14.42 Night
- Q. lómë n. “night, dimness, twilight, dusk, darkness, [ᴹQ.] night-time, shades of night, ⚠️gloom; [ᴱQ.] shadow, cloud”
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The usual Quenya word for “night”, sometimes also used to mean “darkness” or (more accurately) “dimness”, since it does not describe the complete absense of light. It is derived from primitive ✶dōmē based on the root √DOM having to do with darkness or dimness (PE17/152; PE22/153; Ety/DOMO). The Elves do not have a negative perception of “night” (PE17/152; SD/306), no doubt due to the many years they spent living under the stars without sun and moon.
Conceptual Development: This word dates back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. lóme (lómi-) was glossed “dusk, gloom, darkness” under the early root ᴱ√LOMO (QL/55). It meant “shadow, cloud” in a glossary to one of the drafts of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/75), and its plural lómi was translated “clouds” in the last iteration of the poem from around 1930 (MC/214).
It was “gloom” in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s (PE21/32). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. lóme (lómi-) was glossed “night, night-time, shades of night” and was derived from a blend of root ᴹ√DOM “faint, dim” and ᴹ√DOƷ “night” (Ety/DOƷ, DOM). The latter was also the basis for ᴹQ. ló “night, a night”, though this word (and lóme “nighttime”) initially appeared under a (rejected) root ᴹ√LOƷ (EtyAC/LOƷ).
In notes from the 1940s Tolkien said lōme “has no evil connotations; it is a word of peace and beauty and has none of the associations of fear or groping that, say, ‘dark’ has for us [in English]” (SD/302). In Tolkien’s later writings it was usually translated “night”, with various other similar meanings as described above.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use lóme to mean “night” as the period in which the Sun was absent, the opposite of aurë. It could also describe any situation with little natural light, such as “dimness, dusk, twilight”, but not pure darkness which would be huinë. For the Elves, lóme has no negative connotations as they are perfectly comfortable in such periods of night and even favor them.
- ᴱQ. mórilanta n. “nightfall”
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The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. mórilanta “nightfall” as a combination of ᴱQ. móri “night” and ᴱQ. lanta “fall” (QL/51, 62). This word was also mentioned in Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/63).
Neo-Quenya: Since both elements survive with more or less the same meaning in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. mórilanta “nightfall” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
- ᴱQ. móriva adj. “nocturnal”
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The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. mōriva “nocturnal” based on ᴱQ. móri “night” (QL/62).
Neo-Quenya: Since morë was sometimes used for “night” in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. móriva “nocturnal” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
- ⚠️N. daw n. “night-time, gloom”
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A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “night-time, gloom” and derived from ON. dogme/doume under the root ᴹ√DOƷ (Ety/DOƷ). There are no signs of this word in Tolkien’s later writings.
- S. dû n. “night, dimness; [N.] night-fall, late evening; ⚠️[S.] dim, dark”
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A word for “night” appearing in compounds like dúlin “nightingale” and dúath “night shadow” (SA/dú). It was also translated as “dimness” and was the equivalent of Q. lómë, and thus was probably a night with some natural light such as from the moon or stars (PE17/37, 152). It was based on the root √DOM and in The Etymologies of the 1930s was glossed “night-fall, late evening” (PE17/152; Ety/DOƷ; EtyAC/DOMO).
In the Nomenclature of the Lord of the Rings from around 1967 Tolkien gave dû the glosses “dim, dark” in a discussion of the name Nanduhirion (RC/269), but elsewhere it was usually a noun. In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien said dû was used for “dark” as a substance and the ordinary word for “night” was fuin (NM/283); see that entry for further discussion.
- S. fuin n. “night, [N.] dead of night, ⚠️[S.] gloom, darkness”
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The ordinary Sindarin word for “night” derived from ✶phuinē based on the root √PHUY (NM/279, 283; VT41/8). A footnote from the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings [not appearing in later editions] stated: “in Sindarin the terms were aur [“24 hour day”] containing calan [“daylight”] and fuin [“night”]” (RC/727). Christopher Tolkien also translated fuin as “gloom, darkness” in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/fuin) but in notes from 1969 Tolkien said “In Sindarin fuin was the ordinary word for ‘night’ without (originally) any sinister tone” (NM/279). In a later version of these notes Tolkien said it was “the ordinary Sindarin word, fuin, for night, between the twilights but including the darker parts of these” (NM/283).
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor of this word was G. fui “night” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s based on the early root ᴱ√fuʒu [ǶUẎU] (GL/36). This became ᴱN. fuin “night” in Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/143), keeping that form thereafter. In The Etymologies of the 1930s N. fuin was glossed “night, dead of night” and derived from the root ᴹ√PHUY (Ety/DOƷ; Ety/PHUY).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use fuin as the most common Sindarin word for “night”, but more specifically for the dark of night between the two twilights of dusk and dawn. I would use S. dû for “night” as well, especially when including the twilights or with moonlight, having instead a connotation of dimness rather than darkness.
- G. fuitha-² n. “to fall (of night); to grow dark”
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A verb appearing as G. fuitha-² “to fall (of night), to grow dark” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s base on the early root ᴱ√fuʒu (GL/36). Tolkien noted that “in Gn. this word is connected with fō, above. √fō”, but this sentence was deleted and the only similar word the Gnomish Lexicon was G. fô “snow”.
Neo-Sindarin: Since √PHUY was still associated with night and darkness in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain this word for purposes of Neo-Sindarin but adapted as ᴺS. fuida- “to fall (of night); to grow dark” since -tha is no longer a common verb suffix in later Sindarin.