13.55 Ordinal Number (Sindarin)
- S. canthui num. “fourth”
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A Sindarin word for “fourth” appearing in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of canad “four” using the suffix -ui (VT42/25). In author’s note 5 of that document, Tolkien said that canthui was from the Southern dialect of Sindarin, saying that medial nasal-stop combinations like nt survived North Sindarin and implying the word was cantui in that dialect (VT42/27). He further said that in Southern Sindarin, nasal-stops combinations became nasal-spirants [nt > nth] and then later became long voiceless nasals [nth > nh]. Finally, he indicated that the older spelling nth was retained, and was sometimes restored in pronunciation by scholars.
Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor had cantui and canhui “fourth” (VT42/10), perhaps representing the North/South Sindarin pronunciations (or archaic vs. modern).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I use the form canthui “fourth” to represent this word as it is spelled. In terms of pronunciation, any of canthui, canhui, or cannui are possible, but I favor the scholarly pronunciation canthui for simplicity.
- S. enchui num. “sixth”
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A Sindarin word for “sixth” appearing in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of eneg “six” using the suffix -ui, with a longer variant enecthui (VT42/25). In author’s note 5 of that document, Tolkien said that enchui was from the Southern dialect of Sindarin, saying that medial nasal-stop combinations like nc survived North Sindarin and implying the word was encui in that dialect (VT42/27). See the entry on canthui “fourth” for a discussion of the phonetic developments.
Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor had encui and {enegui >>} enchui “fourth” (VT42/10; VT42/28 note #20), perhaps representing the North/South Sindarin pronunciations (or archaic vs. modern).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I use the form enchui “fourth” to represent this word as it is spelled. In terms of pronunciation, any of enchui, enghui, or engui are possible, but I favor the pronunciation enchui for simplicity.
- S. levnui num. “fifth”
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A word appearing as the river name Lefnui in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/750) whose meaning was “fifth” according to notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s (VT42/10). In these notes Tolkien said the spelling Lefnui is preferable, but the actual pronunciation was levnui (VT42/14). Notes on numbers later in the same document had levnui “fifth” (VT42/25-26), an adjective form of leben “five”. I would stick with the form levnui “fifth” whose pronunciation is more obvious.
- S. nedrui num. “ninth”
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A Sindarin word for “ninth” appearing in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of neder “nine” using the suffix -ui (VT42/25). Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor instead had nerthui “ninth” (VT42/10).
- S. nelchaenen num. “*thirtieth”
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A word appearing as nelchaenen “thirty” in the King’s Letter from around 1950 (SD/129), but more likely an adjectival form meaning “*thirtieth”. Compare tolothen “eighth” from the same document based on toloth “eight”.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use ᴺS. nelphaen for “thirty” based on later pae(n) “ten”. As an adjective I would use nelphaenui “thirtieth”; compare paenui “tenth”.
- S. othui num. “seventh”
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A word for “seventh” appearing in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, derived from primitive ✶otsōyā and with a longer variant odothui (VT42/25). Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor also had othui (VT42/10). Rough notes from around this period had ochui “*seventh” (VT47/41-42 note #72), perhaps derived from *otkōya as suggested by Patrick Wynne.
Conceptual Development: Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s had N. {Odotheg >>} Odothui “Seventh” as an alternate name for the river Gwathlo (TI/312).
- S. paenui num. “tenth”
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A Sindarin word for “tenth” appearing in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of pae(n) “ten” using the suffix -ui (VT42/25). Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor instead had caenui “tenth” based on earlier cae(n) “ten”, but this form was deleted (VT42/10).
- S. tollui num. “eighth”
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A Sindarin word for “eighth” appearing as {tolthui >>} tollui in notes on numbers associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, an adjective form of tolodh “eight” using the suffix -ui (VT42/25; VT42/31-32 note #37). In author’s note 5 of that document, Tolkien said that tolthui was from the Southern dialect of Sindarin, and that in modern pronunciation this had become long voiceless lh (VT42/27). Earlier drafts of The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor had tolhui “eighth” (VT42/10), likely reflecting this modern pronunciation.
It is possible that the revision {tolthui >>} tollui also reflects this change of pronunciation of lth, but Patrick Wynne suggested (and I agree) that it actually reflects the change of Q. {toltea >>} toldëa “eighth” from the same document (VT42/31-32 note #37). This indicates the underlying root was revised from {√TOLOT >>} TOLOD, a root change appearing in other documents from this period (VT47/31-33). If so, then the ancient ld would in Sindarin develop into lð and then into voiced ll, so that tollui with voiced long ll would be the expected pronunciation.
Conceptual Development: The King’s Letter from around 1950 had mutated dolothen “eighth” (SD/129), likely based on earlier [N.] toloth “eight” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT) with a different adjective suffix -en. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. ungra “eighth” based on {ung >>} G. uvin “eight” (GL/75).