Select Elvish Words 2.23-2.24: Male, Female

2.23 Male

ᴹQ. hanu n. “male, man (of Men or Elves), male animal”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “a male, man (of Men or Elves), male animal” derived from the root ᴹ√ƷAN “male” (Ety/ƷAN). The first version of this entry gave it the gloss “male (of all creatures)” (EtyAC/ƷAN).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s this word appeared as ᴱQ. anu “a male” (QL/31), also appearing in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa with the gloss “man” (PME/31).

ᴹQ. hanuvoite adj. “*masculine”

An unglossed word in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing next to female ᴹQ. inimeite (Ety/INI), likely meaning “*masculine” as an adjectival form of ᴹQ. hanu “male” (Ety/ƷAN).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had the adjective ᴱQ. anuvoite “male, masculine” as an elaboration of ᴱQ. anu “a male” (QL/31).

ᴹQ. hanwa adj. “male”

A word appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “male” (Ety/INI), an adjectival form of the noun ᴹQ. hanu “male” (Ety/ƷAN).

ᴹQ. vie adj. “manhood, vigour; [ᴱQ.] teors, *penis”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “manhood, vigour” derived from primitive ᴹ✶weʒē under the root ᴹ√WEG “(manly) vigour” (Ety/WEG). Here the vowel development was egē > eʒē > eı̯e > ie; compare tie < ✶tegē (PE19/70).

Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. vie was glossed “teors” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/135, 143), and it also appeared with the same gloss in the Early Noldorin Dictionary from the same period (PE13/162). The word “teors” is Old English for “penis”. It is possible that it could still have this same meaning euphemistically in the The Etymologies of the 1930s, in much the same way that “manhood” is a euphemism for “penis” in English.

N. anw n. and adj. “male (person or animal)”

A word appearing as N. anw in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. anu under the root ᴹ√ƷAN “male”, apparently a cognate of ᴹQ. hanu “a male (man or animal)” (Ety/ƷAN). In the original version of this entry, it was simply glossed “male”, and was initially given as (deleted) {ganw} (EtyAC/ƷAN).

Conceptual Development: Precursors to this word include G. an “person” and G. anos “man” from the Gnomish Lexicon (GL/19).

Neo-Sindarin: Most Neo-Sindarin writers adapt this word as ᴺS. anu to better fit Sindarin’s phonology. In Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD), Didier Willis suggested (as originally proposed by David Salo) that this word is most likely an adjective, the cognate of adjective ᴹQ. hanwa “male” rather than the noun ᴹQ. hanu “a male (man or animal)”. This is because the final -u in ✶ʒanu would have vanished in Sindarin, while the final -wa in ✶ʒanwa would have developed into -u (Noldorin -w). However, I think anu “male” can be used as a both a noun and an adjective for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

S. -on suf. “masculine suffix”

A masculine suffix and ending in male names (PE17/43; WJ/400), probably related to the masculine ending or agental suffix ✶-on(do) (NM/353; Ety/KAL).

Conceptual Development: N. -on was often use as a male suffix in the Noldorin of the 1930s and 40s. In Gnomish of the 1910s, it seems G. -os was another common male suffix in words such as G. ainos “(male) god” from neuter G. ain “god” (GL/18) and G. hethos “brother” from neuter G. heth “*sibling” (GL/48-49), though masculine G. -(r)on was still more common in this early period.

2.24 Female

Q. -ien suf. “feminine ending; ⚠️feminine patronymic, -daughter”

A feminine suffix common in Quenya names, in one place given as a feminine patronymic (PE17/170), though there are no attested Quenya names in which it was used that way.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ien was given as a (suffixal?) variant of ᴹQ. yen(de) “daughter” (Ety/YŌ; EtyAC/YŌ), but again there are no actual names from this period using the suffix in that way.

ᴹQ. inimeite adj. “*feminine”

An unglossed word in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√INI “female” (Ety/INI), the equivalent of ᴹQ. hanuvoite and hence probably an adjective meaning “*feminine”.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s a word for “feminine, female” was ᴱQ. qimenoite, adjectival form of ᴱQ. qin (qim-) “woman, female” (QL/77). This word reappeared in Early Qenya Word-lists along with variant qimíte, both given after ᴱQ. qinya “female” and thus probably adjectives of similar meaning (PE16/135).

ᴹQ. inya adj. “female”

An adjective for “female” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√INI “female” (Ety/INI).

Conceptual Development: In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, Tolkien gave a similar form ᴱQ. qinya “female”, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. qin “woman” (PE16/135).

Q. -issë suf. “ending in feminine names”

An ending in ending in feminine names, most notably Q. Írissë (PM/345).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. -sse was also a feminine suffix in Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like ᴱQ. heresse “sister” from neuter ᴱQ. hes “*sibling” (QL/40).

S. -iel suf. “feminine suffix; daughter”

A widely used feminine suffix in Sindarin (PE17/23, 190). It sometimes more specifically meant “-daughter” in names such as Elrenniel “Arwen; (lit.) *Elrond-daughter” (PE17/56) or Tinúviel “Daughter of Twilight” (S/165), but in other cases it simply meant female as in names like Gilthoniel “Star-kindler [female]” (PE17/23). It was also sometimes reduced to -il or -el. See the entry on the root √YE(L) for a discussion of various conceptual vacillations in its connection to “daughter”.

Conceptual Development: The use of N. -iel dates back to Noldorin, where its connection to “daughter” was more explicit, though Tolkien vacillated on whether the suffix was based on ᴹ√YEL or ᴹ√SEL (Ety/SEL, YEL). The suffix does not appear to be specifically feminine in Gnomish of the 1910s, however, appearing in both female names like G. Níniel (LT2/100) and male names like G. Inwithiel (LT1/22).

S. -ien suf. “feminine ending”

An occasional feminine suffix in Sindarin, in one place given as a feminine patronymic (PE17/170) as in the name Lúthien “Daughter of Flowers” (PE17/15, 161). See the entry on the root √YE(L) for a discussion of conceptual vacillations on its connection to “daughter”.

Conceptual Development: In Noldorin it seems N. -ien was simply a feminine suffix in the name N. Lhúthien “Enchantress” (Ety/LUK).

S. -il suf. “feminine suffix”

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

N. inw adj. “female”

A word appearing as N. inw “female” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√INI of the same meaning, the equivalent of the Quenya adjective ᴹQ. inya but altered in form to match N. anw “male” (Ety/INI).

Conceptual Development: The word for “female” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s was G. gwinwed, an adjectival form of G. gwin “woman, female” (GL/45). In Gnomish Lexicon Slips from the 1910s the adjective for “fem[ale]” became G. gwineth based on primitive {ᴱ✶u̯eniı̯ásta >>} ᴱ✶u̯eniı̯ássa (PE13/118).

Neo-Sindarin: Many Neo-Sindarin writers adapt this word as ᴺS. inu to better fit Sindarin phonology, as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD). It seems likely the Noldorin form was intended to be an adjective, but for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I think it is acceptable to use it as both an adjective or a noun, like its male equivalent ᴺS. anu.

S. -wen suf. “maiden, *female suffix”

A common feminine suffix in Sindarin (SA/wen; PE17/190), a reduction of S. gwend “maiden” in compounds; see that entry for more examples.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s the common female suffix was G. -win based on G. gwin “woman”, though Tolkien mentioned a variant -wein in Gnomish Lexicon Slips revising that document (PPE13/118). By the Noldorin of the 1930s, the usual suffix was -wen from N. gwenn “maiden”, and Tolkien seems to have stuck with it thereafter, as noted above.