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Select Elvish Words: 14.44-14.46 Morning, Noon, Evening

14.44 Morning

Q. †amaurëa adj. “dawn, early day, morning”

A word appearing in the first draft of the 1960s version of the Markirya poem in the phrase métima amaurëasse “in the last morning” (MC/222), apparently a combination of am- “up” and an adjectival form of aurë “day”. In the glossary associated with the poem, Tolkien glossed amaurëa as “dawn, early day” and marked it as archaic/poetic (†). It resembles an adjective, so its noun form might be *amaurë. In the final iteration of the poem Tolkien changed the phrase to métim’ auressë using a locative of aurë “day” instead. This change might be have to produce the correct number of syllables for the line (5 like many other lines in the poem) rather than a rejection of amaurë(a) itself.

ᴹQ. arin n. “morning”

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “morning” and derived from the root ᴹ√AR¹ “day” (Ety/AR¹).

Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writings, the word for “day” became aurë while árë changed in meaning to “sunshine, warmth (of the sun)” based on the root √AS “warmth”. However, I think arin “morning” might be retained for purposes of Neo-Quenya as a derivative of √AS, perhaps originally meaning the warming in the morning after the chill of night.

14.45 Noon

G. authmeg n. “midday, high noon”

The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. authmeg “midday, high noon” (GL/20) as a combination of G. auth “sunshine, noontide” and (probably) the early root ᴱ√MEKE having to do with the center (QL/60). It also had G. saidhon “noon” derived from primitive ᴱ✶sek’·ðana (GL/66), and thus G. seg [< *sek-] “middle point” combined with G. dana “day”.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would update these to ᴺS. nedhor “mid-day, noon” as combination of [N.] nedh- “mid-” and aur “day”.

14.46 Evening

ᴹQ. sinye n. “evening”

A word for “evening” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√THIN having to do with grey things (Ety/THIN).

Conceptual Development: The entry ᴹ√WIN(I)D “pale blue” had ᴹQ. {vinya >>} vinye “evening” before the entire entry was struck through (Ety/WIN; EtyAC/WIN).

N. †thîn n. “evening”

An (archaic) word for “evening” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√THIN having to do with grey things (Ety/THIN; EtyAC/THIN). The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road had thin with short i (LR/392), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to thîn in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/18).

Conceptual Development: The entry for ᴹ√THIN at first gave {†sîn >>} †thîn (EtyAC/THIN). The entry ᴹ√WIN(I)D “pale blue” in The Etymologies had N. {gwein >>} gwîn “evening” before the entire entry was struck through (Ety/WIN; EtyAC/WIN). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. mathwen “evening” as an elaboration of G. math “dusk” (GL/56).

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