7.22 Door, Gate
- Q. ando n. “gate, [great] door; †entrances, approaches”
-
A word for “gate”, the Quenya name of tengwa #5 [2] in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (LotR/1122).
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien instead had ᴱQ. pondo “gate” under the early root {ᴱ√PONO >>} ᴱ√BOÐO (QL/75). He also had an element ᴱQ. tarnon in the name ᴱQ. Moritarnon “Door of Night” (LT1/215), which in Gnomish was G. Tarn Fui making ᴱQ. tarnon the cognate of G. tarn “gate” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/69).
ᴱQ. ando first appeared in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s as a variant of ᴱQ. andon, both cognates to ᴱN. ann “door” (PE13/160). It reappeared in cosmological notes from the early 1930s as an element in the updated name ᴹQ. Ando Lómen “Door of (Timeless) Night” (SM/237, 241), and in a glossary for these notes, ᴹQ. ando was glossed “door, gate”.
In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. ando “gate” was derived from primitive ᴹ✶adnō under the root ᴹ√AD “entrance, gate” (Ety/AD). Tolkien gave it as the name for tengwa #5 in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s (PE22/22) and 1940s (PE22/50). In notes from December 1959 (D59) he gave it a new derivation:
The words for “door, gate”, [ancient Sindarin] annō, annon(d)- are derivatives of √ANA “to” and mean originally “entrances, approaches”. Cf. Q ando. Quite distinct is ANAD- “long”, Q andā, S ann/and rare except in old words or names as anduin, Q anduine (PE17/40).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would assume the word applied to any protected entrance, generally used of gates but also applicable to a strong door, though a particularly large and strong entrance would use its augmented form: [ᴹQ.] andon(d-) “great gate” (Ety/AD).
- ᴹQ. andon (andond-) n. “great gate, ⚠️[ᴱQ.] door, gate”
-
A noun for a “great gate” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, an augmentative form of ᴹQ. ando “gate” under the root ᴹ√AD “entrance, gate” (Ety/AD).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. andon first appeared in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s as a cognate of ᴱN. ann “door” (PE13/137, 160). It was also an element in the name ᴱQ. Andonavestan “Gates of Summer” (PE13/143, 160). This earlier iteration was not augmentative as it was in the 1930s.
- ᴹQ. fenda n. “threshold”
-
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “threshold” derived from the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN). See Q. fendë “door” for a discussion of later derivatives of this root.
- ᴹQ. fende n. “door”
-
A word appearing as {phende >>} fende “door” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/166 and note #112). The deleted variant probably indicates its primitive form.
Conceptual Development: The earliest “door” word was ᴱQ. posta in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root {ᴱ√PONO >>} ᴱ√BOÐO (QL/75). Another precursor was ᴹQ. fenda “threshold” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN). In notes from December 1959 (D59) Tolkien gave Q. fenna as a derivative of √PHEN and cognate to S. fen, all meaning “door” (PE17/181).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer 1969 fendë as the word for “door”, but I think [ᴹQ.] fenda “threshold” might remain viable as a separate derivative of the root.
- ᴱQ. lat (latt-) n. “flap, small hinged door, lid”
-
A word appearing as ᴱQ. lat (latt-) “flap, small hinged door, lid” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, which Tolkien considered deriving from the early root ᴱ√LAPA “enfold” (QL/51).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think this word can be salvaged as ᴺQ. lat (latt-) derived from the later root √LAT¹ “open”, perhaps from primitive lattă with an original sense “opening”.
- S. annon n. “(great) gate, door”
-
A word for a great and strong entrance, typically translated “gate” but also usable in reference to a “great door”, notably in Ennyn Durin “Doors of Durin”, the great doors at the entrance to Moria.
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was G. {anda >>} anna “door, opening” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, appearing near adhwen “approach, avenue”, and so likely derived from *√AD (GL/17). In the Gnomish Lexicon Slips this become [a]nn “door” derived from ᴱ✶anda (PE13/110). ᴱN. ann “door” reappeared in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s from primitive ᴱ✶andond- and with a new plural for ennyn (PE13/137, 160).
This 1920s plural may have inspired a more elaborate form N. annon “great gate” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, which had the same plural ennyn and appeared under the root ᴹ√AD “entrance, gate” (Ety/AD). On drafts of Thror’s map from 1936, annon was used for “door” in the phrase lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast” (TAI/150). The longer form annon appeared in various names in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, include the first version of the Moria Gate Spell: N. annon porennin diragas·venwed (RS/451). From there it appeared in several names in the published version of The Lord of the Rings, as well as in the final version of the Moria Gate Spell: annon edhellen, edro hi ammen “Elvish gate open now for us” (LotR/307).
Notes on The Lord of the Rings provide further insights into Tolkien’s vision of this word’s later etymology, the clearest being notes from December 1959 (D59) where Tolkien said:
The words for “door, gate”, [ancient Sindarin] annō, annon(d)- are derivatives of √ANA “to” and mean originally “entrances, approaches”. Cf. Q ando. Quite distinct is ANAD- “long”, Q andā, S ann/and rare except in old words or names as anduin, Q anduine (PE17/40).
In notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave S. ann(on) “gate” (PE17/90), perhaps indicating he considered restoring the shorter form ann from the 1910s and 20s.
- S. fen(n) n. “door; ⚠️[N.] threshold”
-
A word for “door” in the name Fen Hollen “Closed Door” (LotR/826; RC/550). In notes from December 1959 (D59), Tolkien based it on the root √PHEN and gave its Quenya equivalent as fenna, indicating a primitive form of *phennā (PE17/181). If so, its ordinary form should be fenn, and this was indeed the form in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (WR/341). Perhaps fen is a reduced pseudo-prefixal form.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. fenn “threshold” derived from ON. phenda under the root ᴹ√PHEN (Ety/PHEN).
Neo-Sindarin: I don’t think the senses “door” and “threshold” are likely to coexist, so for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would limit fenn to “door” and would use ᴺS. fend < *phenda for “threshold”, following the principle that nd remained “at the end of fully accented monosyllables” in Sindarin (LotR/1115).
- S. fennas n. “great door, doorway, gateway”
-
A word that Tolkien variously glossed as “great door”, “doorway”, and “gateway” (PE17/45; RGEO/67). It is an elaboration of fen(n) “door” (PE17/45). The word fennas appeared in the Moria Gate Spell: fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen “doorway of the Dwarf-folk listen to the word of my tongue” (LotR/0307; PE17/45).