[Home] » Languages » Neo-Sindarin »  Neo-Sindarin Words[Search] [← Previous] [Next →][Search]

S. gelir adj. “merry” (Category: Happy; Happiness)

S. gelir, adj. “merry” (Category: Happy; Happiness)
G. dairwed “merry, funny (common)”
G. dairiol “merry (of things), funny”

Sindarin translation of the name of Sam’s son Merry, appearing in Tolkien’s unpublished epilogue to The Lord of the Rings and in the King’s Letter from the early 1950s (SD/126, 129). This word is apparently an adjective, most likely an elaboration of [N.] gell “joy”. In Didier Willis’s Sindarin Dictionary, it is suggested this word might instead be a noun, an agental formation meaning “*merry person” (HSD/gelir).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, the word for “merry” was G. dairog (GL/29), likely derived from ᴱ√TYALA “play”. This was revised to G. dairion in the “Gnomish Lexicon Slips” (PE13/112) and again to ᴱN. gair in Early Noldorin word lists from the 1920s (PE13/141, 143). This last change probably also reflects a new root, though exactly what this root might be is unclear. There isn’t a clear connection between these early forms and later gelir beyond a superficial resemblance of form.

Reference ✧ SD/129 ✧ Gelir “merry”

Elements

N. gell “joy, triumph, (?victory)”

Element In


ᴱN. gair adj. “merry” (Category: Happy; Happiness)

References ✧ PE13/141, 143

Glosses

Variations

Changes

Element In


G. dairog adj. “merry (of persons)” (Category: Happy; Happiness)

References ✧ GL/29; PE13/112

Glosses

Variations

Elements

dair “play, merriment” ✧ GL/29; PE13/112
#-og “adjectival suffix” ✧ GL/29 (#-og)