S. gwing n. “foam, spindrift” (Category: Foam, Froth)
A noun for foam, sprindrift and flying spray, a derivative of the root ᴹ√WIG (Ety/WIG), most notably an element in the name S. Elwing “Star-spray” (PM/376).
Conceptual Development: This word appeared all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as G. gwing “a wave-crest, crest, foam”, where Tolkien connected it to G. uin “whale” (archaically “a wave”) via a primitive form ᴱ√uı̯u (GL/45, 74). N. gwing “spindrift, flying spray” appeared again in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√WIG (Ety/WIG). In later writings, Tolkien seems to have considered gwing problematic, at various points changing it to a loan word from Nandorin (PM/349) or Beorian (PM/368), but these seem to have been transient ideas: in a very late note from the 1970s he said it was Sindarin (PM/392).
References ✧ PM/376, 392; SA/wing
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| wing | soft-mutation; gw-mutation | “foam, spray” | ✧ SA/wing |
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N. gwing n. “spindrift, flying spray” (Category: Foam, Froth)
References ✧ Ety/WIG; EtyAC/NAR¹
Glosses
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| wing | soft-mutation; gw-mutation | ✧ EtyAC/NAR¹ |
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Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶wingē > gwing | [wiŋgē] > [wiŋge] > [gwiŋge] > [gwiŋg] > [gwiŋ] | ✧ Ety/WIG |
G. gwing n. “wave-crest, crest, foam” (Category: Foam, Froth)
References ✧ GL/45; LT1A/Wingilot
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