. 217: 'Felagund discovered ... that he could read in the minds
of Men such thoughts as they wished to reveal in speech, so that
their words were easily interpreted.'
32. Noegyth Nibin was a correction of the name typed, Nibinn..g,
probably Nibinnoeg (see p. 187, $26). The notes being inter-
spersed in the text, this note was written before the passage on
p. 388 was reached.
33. It is curious that - as in the original text of Maeglin, where he was
'of the kin of Thingol' - in my father's very late work on the story
Eol becomes again 'one of the Eldar' (p. 328), though consumed
with hatred of the Noldor; whereas here he is a Mornedhel (one
of the Avari), and moreover of the aboriginal Second Clan.
34. The name frith is found as a correction (made after the publi-
cation of The Lord of the Rings) of the old name Isfin in QS $42
(X.177). When my father worked on the Maeglin story c.1970 he
appears to have forgotten frith, for his notes at that time express
dissatisfaction with the 'meaningless' name Isfin as if it had never
been replaced (pp. 317 - 18).
35. Saeros' insulting of Turin by calling his mother Morwen Morben
was a development in the story (see QS $39, V.321, and Un-
finished Tales p. 80) that could only arise, of course, with the
emergence of the words Calben and Morben.
36. Neither the interpretation of Mithrim as the name of a people (for
the old etymology see V.383 - 4, stem RINGI) nor this explanation
of the name Sindar have been met before.
37. 'General Phonology': my father was not here referring to any
specific, completed work.
APPENDIX.
The legend of the Awaking of the Quendi
(Cuivienyarna).
It is said in Quendi and Eldar, p. 380:
According to the legend, preserved in almost identical form among
both the Elves of Aman and the Sindar, the Three Clans were in the
beginning derived from the three Elf-fathers: Imin, Tata, and Enel
(sc. One, Two, Three), and those whom each chose to join his
following. So they had at first simply the names Minyar 'Firsts',
Tatyar 'Seconds', and Nelyar 'Thirds'. These numbered, out of the
original 144 Elves that first awoke, 14, 56, and 74; and these pro-
portions were approximately maintained until the Separation.
A form of this legend is found in a single typescript with carbon copy.
On one copy my father wrote (and similarly but mare briefly on the
other): 'Actually written (in style and simple notions) to be a surviving
Elvish "fairytale" or child s tale, mingled with counting-lore . Correc-
tions to either copy are taken up in the text that follows.
While their first bodies were being made from the 'flesh of Arda'
the Quendi slept 'in the womb of the Earth', beneath the green
sward, and awoke when they were full-grown. But the First
Elves (also called the Unbegotten, or the Eru-begotten) did not
all wake together. Eru had so ordained that each should lie
beside his or her 'destined spouse'. But three Elves awoke first of
all, and they were elf-men, for elf-men are more strong in body
and more eager and adventurous in strange places. These three
Elf-fathers are named in the ancient tales Imin, Tata, and Enel.
They awoke in that order, but with little time between each; and
from them, say the Eldar, the words for one, two, and three
were made: the oldest of all numerals.*
Imin, Tata and Enel awoke before their spouses, and the first
thing that they saw was the stars, for they woke in the early
twilight before dawn. And the next thing they saw was their
destined spouses lying asleep on the green sward beside them.
Then they were so enamoured of their beauty that their desire
for speech was immediately quickened and they began to 'think
of words' to speak and sing in. And being impatient they could
not wait but woke up their spouses. Thus, the Eldar say, the first
thing that each elf-woman saw was her spouse, and her love for
him was her first love; and her love and reverence for the
wonders of Arda came later.
Now after a time, when they had dwelt together a little, and
had devised many words, Imin and Iminye, Tata and Tatie, Enel
and Enelye walked together, and left the green dell of their
waking, and they came soon to another larger dell and found
there six pairs of Quendi, and the stars were again shining in the
morrow-dim and the elf-men were just waking.
Then Imin claimed to be the eldest and to have the right of
(* [footnote to the text] The Eldarin words referred to are Min, Atta
(or Tata), Nel. The reverse is probably historical. The Three had no
names until they had developed language, and were given (or took)
names after they had devised numerals (or at least the first twelve).)
first choice; and he said: 'I choose these twelve to be my
companions.' And the elf-men woke their spouses, and when
the eighteen Elves had dwelt together a little and had learned
many words and devised more, they walked on together, and
soon in another even deeper and wider hollow they found nine
pairs of Quendi, and the elf-men had just waked in the starlight.
Then Tata claimed the right of second choice, and he said: 'I
choose these eighteen to be my companions.' Then again the
elf-men woke their spouses, and they dwelt and spoke together,
and devised many new sounds and longer words; and then the
thirty-six walked abroad together, until they came to a grove
of birches by a stream, and there they found twelve pairs of
Quendi, and the elf-men likewise were just standing up, and
looking at the stars through the birch boughs.
Then Enel claimed the right of third choice, and he said: 'I
choose these twenty-four to be my companions.' Again the
elf-men woke their spouses; and for many days the sixty Elves
dwelt by the stream, and soon they began to make verse and
song to the music of the water.
At length they all set out together again. But Imin noticed that
each time they had found more Quendi than before, and he
thought to himself: 'I have only twelve companions (although I
am the eldest); I will take a later choice.' Soon they came to a
sweet-smelling firwood on a hill-side, and there they found
eighteen pairs of Quendi, and all were still sleeping. It was still
night and clouds were in the sky. But before dawn a wind came,
and roused the elf-men, and they woke and were amazed at the
stars; for all the clouds were blown away and the stars were
bright from east to west. And for a long time the eighteen new
Quendi took no heed of the others, but looked at the lights of
Menel. But when at last they turned their eyes back to earth they
beheld their spouses and woke them to look at the stars, crying
to them elen, elen! And so the stars got their name.
Now Imin said: 'I will not choose again yet'; and Tata,
therefore, chose these thirty-six to be his companions; and they
were tall and dark-haired and strong like fir-trees, and from
them most of the Noldor later were sprung.
And the ninety-six Quendi now spoke together, and the
newly-waked devised many new and beautiful words, and many
cunning artifices of speech; and they laughed, and danced upon
the hill-side, until at last they desired to find more companions.
Then they all set out again together, until they came to a lake
dark in the twilight; and there was a great cliff about it upon the
east-side, and a waterfall came down from the height, and the
stars glittered on the foam. But the elf-men were already bathing
in the waterfall, and they had waked their spouses. There were
twenty-four pairs; but as yet they had no formed speech, though
they sang sweetly and their voices echoed in the stone, mingling
with the rush of the falls.
But again Imin withheld his choice, thinking 'next time it will
be a great company . Therefore Enel said, I have the choice,
and I choose these forty-eight to be my companions.' And the
hundred and forty-four Quendi dwelt long together by the lake,
until they all became of one mind and speech, and were glad.
At length Imin said: 'It is time now that we should go on and
seek more companions.' But most of the others were content. So
Imin and Iminye and their twelve companions set out, and they
walked long by day and by twilight in the country about the
lake, near which all the Quendi had awakened - for which
reason it is called Cuivienen. But they never found any more
companions, for the tale of the First Elves was complete.
And so it was that the Quendi ever after reckoned in twelves,
and that 144 was for long their highest number, so that in none
of their later tongues was there any common name for a greater
number. And so also it came about that the 'Companions of
Imin' or the Eldest Company (of whom came the Vanyar) were
nonetheless only fourteen in all, and the smallest company; and
the 'Companions of Tata' (of whom came the Noldor) were
fifty-six in all; but the 'Companions of Enel' although the
Youngest Company were the largest; from them came the Teleri
(or Lindar), and they were in the beginning seventy-four in all.
Now the Quendi loved all of Arda that they had yet seen, and
green things that grew and the sun of summer were their delight;
but nonetheless they were ever moved most in heart by the
Stars, and the hours of twilight in clear weather, at 'morrow-
dim' and at 'even-dim', were the times of their greatest joy. For
in those hours in the spring of the year they had first awakened
to life in Arda. But the Lindar, above all the other Quendi, from
their beginning were most in love with water, and sang before
they could speak.
It seems that my father had resolved (at least for the purpose of this
'fairy-tale') the problem of the name 'Star-folk' of the Elves (see
late night under skies of unclouded stars, and the stars were their
earliest memory.
In Quendi and Eldar (p. 382) my father wrote of 'the lake and
waterfall of Cuivienen', and this is explained in the Cuivienyarna:
'they came to a lake dark in the twilight; and there was a great cliff
about it upon the east-side, and a waterfall came down from the
height, and the stars glittered on the foam.' Through so many years he
was returning to Gilfanon's Tale in The Book of Lost Tales (1.232):
Now the places about Koivie-neni the Waters of Awakening are
rugged and full of mighty rocks, and the stream that feeds that
water falls therein down a deep cleft... a pale and slender thread,
but the issue of the dark lake was beneath the earth into many
endless caverns falling ever more deeply into the bosom of the
world.
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