Eldamo : Quenya : hína

Q. hína n. “child” (Category: Child)

Q. hína, n. “child” (Category: Child): ᴹQ. aran² “child”; ᴹQ. selda “child [n.]”

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected **hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.

Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).

References ✧ PE17/157; PE21/83; SA/híni; SI/Children of Ilúvatar; VT44/33, 35; WJ/403

Glosses

“child” ✧ WJ/403

Variations

hína ✧ WJ/403
hina ✧ WJ/403

hinde [is perhaps a rejected feminine form of] hīn(i) ✧ PE17/157
hindo [is perhaps a rejected masculine form of] hīn(i) ✧ PE17/157
hinyë “baby” is likely a diminutive of hína “child”

Changes

híniryannar >> híniryan ✧ VT44/33
híniryan “*to his children” >> hinin “*to children” ✧ VT44/33

Inflections

hinanya	1st-sg-poss	“my child”	✧ WJ/403
hinya	1st-sg-poss assimilated	“my child”	✧ WJ/403
híniryannar	3rd-sg-poss allative plural	“*to his children”	✧ VT44/33
híniryan	3rd-sg-poss dative plural	“*to his children”	✧ VT44/33
hinin	dative plural	“*to children”	✧ VT44/33
hínin	dative plural	“*to children”	✧ VT44/35
Híni	plural	“children”	✧ PE21/83
Híni	plural	“Children”	✧ SI/Children of Ilúvatar
híni	plural	“children”	✧ SA/híni
hīn(i)	plural		✧ PE17/157
-híni	plural suffix		✧ WJ/403
-hin	suffix		✧ WJ/403

Element In

Q. ar mi cemen rainë i hínin “and on earth peace, good will toward men” ✧ VT44/32; VT44/33
Q. Eruhin “Child of Eru (God)” ✧ SA/híni (Eruhíni)
Q. Melkorohíni “Children of Melkor”
Q. Híni Ilúvataro “Children of Ilúvatar” ✧ PE21/83; SI/Children of Ilúvatar

Cognates

Ad. *-hin “child, patronymic”
S. hên “child” ✧ SA/híni (Hîn); WJ/403

Derivations

< √KHIN “child” ✧ PE17/157
< ✶khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403 (khīnā/khinā)
- < √KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Phonetic Developments

√KHIN > hīn(i)	[kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni]	✧ PE17/157
✶khīnā/khinā > hína	[kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna]	✧ WJ/403