S. alfirin adj. and n. “immortal, (lit.) not dying; a species of flower” (Category: Immortal)
A word used in The Lord of the Rings for a flower that was clearly intended to mean “immortal” when Tolkien first coined the word, a negated form of firin “mortal, dying”. Tolkien described this flower as being similar to an immortelle (Let/402). In the period where Tolkien decided that √LA was not a negative element, he coined a couple alternate etymologies for the flower, one based on alph “swan” (PE17/100) and another where the initial element was al- “well” and the second element was pirin for flowers that opened and closed with changes of light (PE17/146). In periods where Tolkien used √LA for negation, the meaning “immortal” was restored (PE22/153, PE22/156).
Neo-Sindarin: Since I retain al- as a negative prefix for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d keep the gloss “immortal” for this word, using it as both an adjective and noun with this meaning, as well as referring to the immortelle-like flower.
References ✧ Let/248, 402; LotR/875; LotRI/Alfirin; PE17/100, 146; PE22/153, 156; UT/55; UTI
Glosses
Related
Elements
al-¹ | “no, not” | ✧ PE17/101 | |
firin | “mortal, dying” | ✧ PE17/101 (fĭrin) | |
al-² | “well, happily” | ✧ PE17/146 | |
pirin | “flower that opened and shut quickly with any change of light” | ✧ PE17/146 |
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
✶alfirīne > alfirin | [alpʰirīne] > [alɸirīne] > [alfirīne] > [alfirīn] > [alfirin] | ✧ PE17/100 |