S. aur n. “(whole) day” (Category: Day)
The usual Sindarin word for “day”, with a prefixal form of or- in names of days of the week. In Quenya Note (QN) from 1957, Tolkien said that aur was derived from ✶aurĭ- “heat, period of sun” based on √UR, and it meant “a whole day” as opposed to its Quenya cognate aure which was only daytime (PE17/148). Indeed, a footnote appearing in the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings [not appearing in later editions] stated that “The [Quenya] ré contained aure day(light) and lóme (night); in Sindarin the terms were aur containing calan and fuin” (RC/727).
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien glossed N. aur as “day, morning” but derived it from the root ᴹ√AR¹ “day”, along with N. arad “daytime, a day” (Ety/AR¹).
In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, the word G. aur(a) “sun” was likely derived from the early root ᴱ√URU as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (GL/20; LT1A/Ûr). This 1910s document also had [rejected] G. glâ “day, daytime” (GL/39) and G. gôl “daylight, day (i.e. in sense, time sun is above horizon)” (GL/41). A 24 hour day was G. dana (GL/29), which became dân “day” in Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document (PE13/112).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use S. aur mainly for a calendar day or a 24 hour period, but when used more loosely I think aur can also mean “daytime”, much English “day” can refer to either a 24 hour period or the time when the sun is visible depending on context. When specificity is need, you can use calan to unambiguously mean “daylight, daytime”. For “morning” I would use a neologism ᴺS. amor as inspired by Q. amaurë. On the basis of minuial “dawn twilight = *first twilight”, I think the Sindar may have felt that the day began at dawn, as opposed to the Quenya where Q. ré “day” began at sunset.
References ✧ PE17/120, 148; RC/727; SA/ur; VT44/28
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| ✶aurĭ- > aur | [auri] > [aure] > [aur] | ✧ PE17/148 |
N. aur n. “day, morning” (Category: Day)
Reference ✧ Ety/AR¹ ✧ “day, morning”
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| ᴹ√AR¹ > aur | [āra] > [ǭra] > [oura] > [aura] > [aur] | ✧ Ety/AR¹ |
G. aur(a) n. “Sun” (Category: Sun)
A noun in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as Aur “Sun” (GL/20), probably a cognate of ᴱQ. Ûr from the root ᴱ√URU as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Ûr; QL/098). It appeared as aura in G. nalos·aura “sunset” and G. orosaura “sunrise” (GL/59, 62). The word G. aur “sun” was also mentioned in Gnomish Lexicon Slips with corrections for that document (PE13/114), but by The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. aur meant “day”, whereas N. Anor became the name of the Sun (Ety/ANÁR, AR¹).
References ✧ GL/20, 59, 62, 75; LT1A/Ûr; LT1I/Aur; PE13/114
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| ᴱ√URU > Aur | [ūra] > [aura] > [aur] | ✧ LT1A/Ûr |
G. dana n. “day (24 hours)” (Category: Day)
References ✧ GL/18, 29-30, 61, 66; LT1A/Danuin; PE13/112
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| dein | plural | ✧ PE13/112 |
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