S. cerin n. “circular mound, artificial hill” (Category: Mound, Pile)
A noun described as a “circular mound or artificial hill” in the Unfinished Index of The Lord of the Rings, appearing in the place name Cerin Amroth “Amroth’s Mound” (RC/309; LotR/350).
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. cerin was glossed “round enclosure” as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KOR “round” (Ety/KOR; EtyAC/KOR). This in turn was a later iteration of ᴱN. gwerin “enclosure” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/146), which was itself a later version of G. gorin or gwarin “circle of trees” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/47), first given as corin “an enclosure, especially a (sacred) circular enclosure fenced with trees” (GL/26), but the meaning of that last word was changed to adjectival “round, circular; rolling”. Note that corin “enclosure” also reappeared in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s, only to be deleted again (PE13/121).
Thus it seems 1910s {corin >>} gorin “enclosure or circle of trees” >> 1920s {corin >>} gwerin “enclosure” >> 1930s cerin “round enclosure”. As for Cerin Amroth, Tolkien described it as follows: “Upon it, as a double crown, grew two circles of trees: the outer had bark of snowy white, and were leafless but beautiful in their shapely nakedness; the inner were mallorn-trees of great height, still arrayed in pale gold. High amid the branches of a towering tree that stood in the centre of all there gleamed a white flet (LotR/350).” Thus, perhaps this name originally referred to the rings of trees, and only later did Tolkien decide that cerin referred to the mound itself.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word mainly in its 1930s meaning “round enclosure”, but would assume it could also be used of round things in generally, such as a mound, that surrounded something in the middle, such as the great tree at the center of Cerin Amroth.
References ✧ RC/309; SA/coron
Glosses
Element In
Derivations
N. cerin n. “round enclosure” (Category: Circle)
References ✧ Ety/KOR; EtyAC/KOR
Glosses
Changes
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√KOR > cerin | [korin] > [kœrin] > [kerin] | ✧ Ety/KOR |
ᴱN. gwerin n. “enclosure” (Category: Circle)
References ✧ PE13/121, 146
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| i·choriniath | nasal-mutation plural; c-mutation | ✧ PE13/121 |
| gweriniath | plural | ✧ PE13/146 |
| i·gorin | soft-mutation; c-mutation | ✧ PE13/121 |
| o·chorin | stop-mutation; c-mutation | ✧ PE13/121 |
Cognates
G. gorin n. “circle of trees” (Category: Circle)
References ✧ GL/26, 47; LT1A/korin
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