[Home] » Languages » Neo-Sindarin »  Neo-Sindarin Words[Search] [← Previous] [Next →][Search]

S. sell n. “*daughter” (Category: Daughter)

S. sell, n. “daughter; [N.] †girl, maid” (Category: Daughter)

The most common Sindarin word for “daughter” (SD/129; VT50/18).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, the word for “daughter” was G. suil with shorter form sui (GL/36, 68) probably derived from the early root ᴱ√SUẈU (QL/87) and replacing rejected {thuai, thuil} (GL/36, 73). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave (archaic) N. †sell “girl, maid” derived from the root ᴹ√SEL-D (Ety/SEL-D). Tolkien said sell was replaced by N. iell “daughter”:

with i from iondo son [YŌ]; a change assisted by the loss of s in cpds. and patronymics: cf. Tinnúviel < *tindōmiselde (Ety/SEL-D).

Thus in Noldorin, sell became iell under the influence of N. ionn “son”, and assisted by the fact that intervocalic s became h and then vanished when -sell was used as a suffix in compounds.

It seems Tolkien abandoned this 1930s paradigm, however, since he used sell for “daughter” in a couple later documents, namely the King’s Letter (SD/129) and the Túrin Wrapper (VT50/5).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use sell for “daughter” but suffixal -iel for “daughter of” under the influence of -ion “son of”, a scenario similar to that of The Etymologies. I would also allow iell as a less commmon variant for “daughter”, derived from the suffix.

References ✧ AotM/62; SD/129; VT50/18

Glosses

Variations

Related

Inflections

sellath class-plural “daughters” ✧ AotM/62; SD/129

Element In

Cognates

Derivations


N. iell n. “daughter” (Category: Daughter)

See S. sell for discussion.

References ✧ Ety/SEL-D, YEL

Glosses

Related

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

N. †sell > iell [sell] ? [jell] ✧ Ety/SEL-D
ᴹ√YEL > iell [jelde] > [jelðe] > [jelð] > [jell] ✧ Ety/YEL

N. †sell n. “girl, maid” (Category: Girl)

See S. sell for discussion.

Reference ✧ Ety/SEL-D ✧ “girl, maid”

Derivations

Derivatives

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ√SEL-D > †sell [selde] > [selðe] > [selð] > [sell] ✧ Ety/SEL-D

G. suil n. “daughter” (Category: Daughter)

See S. sell for discussion.

References ✧ GG/11; GL/36, 68, 73

Glosses

Variations

Related

Changes

Inflections

suila genitive ✧ GG/11

Element In

Derivations