Select Elvish Words: 12.42 Left (vs. Right)

A word for “left-hand” (VT47/6; VT49/12), a combination of hyar- “left” and má “hand”. It may also mean “left-hand side” based on S. harvo.

A word for “lefthanded”, a combination of hyar[ya] “left” and maite “handed” (Ety/KHYAR).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. malenka “left handed” as a combination of ᴱQ. má “hand” and ᴱQ. lenka “slow, dull, stiff” (QL/52, 57), but this was before Tolkien decided the Elves were ambidextrous and equally skilled with both hands.

A word appearing as {harya >>} hyarya “left” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root {ᴹ√KHAR >>} ᴹ√KHYAR (Ety/KHYAR). A prefixal form hyar- “left-hand” was mentioned in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s (PE22/51).

A word for “the left hand, left side” in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/6), a combination of har- “south; left” and archaic †maw “hand”. A document from 1969 instead had harf “left-hand” (PE23/136), probably of similar origin.

Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had hargam “lefthanded” as a combination of ᴹ√KHYAR “left-hand” and N. cam “hand” (Ety/PHOR).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume hargam and harvo coexist, with hargam being an adjective for “left-handed” and harvo being a noun primarily meaning “left side”, with its relationship to “hand” being obscure by the loss of †maw “hand” in Sindarin.

A word appearing as N. {hair >>} heir “left (hand)” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, the equivalent of ᴹQ. hyarya (Ety/KHYAR; EtyAC/KHYAR).

Neo-Sindarin: Most Neo-Sindarin writers update this form to ᴺS. hair as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD), since in Sindarin ei > ai in final syllables.