Q. Serindë [þ] f. “Broideress, Needlewoman”

Q. Serindë [þ], f. “Broideress, Needlewoman”

A sobriquet of Míriel, mother of Fëanor, adopted because of her surpassing skill in weaving and needlework (S/63). It is simply the noun serindë used as a name.

The phonetic development of this name has an interesting history. In Classical Quenya, it was pronounced †Therindë (PM/333). When the sound [θ] became [s] in the speech-feeling of the Noldor, Fëanor opposed this change, in part for practical reasons but also because it meant that the name of his mother was consistently mispronounced Serindë (PM/335).

This sound change was common among all Noldor except Fëanor and his sons, and may have played a part in Fëanor’s alienation from his kin (PM/336). It could therefore have contributed to the exile of the Noldor from Valinor and all the terrible events that followed. Somehow it seems particularlly Tolkienesque that such a critical juncture in the history of the Elves was intertwined with a seemingly minor linguistic change.

References ✧ MR/185, 205, 257; PM/333; PMI/Míriel; S/63; SI/Míriel¹, Serindë

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serindë “broideress, needlewoman, *seamstress” ✧ MR/257; PM/333 (†Þerindë)

ᴱQ. Serindo m. “Stephen”

A Qenya name glossed “Stephen” in the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s (QL/83), an elaboration on serin “crown”, mirroring the etymology of the English name: from Greek Stéphanos = “crown”.

References ✧ QL/83

Glosses

Variations

Elements

serin “wreath, crown” ✧ QL/83