10.71 Road
- ᴱQ. aldeon n. “avenue (of trees)”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. aldeon (aldeond-) “avenue of trees” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s based on ᴱQ. alda “tree” (QL/29). In the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was simply glossed “avenue”.
Neo-Quenya: Since alda “tree” remains in Quenya, I would retain ᴺQ. aldeon(d-) “avenue” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, perhaps with the second element being yondë “region”. Its original sense might have been “region of bordered by trees”, reused to describe a road lined with trees and from there becoming “avenue”.
- ᴹQ. tea n. “straight line, road”
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A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “straight line, road” under the root ᴹ√TEÑ “line, direction” (Ety/TEÑ).
- G. adhwen n. “approach, avenue”
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A noun G. adhwen “approach, avenue” appeared the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s near another word G. {anda >>} anna “door” (GL/17, 19). Remnants of this word can also be seen in a torn page of the Gnomish Lexicon Slips, where all that remains is […]en with the gloss “approach”, with its primitive form ᴱ✶adu̯en- also given (PE13/108). There is no root ᴱ√AD in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon, but this word might be an early manifestation of ᴹ√AD “gate, enter” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/AD).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt this word was ᴺS. anwen “approach, avenue”, derived from a combination of √AN “towards” and √MEN “way”, where [nm] became [nw].
- S. men n. “road, way; ⚠️[N.] *place”
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A word appearing in the name Men-i-Naugrim, variously translated as “Dwarf Road” (UT/280) or “Way of the Dwarves” (UT/472). In one place it had the form Menn (NM/372). It is clearly based on the root √MEN “go”.
Conceptual Development: This word also appeared in the (untranslated) name N. Men Falros in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s (WR/326). In The Etymologies of the 1930s its cognate ᴹQ. men was translated “place, spot” (Ety/MEN), so in this period N. men might have meant “*place” as in Men Falros = “*Place of Splashing Foam”.
- N. othlon n. “paved way”
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A noun appearing as N. othlon “paved way” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, a combination of N. ost “city” and N. lhonn “path” (Ety/LOD), where medial str > sr > th and final -nd > -nn > -n in Noldorin/Sindarin.
Neo-Sindarin: Some Neo-Sindarin writers update this as ᴺS. othlonn “paved way”, as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD). Tolkien himself was inconsistent in using final -nn vs. -n, and for a time in the 2000s Neo-Sindarin writers used -nn in two-syllable words and -n only in words of three syllables or longer. Personally I would just stick with othlon.
The meaning of this word is also somewhat questionable. N. lhonn meant “path, pass” in the 1930s (vs. N. lhorn “haven = harbour”), but by the 1950s and 60s Tolkien used its successor S. lond almost exclusively to mean “haven = harbour”. Personally I would keep using othlon “paved way”, and assume some amount of semantic drift.
- S. pâd n. “a step; track, road, [N.] way; ⚠️ford”
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A word for a “track, road”, more specifically used “only of ‘roads’ or tracks unpaved in open country”, derived from ✶pat(a) of similar meaning (PE17/34). Tolkien said it could also mean “ford”. It was most notably used as an element in the name Tharbad “Crossway” (Ety/THAR) or “Road-crossing” (RC/15). In an unfinished note Tolkien translated pâd as “a step (action)” (PE17/34); in this note and elsewhere the root √PAT was associated with various verbs having to do with walking, such as S. padra- “walk” (PE17/34) and S. aphad- “follow, (orig.) walk behind” (WJ/387).
Conceptual Development: The name N. Thar-bad appeared in an entry added later to The Etymologies of the 1930s with a hard-to-read gloss, possibly “?Crossway” (Ety/THAR). G. pad appeared (untranslated) in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s derived from ᴱ√pat- (GL/63).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume the primary meaning of pâd is “a step”, but it could mean “[series of] steps = track, road, way” in compounds like Tharbad. However, I would not use pâd for “ford”; for that I would using the better-attested athrad.