§ Berin a Nestad ’the Houses of Healing’ >> Bair Nestedriu (WR:379-380)
§ Bair Nestad (WR:380)
§ {Edeb na Nestad} (ibid.)
These are Elvish names of the Houses of Healing in Minas Tirith, not used in The Lord of the Rings.
The Etymologies give bár ’home’ (MBAR-, VT45:33), the Silmarillion index cites S. bar ’dwelling’ and mentions that the old form mbár meant the ’home’ both of persons and of peoples. Bar is pluralized to berin with the suffix -in in the first name, also seen in nauglin ’dwarves’ (NAUK-) and probably ledin ’fields’ in Palath-ledin, Calledin above (2.8, 3.32).
Nestad looks like a gerund of a verb #nesta- and as exactly the same form occurred earlier (fornest, Anfornest above (3.37)), a likewise derivation from NÉD- is worth a thought. This stem is related to ÉNED- ’centre’ and also to NĒ- (NE-̆) (VT45:38), whence ndē-, ndĕ- ’in, inside’, ne-stak- ’insert, thrust in, sting’ > N. nestegi ’insert, thrust in’. If it is not too much of a lively imagination, the meaning ’heal’ could have been developed from ’insert’ in the sense of ’insert/take medicine’.
However, also probable seems a derivation from NETH- ’young’ via *neth-tā > *nesta-. Compare host ’gross’ < *khoth-tā from KHOTH- and perhaps similarly N. gost ’dread, terror’, gosta- ’fear exceedingly’, Gostir ’dread glance’ from GOS-, GOTH-. On the other hand, spirantization th-t > th (þ) is in fact well-attested in several examples, e.g. ON pattha > N. path ’smooth’ (PATH-).
Far more later NETH- is once glossed ’fresh, lively, merry’ with Telerin nēþa ’gay, lively, girlish’ (VT47:32-33). If similar connotations have already occurred earlier, ’fresh, lively’ might have evolved into *’healthy, free from sickness’ and hence *nesta- ’make healthy, heal, cure’. But of course, we may also be dealing here with an otherwise unattested root *NES-.
Berin a Nestad is formed with the genitive marker a, probably a shortened form of an – compare Rath a Chalardain, Ernil a Pheriannath above (3.25).
Bair Nestedriu is then apparently formed with i-affected plural of bar > bair (PE17:164). Nestedriu is most probably a misreading for *nestedrin, plural of the adjective *nestadren from the gerund nestad. Compare N. forodren ’northern’ beside forod ’north’ and N. haradren ’southern’ beside harad ’south’ (PHOR-, KHYAR-).
In Bair Nestad the gerund nestad is used as an uninflected genitive.
Edeb na Nestad transparently contains N. edeb, pl. of adab ’building, house’. Compare the pluralization barad > bered in Bered Ondrath above (3.35). The genitive marker is now na, as also in various other attested forms, cf. Henlo n’Annun above (3.18).