S. Sirion loc. “Great River”
The Great River of Beleriand (S/120), a combination of sîr “river” and the adjective iaun “wide”, reduced to its suffixal form -ion² also seen in the names of lands (PE17/42).
Conceptual Development: This river was named G. Sirion in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/238) and was explained as an archaic word for “river” in the Gnomish Lexicon (GL/67). The name N. Sirion appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s as an elaboration of N. sîr (Ety/SIR). The derivation given above appeared in Tolkien’s Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/42). In an early name list its Qenya equivalent was given as ᴱQ. Sirion as well (PE13/102).
References ✧ MRI; PE17/42; PMI; SA/sîr; SI; UTI; WJI
Glosses
Elements
| sîr | “river, stream” | ✧ SA/sîr | |
| iaun | “wide, extensive, large, roomy, vast, huge” | ||
| -ion² | “-region, -land” | ✧ PE17/42; PE17/42 | |
Element In
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶siriānā > Sirion | [siriānā] > [siriāna] > [siriǭna] > [siriauna] > [siriaun] > [sirion] | ✧ PE17/42 |
N. Sirion loc.
References ✧ Ety/SIR; LR/407; LRI; PE22/41; RSI; SMI; TII
Variations
Inflections
| hirion | soft-mutation; s-mutation | ✧ LR/407 |
Elements
| sîr | “river” | ✧ Ety/SIR |
Element In
ᴱN. Sirion loc.
References ✧ LBI; MC/217
Element In