S. Dor Firn-i-Guinar loc. “Land of the Dead that Live”

S. Dor Firn-i-Guinar, loc. “Land of the Dead that Live”

Home of Beren and Lúthien after their return to life, translated “Land of the Dead that Live” (S/188). This name is a combination of dôr “land”, the plural firn of fern “dead”, the relative pronoun “who” and the present plural inflection of the cuina- “live”, lenited to guinar by the preceding pronoun.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this name first appeared as G. (i·)Cuilwarthon “(The) Dead That Live Again” (LT2/41, 51). In the earliest Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s this form first persisted as Cuilwarthien (SM/133), but was soon revised to N. Gwerth-i-Cuina “(Land of) the Dead that Live” (SM/135). This name N. Dor Firn i Guinar first appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/KUY, PHIR). Nevertheless, the form Gwerth-i-guinar appeared in the initial Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/71) before Tolkien settled on its final form.

In both the 1930s and later, Tolkien occasionally used Gyrth as the word for “The Dead”, in N. Gyrth-i-Guinar (LR/305) and S. Dor Gyrth i Chuinar. See those entries for further discussion.

References ✧ S/188; SA/cuivië; SI/Dor Firn-i-Guinar, Land of the Dead that Live

Glosses

Related

Elements

dôr “land” ✧ S/188 (Dor)
#fern “dead” plural ✧ S/188 (Firn)
“who, that” ✧ S/188
#cuina- “to be alive” soft-mutation present plural ✧ S/188 (Guinar)

N. Dor Firn i Guinar loc. “Land of the Dead that Live”

See S. Dor Firn-i-Guinar for discussion.

References ✧ Ety/KUY, PHIR

Glosses

Elements

dôr “land, dwelling-place, region where certain people live”
fern “dead (of mortals)” plural ✧ Ety/PHIR (firn)
i “the”
cuina- “to be alive” soft-mutation present plural ✧ Ety/KUY (cuino)
ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” ✧ Ety/PHIR

N. Gwerth-i-Cuina loc. “(Land of) the Dead that Live”

An earlier name for S. Dor Firn-i-Guinar appearing in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, glossed “Living Dead” (SM/116) or “Land of the Dead that Live” (LR/305). It is a combination of the plural of G. gwarth “dead (only of persons)”, i “that” and the present form of cuina- “to live”. It is unclear why the verb was not plural or lenited, as it was in other forms of this name (and as it was on WJ/71).

References ✧ LR/305; LRI; SM/116, 135, 233; SMI/Cuilwarthien, Gwerth-i-cuina; WJ/71; WJI/Gwerth-i-guinar

Glosses

Variations

Related

Changes

Elements

G. gwarth “dead (only of persons)” plural
i “the”
cuina- “to be alive”

G. Cuilwarthon loc. “Dead That Live Again”

References ✧ LBI/I·Guilwarthon; LT2/41, 51, 233; LT2A/Cuilwarthon; LT2I/Guilwarthon, I·Cuilwarthon, I·Guilwarthon; SM/133, 135, 233; SMI/Cuilwarthien

Glosses

Variations

Changes

Inflections

Guilwarthon soft-mutation; c-mutation   ✧ LT2I/Guilwarthon
I·Guilwarthon soft-mutation; c-mutation “Dead That Live Again” ✧ LBI/I·Guilwarthon; LT2I/I·Guilwarthon
I·Guilwarthon soft-mutation; c-mutation   ✧ LT2I/I·Cuilwarthon
i·Guilwarthon soft-mutation; c-mutation   ✧ LT2/51

Elements

cuil “life, lifetime” plural ✧ LT1A/Koivië-néni
gwarth “dead (only of persons)” soft-mutation genitive plural