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 i² “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) |
| i² | “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”
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 |