S. sell n. “*daughter” (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
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| sellath | class-plural | “daughters” | ✧ AotM/62; SD/129 |
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N. iell n. “daughter” (Category: Daughter)
References ✧ Ety/SEL-D, YEL
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Element In
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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)
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)
References ✧ GG/11; GL/36, 68, 73
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| suila | genitive | ✧ GG/11 |
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