New Theme! What do you think?

Study, speak, and hang out with fellow Elvish students!

Select Elvish Words 11.43-11.46: Money, Coin, Treasure

11.43 Money

ᴱN. pant n. “money”

A word appearing as ᴱN. pant “money” in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s (PE13/124), possibly related to the early root ᴱ√PANA “arrange” (QL/72). Tolkien indicated this noun was inherently plural.

Neo-Sindarin: Since √PAN “arrange” survived in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺS. pant “money”, perhaps originally referring to a method for arranging the exchange of goods.

11.44 Coin

ᴱQ. telpilin n. “silver piece, *silver coin”

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. telpilin “silver piece” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s based on ᴱQ. telpe “silver” (QL/91).

Neo-Sindarin: Since telpë “silver” survives in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. telpilin “silver piece, *silver coin” for purposes of Neo Quenya.

S. mirian n. “Gondorian coin”

A Gondorian coin mentioned in drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendixes (PM/45). It is likely related to mîr “precious thing”. Vyacheslav Stepanov suggested it might be an adjectival formation from an otherwise unattested verb *miria- “to esteem, value”, so meaning “a thing valued”.

ᴱN. panthig n. “coin”

A word appearing as ᴱN. panthig “coin” in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s, a singularized form of ᴱN. pant “money” (PE13/124).

Neo-Sindarin: Since I retain ᴺS. pant “money”, I would retain this noun as well, but adapted as ᴺS. pennig to better fit later Sindarin phonology, as well as a deliberate allusion to English “penny”.

11.46 Treasure

Q. harma n. “treasure, [ᴹQ.] treasured thing”

A word for “treasure” and name of tengwa #11 [d] in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (LotR/1123).

Conceptual Development: In notes on the The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s, harma “treasure” was the name of the tengwar ½ (later called halla) while ohta was the name of d (PE22/22). By the 1940s harma had become the name of d (PE22/51). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. harma was glossed “treasure, a treasured thing” and derived from the root ᴹ√ƷAR “have, hold” (Ety/ƷAR).

ᴹQ. harwe n. “treasure, treasury”

A word for “treasure, treasury” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, as opposed to ᴹQ. harma “treasure, a treasured thing”, both derived from the root ᴹ√ƷAR “have, hold” (Ety/ƷAR). Earlier versions of these entries had arwe “treasure” and arwe “possessions, wealth”, the latter derived from ᴹ√GAR (EtyAC/ƷAR; EtyAC/GAR).

Q. haura n. “hoard, store; funeral mound”

A word for a “hoard, store” in the Outline of Phonetic Development (OP2) of the 1950s based on the root √KHAWAD of similar meaning (PE19/91). In Exhilic Quenya it also took on the sense “funeral mound” due to the influence of S. haudh.

Q. maina n. “thing of excellence, treasure”

A noun for “a thing of excellence, a treasure” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, based on the root √MAY “excellent, admirable” (PE17/163). There was a faint letter written over the n, possibly k according to Christopher Gilson and thus indicating a revision to maika, but its Sindarin cognate S. maen “a treasure” was not altered.

⚠️G. fuis n. “hoard”

There were various words for “hoard” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, all based on the early root ᴱ√foχo and related to ᴱQ. foa “hoard, treasure” (GL/36; QL/38). Of these, only G. fuis and G. fûn were retained, the latter with a variant fufuin. Tolkien had “hoard”, but this was revised to fuis. Tolkien also had {fûl >> fund >>} fûn, and {fûlin or fûlim >>} fûn. On another page he had G. or fôtha “a hoard”, but these were revised to G. “snow” and G. fôtha “it snows” respectively (GL/35). Before their change in meaning, these last two were connected to (rejected) G. fâ- “have, hold, possess” (GL/33).

S. maen n. “a treasure”

A noun for “a treasure” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, based on the root √MAY “excellent, admirable” (PE17/163).

ᴱN. nabhru n. “booty”

A word appearing as ᴱN. {nabru >>} nabhru “booty” with a variant naw derived from ᴱ✶nāma (PE13/150). It was probably connected to G. nab- “take, lay hold of” (GL/59) as suggested by the editors.

Neo-Sindarin: Since I retain ᴺS. nab- “to take, lay hold of”, I would retain and adapt this word as ᴺS. nabor “booty” to better fit latter Sindarin phonology; compare [N.] cabor “frog”.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *