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X/DL: In the Etymologies, the cluster /dl/ in compound words sometimes evolves into /gl/ (e.g. megli "bear"). There are some evidences that it should conceivably remain /dl/ in Sindarin (see also X/TL below).
X/EI: Old Sindarin final ei was changed to ai in Late Sindarin, though ei is still restored in compounds: aran plural erain "King", but Ereinion "Scion of Kings" (Several Noldorin words in the Etymologies form their plural in ei or e - for instance adar, plural edeir or eder. The former should be updated to ai in Late Sindarin, whereas the latter is likely to be ignored. In The War of the Jewels, several words are conceivably given in their earlier Sindarin form, e.g. Feir "Mortal"; they should also be updated).
X/HW: Except in one case (hwand "fungus", where the other variants are also attested), Tolkien uses the combination /chw/ for several words in the Etymologies. However, these words all derive from roots beginning in *sw, and should probably be transcribed with a voiceless /hw/. They would be written in Tengwar using the letter hwesta sindarinwa (no. 34). However, Tolkien is not very clear in Appendix E, and his explanations concerning the differences between Quenya (which uses hwesta, letter no. 12) and Sindarin are far from satisfying. In the dictionary, the orthograph /hw/ has been retained.
X/IU: According to Appendix E of The Lords of the Rings, the vowel y "partly derived from older diphtongs eu, iu". This rule was apparently added at a late stage by Tolkien, and several words from the Etymologies do not follow it (iu evolves into io in Noldorin, for instance iolf "brand" from YUL (primitive *yulma). These words should conceivably be updated (for instance iolf should probably read ylf in Late Sindarin). Nevertheless, this change remains highly hypothetical (only one late example is attested, ylf² "drinking-vessel", from JULU).
X/LD: The late example coll "hollow", attested in The War of the Jewels where it is derived from primitive Elvish *kuldâ, implies that final *ld evolves into /ll/ in Sindarin. In the Etymologies, this rule was not applied consistently (e.g. belt is derived from Old Sindarin *belda). In this dictionary, final /ll/ has been systematically adopted for all these words.
X/LH: This complex issue is fully discussed in Helge Fauskanger's article "LH and RH (not to mention HL and HR)" on Ardalambion.
X/MB: According to Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, primitive "mb became m in all cases, but still counted as a long consonant for purposes of stress, and is thus written mm in cases where otherwise the stress might be in doubt". For instance compare ram "wall" with rammas "great wall".
X/ND1: This issue is fully discussed in Helge Kåre Fauskanger's article "The question of nd and nn", section 1 ("The behavior of final nd in monosyllables").
X/ND2: This issue is fully discussed in Helge Kåre Fauskanger's article "The question of nd and nn", section 2 ("The behavior of nd between vowels").
X/ND3: This issue is fully discussed in Helge Kåre Fauskanger's article "The question of nd and nn", section 3 ("The behavior of nd before r").
X/ND4: This issue is fully discussed in Helge Kåre Fauskanger's article "The question of nd and nn", section 4 ("The behavior of final nd in polysyllabic words").
X/OE: This complex issue is fully discussed in Helge Fauskanger's article "AE or OE" on Ardalambion.
X/PH: Tolkien used f to represent the sound [v] finally, as in English "of" (pronounced [ov]). When the sound [f] is expected finally (derived from a former p or kw), it is written ph, for instance alph "swan" (in the Etymologies, Tolkien was not always consistent and sometimes wrote f for that sound; the words have been normalized to ph in this dictionary). According to Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, medial ph should also be used when it derives from the assimilation of a former p or pp (as in ephel < *et-pel and aphadon < *ap-pata).
X/RH: This complex issue is fully discussed in Helge Fauskanger's article "LH and RH (not to mention HL and HR)" on Ardalambion.
X/TL: In the Etymologies, the cluster /tl/ in compound words remains unchanged (e.g. atlant "oblique, slanted"), or evolves into /gl/ (e.g. egledhi "to go into exile"). There are some evidences that it should conceivably evolve into /dl/ in Sindarin.
X/W: After a consonant, final vocalic w from primitive -wê apparently became u in Sindarin. See PM/344: "If Finwë had been treated as a word of this form would have been, had it occurred anciently in Sindarin, it would have been Finu..." (Noldorin words from the Etymologies have either u or w, showing that Tolkien was uncertain about this issue at that time).
X/X: Tolkien's handwriting is "ometimes difficult to decipher. Several probable misreadings have been corrected in the dictionary (such as hamma for hamnia), according to our understanding of the Sindarin phonology. However, Christopher Tolkien's original reading is always mentioned after the corrected word. Some of these corrections are also discussed in Helge Fauskanger's article "Probable errors in the Etymologies" on Ardalambion.
X/Z: Miscellaneous - Several "Noldorin" words from the Etymologies have been updated, as they could not fit the Sindarin phonology as we understand it. For a good example of such a normalization, refer to the entries bass, bassoneth and bessain in the dictionary.
Dictionary compiled and annotated by
Didier Willis.
Script conception by Didier Willis, version 1.2.