S. #în¹ n. “year” (Category: Year)
A Sindarin word for “year”, derived from the primitive root ᴹ√YEN¹ of similar meaning, with its vowel sound the result of a long [ē] becoming [ī].
Conceptual Development: The word în first appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s with the gloss and derivation given above. It did not directly appear in Tolkien’s later writings, but was an element in several later words such as S. ínias “annals” and S. ifant “aged” (lit. “year full”). Furthermore, its Quenya cognate yén did reappear in the Lord of the Rings appendices.
In The Etymologies, both N. în and ᴹQ. yén were glossed “year”, and there were other words for longer periods of time, such as ᴹQ. qantien “century, (lit.) full year” and N. anrand “cycle, age”. In the Lord of the Rings and other later writings, Tolkien changed the meaning of Q. yén to an “Elvish long year” or “Elvish century” of 144 years. It is possible that S. în also changed to this meaning, but we have no direct confirmation of this.
The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had two different words for “year”: G. fann “a year” (GL/34) and G. lath “a year” (GL/53), the latter with a difficult-to-read Qenya cognate ᴱQ. latta.
Neo-Sindarin: Many Neo-Sindarin writers continue to use în with the sense “year” (that is, a solar year of 365 days). I prefer to assume that ancient *yēn was simply a Primitive Elvish word for a great length of time when the world had no sun and moon. As such, I assume its meaning diverged in Quenya and Sindarin, with Quenya yén being used for the “long year” in the Uttermost West, but being used for a solar year among the Sindar. I use [N.] ennin “long year” as the (Neo) Sindarin equivalent of Q. yén. The longer term [N.] idhrin(n) “year = (lit.) year-circle” may be used to further clarify that it is a solar year rather than a long year, hat-tip to Gilruin for this suggestion.
If you assume S. în has the same meaning as Q. yén (= 144 years), you might instead use a neologism for a solar year, such as ᴺS. lóran or ᴺS. coranor.
Reference ✧ MR/200 ✧ ín
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N. în n. “year” (Category: Year)
References ✧ Ety/YEN
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| ᴹ√YEN > în | [jēn] > [jīn] > [īn] | ✧ Ety/YEN |
G. fann n. “year” (Category: Year)
References ✧ GL/34; LT1A/Fanuin
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G. lath n. “year” (Category: Year)
References ✧ GL/53, 69; LT1A/Gonlath
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