12.59 Short
- Q. nauca adj. “stunted, shortened, dwarf(ed)”
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An adjective for “stunted, shortened, dwarf(ed)” derived from the root √NUK of similar meaning, that was “especially applied to things that though in themselves full-grown were smaller or shorter than their kind, and were hard, twisted or ill-shapen” (PE17/45; VT39/7; WJ/413). It was the basis for the (somewhat insulting) word nauco for “dwarf” (PE17/45; WJ/388).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. kauka “crooked, bent, bowed, humped” under the early root ᴱ√KAẆA “stoop” (QL/45), a word that was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the cognate to G. caug “humped, bulging; bent” (GL/25).
- Q. senta adj. “short”
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An adjective for “short” with various forms. In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. sinta under the root ᴹ√STINTĀ of the same meaning (Ety/STINTĀ). In 1957 Notes on Names (NN), it was senta < ✶stentā where it was contrasted with sinda “grey-elf” < ✶thindā (PE17/141). In contemporaneous Quenya Notes (QN) Tolkien instead had senna < ✶stenna, but this was part of a (brief?) paradigm where medial nt did not become nn in Sindarin (PE17/185); see S. thent for further discussion.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer senta [þ] “short”.
- S. estent adj. “short”
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The word estent was a longer form of thent “short” < ✶stentā (PE17/141; WJ/311), where the initial s became syllabic and developed into es-. In one place it had a variant esten as part of a paradigm where the word for “short” was thenn (PE17/185); see the entry on S. thent for discussion.
- S. thent adj. “short”
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The most common Sindarin word for “short”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was N. thent “short” derived from ᴹ√STINTĀ of the same meaning where the e was the result of a-affection (Ety/STINTĀ). In 1957 Notes on Names (NN), it was thent < ✶stentā where it was contrasted with thenn “grey-elf” < ✶thindā (PE17/141).
In 1957 Quenya Notes (QN) Tolkien instead had thenn “short” < ✶stenna, but this was part of a (brief?) paradigm where medial nt did not become nn in Sindarin (PE17/185). As such thent could no longer be the basis for Ann-thennath “*Long-shorts” (LotR/193), name of a form of Elvish verse from The Lord of the Rings, and thus a new etymology was required:
Since nt &c. no longer are held to yield nn &c., the word for “short” should be ✶stenna √STEN- “cut short, limit, confine, cramp”. Q thenna/senna. S thenn, esten (PE17/185).
However, this word appeared again as thent in the name of another style of Elvish alliterative verse: Minlamad Thent “*First-echoing Short” in the draft introduction to the tale Narn i Chîn Húrin (WJ/311).
Neo-Sindarin: Since I prefer to assume medial nt did become nn, I would use thent “short” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.
- N. thinnas n. “shortness, shortening”
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A word appearing as N. thinnas “shortness” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√STINTĀ, a noun form of N. thent “short” (Ety/STINTĀ), where the i survived in the noun because a-affection was inhibited. Contemporaneous notes on The Feanorian Alphabet had thinnas “shortening” as the name of a diacritic mark for short vowels in both the 1930s (PE22/31) and 1940s (PE23/22).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I prefer to assume S. thent “short” was derived from ✶stentā as it was in 1957 (PE17/141). As such I would revise thinnas to ᴺS. thennas “shortness, shortening”; compare Ann-thennath “*Long-shorts” from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/193).