Q. #cirincë n. “scarlet-plumed species of bird” (Category: Bird (other))
A species of Númenorean bird that Tolkien described as “no bigger than wrens, but all scarlet, with piping voices on the edge of human hearing”, appearing only in its plural form kirinki (UT/169; NM/337). It is not clear what, if any, terrestrial species it equated to. It might be a diminutive form based on √KIR “cut”, so perhaps literally “*little cutter”.
References ✧ NM/337; UT/169; UTI/kirinki
Inflections
| kirinki | plural | ✧ NM/337; UT/169; UTI/kirinki |
Elements
| √KIR? | “cut, cleave, pass swiftly through; shave; skim (surface), slip along, glide quickly” |
| #-incë | “diminutive ending” |