2.21 Man
- Q. nér (ner-) n. “man, male person; [ᴹQ.] adult male; ⚠️[ᴱQ.] husband; warrior”
- The Quenya word for a “man”, or more specifically a person of male gender (WJ/393). This word is derived from the root √N(D)ER, and the é is long in Quenya as a remnant of the lengthened vowel in the primitive subjective form ndēr, but the stem form is ner- because the vowel was not long in ancient inflective forms (PE19/102). Thus the singular is Q. nér but plural neri (MR/213), and likewise for other inflected forms. Nér can be used regardless of species and so is equally applicable to male Elves, Men, or Dwarves, but is unlikely to be used of male animals, for which the word [ᴹQ.] hanu is more applicable.
Conceptual Development: This word was very well established in Tolkien’s mind, appearing as ᴱQ. ner “man, husband” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√NERE (QL/65), though in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was glossed “warrior, etc.” (PME/65). The long/short vowel variation had emerged by the time that the Early Qenya Grammar was written in the 1920s, where Tolkien gave singular nēr but plural nĕri (PE14/43, 72).
The Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s has this same long/short vowel split (PE21/20) as does the The Etymologies from later in the 1930s where ᴹQ. nér had the plural neri and was derived from the root ᴹ√(N)DER (Ety/DER). This remained the case in later writings as well, except that the unstrengthened form of the root changed from ᴹ√DER to √NER (WJ/393), though this only barely matters, since the actual derivatives were all from strengthened √NDER in pretty much all cases from the 1930s forward.
- N. benn n. “man, male, †husband”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “man” or “male” but originally with the sense “†husband”, derived from primitive ᴹ✶besnō “husband” based on the root ᴹ√BES “wed” (Ety/BES, DER). The scenario in The Etymologies was that word for “husband” became N. herven while the original word for “man”, N. dîr, fell out of use except as an element in names and as an agental suffix.
Conceptual Development: G. {bend >>} †benn was a word for “husband” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, but it was marked archaic and was replaced by bedhron; these Gnomish words were derived from the early root ᴱ√Bedh- [VEÐE] (GL/22).
Neo-Sindarin: The root for “marry” words was altered in Tolkien’s later writings to √BER, so many Neo-Sindarin writers prefer to use S. dîr as the normal word for “man”; see that entry for discussion. I am of the opinion that both dîr and benn are acceptable, since I prefer to retain ᴹ√BES for “marry, wed”.
- S. dîr n. “man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix”
- A word for “man” as a male person, attested only as an element in compounds or as (archaic?) ndir (PE17/60). This word likely refers to male individuals of all races including Elves, Men, Dwarves and so forth, much like its Quenya cognate Q. nér. This word must have been derived from the primitive subjective form ✶ndēr of the root √N(D)ER “male person”, where the ancient long ē became ī, and the initial cluster nd- became d-, though the ancient cluster would still be reflected in mutated forms, such as in i nîr “the man” rather than **i dhîr.
Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursor to this word is (archaic) G. †drio “hero, warrior” with variants driw, driodweg and driothweg, a cognate of ᴱQ. nēr (GL/22). This Gnomish word was derived from primitive ᴱ✶n’reu̯, where the initial nr- became dr-. At this early stage, the root was unstrengthened ᴱ√NERE (QL/65), as reflected in (archaic) ᴱN. nîr “hero, prince, warrior-elf” in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s (PE13/164).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root became ᴹ√DER “adult male, man” of any speaking race and the derived form was N. dîr (Ety/DER). However, in this document Tolkien said:
EN †dîr surviving chiefly in proper names (as Diriel older Dirghel [GYEL], Haldir, Brandir) and as agental ending (as ceredir “doer, maker”) … In ordinary use EN has benn [for “man”] (properly = “husband”).
Thus in the scenario described in The Etymologies, dîr “man” was archaic and used only as an element in names or as a suffix. In ordinary speech it was replaced by N. benn, which used to mean “husband” but now meant “man”, while the word for “husband” became N. hervenn (Ety/BES). It is unlikely Tolkien imagined this exact scenario in later Sindarin, however, since the 1930s root for benn was ᴹ√BES “wed”, but by the 1960s the root for husband/wife/marry words had become √BER.
Neo-Sindarin: Since the status of N. benn is questionable given ᴹ√BES >> √BER, many Neo-Sindarin writers prefer to use S. *dîr as the Sindarin word for man. I am of the opinion that both dîr and benn are acceptable for “man, male person”. This is because I prefer to retain ᴹ√BES as the root for “marry, wed”, since it is the best basis for attested husband/wife words in (Neo) Sindarin.
- S. Firion n. “(Male) Mortal”
- A masculine form of Feir “Mortal (Man)”, a combination of that term with the masculine suffix -on (WJ/387).
Conceptual Development: Earlier words for a “male Mortal” include G. idhweg from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/50) and ᴱN. fionweg from the Index of Names for The Lay of the Children of Húrin from the early 1920s (PE15/62), both masculinized forms of the contemporaneous words for “Mortal” or “Man (as a species)”.
2.22 Woman
- ᴹQ. †ní n. “woman, female”
- An archaic noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “woman” or “female” directly derived from the root ᴹ√NĪ¹, in ordinary speech usually replaced by ᴹQ. nis (Ety/INI, NĪ¹).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. nî “woman” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as a cognate to G. †nîr² of the same meaning (GL/60).
- Q. nís (niss(e)-) n. “woman”
- The usual Quenya word for “woman” or more exactly a “female person” of any race, in later writings appearing as both nís (MR/213, 226, 229) and nisse (VT47/18, 33). Even in the cases where its singular was nís, its plural form was given as nissi, indicating a stem form of niss-. In rough notes from 1968 Tolkien said “The monosyllabic nouns (especially those with only one stem-consonant) were a small dwindling class often replaced by strengthened forms (as nis- was [by] nisse)” (VT47/18).
Thus it seems the ancient form was *nis- from the root √NIS, which like its male counterpart Q. nér “man” inherited a long vowel from the ancient subjective form *nīs. But the voiceless s was felt to be intrinsic to word, and it was thus strengthened to niss- in inflected forms to avoid the sound changes associated with an isolated s. From this a longer form nisse was generalized. In practice I think either form can be used, with singular nís being preserved by analogy with nér. However, I think inflected forms are probably all based on nisse, such as genitive nisseo “of a woman” rather than **nisso.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had both ᴹQ. nis and nisse “woman” derived the root ᴹ√NIS, with plural nissi in both cases (Ety/NIS, NDIS). He explained this variation as follows: “nis was a blend of old nīs (nisen) and the elab[orated] form *nis-sē” (EtyAC/NĪ¹). Hence it is was essentially the same as the scenario described above, but in the 1930s the long vowel in ancient nīs did not survive in the later short form nis.
In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, Tolkien experimented with some alternate plural forms nínaron [genitive plural] >> nísi [ordinary plural] (VT43/26-29, 31), the former apparently representing a variant singular form *nína, but in later writings plural nissi was restored.
- N. dî n. “woman, ⚠️lady, bride”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s for “woman” derived from the root ᴹ√NĪ¹ of the same meaning (Ety/NĪ¹). It began with d- due to the influence of N. dîr as well as partial blending with derivatives of ᴹ✶ndisi “bride” (Ety/DER); its Old Noldorin form was ON. nī (Ety/NĪ¹). In The Etymologies, this word was archaic: “but dî was only rare and poetical (‘bride, lady’): it was replaced in sense ‘woman’ by bess [see BES], and in sense ‘bride’ by cpd. di-neth” (Ety/NĪ¹). The scenario in The Etymologies was that the word N. bess itself originally meant “wife” but came to mean “woman”, much like its male counterpart N. benn meant “†husband” >> “man” (Ety/BES).
Conceptual Development: Earlier words of similar form include (archaic) G. nîr² “woman” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/60) and (rejected) ᴱN. nain “woman” from the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s.
Neo-Sindarin: The word S. bess reappeared in later writings with the gloss “wife” (SD/129), indicating Tolkien probably abandoned the scenario in The Etymologies whereby dî became archaic and was replaced by bess for “woman”. As such some Neo-Sindarin writers restore ᴺS. dî as the word for “woman”; this was first suggested to me by Elaran and it is my current recommendation. However, N. bess remains popular for “woman” in Neo-Sindarin as well.
- S. Firieth n. “(Female) Mortal”
- A feminine form of Feir “Mortal (Man)”, a combination of that term with the feminine suffix -eth (WJ/387).
Conceptual Development: Earlier words for a “female Mortal” include G. idhwin or idhril from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/50) and ᴱN. fionwin or fioniel from the Index of Names for The Lay of the Children of Húrin from the early 1920s (PE15/62), both feminized forms of the contemporaneous words for “Mortal” or “Man (as a species)”. The second of these also appeared as ᴱN. fionwin or fionniel in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/143).