S. niben adj. “petty” (Category: Small, Little)
A word for “petty”, most notable as an element in Nogoth Niben “Petty Dwarf” (WJ/388). In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien said this word was the play name of the littlest finger (VT48/6). Some notes on roots having to do with “small” had the root √NIP “small, usually with connotation of weakness”, which Patrick Wynne suggested was the likely basis for niben (VT48/18). Thus this word means both small as well as weak or inferior.
References ✧ UT/100; VT48/6, 18; WJ/388
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| Nibin | plural | ✧ UT/100 |
Element In
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √nip > nipinā > niben | [nipinā] > [nipina] > [nipena] > [nipen] > [niben] | ✧ VT48/18 |