[INTERNAL HISTORY] [EXTERNAL
HISTORY] [THE CORPUS] [THE
STRUCTURE OF ADUNAIC]
ADUNAIC WORDLIST: [A]
[B] [D] [E]
[G] [H] [I]
[K] [L] [M]
[N] [O] [P]
[R] [S] [T]
[U] [Y] [Z]
When Men awoke in Hildorien at the first rising of the Sun, they started
to invent a language, just like the Elves had done at Cuivienen millennia
before. But as we know, Men were never as creative as the Firstborn: "The
desire for words awoke in us, and we began to make them. But we were few,
and the world was wide and strange. Though we greatly desired to understand,
learning was difficult, and the making of words was slow." (Morgoth's Ring
p. 345) If there ever was a language wholly unique to Mortal Men, it was
already much watered down when their first representatives arrived in Beleriand.
It did not take Felagund long to interpret the tongue of Beor and his people,
for "these Men had long had dealings with the Dark Elves east of the mountains,
and from them had learned much of their speech, and since all the languages
of the Quendi were of one origin, the language of Beor and his folk resembled
the Elven-tongue in many words and devises" (Silmarillion chapter 17).
It is also pretty clear that Men had been in contact with Dwarves and had
borrowed much from Khuzdul, the language Aule made for his children: In
PM:317, Tolkien refers to "the theory (a probable one) that in the unrecorded
past some of the languages of Men - including the language of the dominant
element in the Atani from which Adunaic was derived - had been influenced
by Khuzdul". We do not have enough material to identify whatever purely
Mannish elements there may be in this mixture of Dwarvish and Dark-elven.
In Beleriand, Men eagerly learnt Sindarin, "but their own speech was
not forgotten, and from it came the common tongue of Numenor" (Silmarillion
chapter 17). The First Age ended in the War of Wrath. The Valar finally
bent their cataclysmic power upon Beleriand and conquered Morgoth, but
Beleriand was utterly destroyed and sank beneath the sea. However, Men
received a rich reward for their suffering in the wars against Morgoth.
(By the way, how could anyone possibly survive the destruction of Beleriand?
The Professor never bothered to explain this. Wouldn't Morgoth suspect
something if his enemies started to evacuate an entire continent? Well,
never mind...) The Valar raised a great island out of the ocean, closer
to Valinor than to Middle-earth. The Edain went over the seas and found
their new home, and led by Elros the son of Earendil they founded the realm
of Numenor. It was to last for three thousand two hundred and eighty-seven
years, until the terrible day when Ar-Pharazon broke the Ban of the Valar,
sailing into the West to conquer the Blessed Realm.
What was the linguistic situation in the Land of the Star while it
stood? On the map of Numenor in Unfinished Tales p. 164 the names are in
Quenya. But the same book tells us that Quenya was not a spoken language
in Numenor. All places had "official" High-Elven names that were used in
state documents, but in daily speech Sindarin or Adunaic names, generally
of the same meaning, were used instead. Sindarin, Grey-elven, was known
by most people - the Numenorean nobles even used it as their daily speech.
But the vernacular spoken by common people was and ever remained Adunaic,
a Mannish language derived from the tongues of the Men who had sided with
the Elves in the war against Morgoth.
In Anadune, as Numenor or Westernesse was called in Adunaic, this language underwent certain changes during the three thousand years the realm lasted. Some sounds disappeared and others merged, so that certain consonants were lost. On the other hand, new vowels appeared: Originally, Adunaic only possessed the cardinal vowels a, i and u, but later the diphthongs ai and au were simplified to long e and o. Apart from the phonological changes, the language changed by a certain influx of Elvish loan-words. For instance, Quenya lome "night" was borrowed into Adunaic as lomi; interestingly, the word kept its cozy Valinorean connotations: A lomi is a fair night under the stars, and the dark is not perceived as something gloomy. We also recognize other Elvish names, especially the names of the Valar: Aman "Manwe", Avradð "Varda", Mulkher "Melkor". However, some words that may appear to be loan-words from Quenya do not, in fact, represent borrowings. When "sky, heaven" is menel in Quenya and minal in Adunaic, the latter is a word that the ancestors of the Edain must have adopted from Avarin (Dark-elven) long before Men entered Beleriand. It is similar to the Quenya word simply because both High-elven and Dark-elven were ultimately descendants of the same language. In fact, there are quite a few obvious Elvish borrowings, early and late, among the Adunaic words mentioned in Lowdham's Report:
adun "west" (SD:247), S: dun (LR:376).
ammð, amme "mother" (SD:434), Q: amme (LR:348). Likely a late loan
from Quenya.
attu, atto "father" (SD:434), Q: atar, hypocoristic atto (LR:349).
azra "sea" (SD:429), evidently from the PE stem AYAR (Q: ear) (LR:349).
ba "don't" (SD:250). Primitive Elvish *BA "no!", Q: va, T: ba
"I will not" or "Do not", S: baw!
"No! Don't!" (WJ:370-371).
beth "expression, saying, word" (SD:427). S: peth (lenited beth) "word".
As beth is derived from a stem BITH (SD:416), this is likely derived from
the form PE *KWET "say, speak" had taken in some Avarin language, from
which the ancestors of the Edain borrowed it. (We know that there was at
least one Avarin language that showed p for original *kw, so it is plausible
that there may have been a dialect that added voice to this p, producing
initial b.) Cf. also later Westron batta "talker".
khor "lord" (as in Adunakhor, Lord of the West), Elvish stem KHER "rule,
govern, possess" (LR:364), Q: heru "lord".
lai "folk", Q: lie (SD:435), evidently lai in one Avarin dialect (WJ:410).
lokhð "crooked" (SD:247), Eldarin stem lok- "bend, loop" (Silmarillion
Appendix).
naru "man" (SD:434), Elvish stem NERE (WJ:393; though according to
the Etymologies, the original stem was DER, with NER as a special Quenya
form - see LR:354, 376).
Even more examples could be listed. This gives weight to some words of Faramir's that did not make it into the published LotR, that "all speech of men in this world is Elvish in descent". (WR:159/PM:63. In the case of Adunaic, we must nonetheless take into account a strong influence from Dwarvish as well as Elvish.) But despite its considerable amount of Elvish ingredients, Adunaic was considered a Mannish language. Though it was the language of the common people, we definitely get the impression that it was not esteemed as highly as the Elvish tongues. We may compare the situation to that of medieval Europe: the vulgar tongues were held to be deeply inferior to the Latin superlanguage, no matter how few people actually knew it. The Akallabeth informs us that "beside their own [Adunaic] names, all the lords of the Numenoreans had also Eldarin names", and in the case of the first fifteen kings, only their Quenya names are given. True, it is said of Aldarion, the sixth king, that he actually preferred Adunaic to Eldarin (UT:194), but the very fact that this is mentioned indicates that it was not the normal opinion. Yet the star of Adunaic was to rise, but only because all things Elvish fell out of favour.
Two thousand years into the Second Age, during the rule of Tar-Ciryatan
and his successor Tar-Atanamir, the Numenoreans started to envy the Elves
their immortality. The friendship between Valinor and Numenor became cold,
and while the Elvish languages were once held in high esteem, the Numenoreans
stopped teaching them to their children at the time of Tar-Ancalimon. The
kings continued to use Quenya names, but only because this was what millennia
of tradition demanded. The sixteenth king is stated to have used both a
High-Elven and an Adunaic name: Tar-Calmacil vs. Ar-Belzagar - and the
"King's men", hostile to all things Elvish, used the latter. But it lasted
until the coronation of the twentieth king before any monarch ascended
the throne in an Adunaic name: Ar-Adunakhor, the Lord of the West. The
Elf-friends were not too happy when even he translated it into Quenya Tar-Herunumen
in the official Scroll of Kings, for only Manwe could properly be called
Lord of the West. Adunakhor's two successors on the throne of Numenor followed
his example and used Adunaic names. However, the twenty-fourth king, Ar-Inziladun,
wanted to restore the friendship with the Elves and the Valar and called
himself Palantir, the Far-Sighted, in Quenya. He was the last to reject
Adunaic. He died without sons, and his daughter Miriel should have become
Ruling Queen. However, her cousin Pharazon took her to wife without her
consent, so that he would become King. Evidently he could not stand her
Quenya name Miriel, so he simply re-christened her Zimraphel in Adunaic
(once again without her consent, we must assume). Ar-Pharazon challenged
Sauron in Middle-earth, and the evil Maia got free transport to Numenor
by pretending to surrender. It is well known that by his cunning he soon
became the chief councillor of the King, and later High Priest for the
Satanic (or rather Morgothic) religion he instituted. If the Elvish tongues
were not highly regarded before Sauron came, things did not become any
better now. Yet Sauron's chief goal was to seduce the King to invade Aman,
thus provoking a war between Numenoreans and the Valar. As Sauron well
knew, the former would be utterly defeated and destroyed by the latter.
In the end, Sauron had his will, and as he had foreseen, that was the end
of Numenor. It also meant the end for Classical Adunaic. Of the few
Numenoreans who survived the Downfall, many were Elf-friends, led by Elendil,
Anarion and Isildur. According to PM:315, the Adunaic tongue was not tended
in Middle-earth: The surviving Faithful of Numenor spoke Sindarin themselves
and had no great love of Adunaic, this being the language of the rebel
Kings that had tried to suppress the Elvish tongues. Unloved and untended,
Adunaic changed into Westron, the Common Tongue of later ages.
Tolkien devised Adunaic shortly after World War II. It was intended
to have a "faintly Semitic flavour" or style (SD:240). This new language
grew out of his work on the so-called "Notion Club Papers" and his revision
of the legend of Numenor. One of the members of this fictitious club (inspired
by the Inklings!) supposedly learnt Adunaic in visionary dreams of the
far past. He even wrote an account of it, "Lowdham's Report on the Adunaic
Language", now published by Christopher Tolkien in Sauron Defeated p. 413-440.
The fact that Tolkien never completed Lowdham's Report - it breaks off
before it reaches the verb - and did no further work on Adunaic may be
a blessing in disguise. As Christopher Tolkien puts it: "Had he returned
to the development of Adunaic, 'Lowdham's Report' as we have it would doubtless
have been reduced to a wreck, as new conceptions caused shifts and upheavals
in the structure. More than likely, he would have begun again, refining
the historical phonology - and perhaps never yet reaching the Verb... 'Incompletion'
and unceasing change, often frustrating to those who study these
languages, was inherent in this art. But in the case of Adunaic, as things
turned out, a stability was achieved, though incomplete: a substantial
account of one of the great languages of Arda." (SD:439-440)
It seems, however, that Tolkien while writing the appendices to LotR
was about to reject the whole concept of a special Numenorean language,
despite all his work on Adunaic less than a decade earlier. He toyed with
the idea that the Edain had abandoned their Mannish tongue and adopted
"the Elvish Noldorin" (read: Sindarin) instead. See PM:63. The idea that
the Numenoreans spoke Elvish represented a revival of an earlier
conception: In LR:68 it is said that Sauron, hating all things Elvish,
taught the Numenoreans the old Mannish tongue they themselves had forgotten.
Here the implication seems to be that the Numenoreans spoke Quenya; see
Christopher Tolkien's note in LR:75. But Tolkien changed his mind several
times, back and forth; the final outcome was that the Edain never abandoned
their own tongue after all. By being mentioned and exemplified in the appendices
to LotR, Adunaic became a fixed part of the mythos.
There are no coherent Adunaic texts. Except single words scattered around in Lowdham's Report, most of the corpus consists of a number of fragmentary sentences given in SD:247, with Lowdham's interlinear translation. The translation given here is based on it; a few gaps have been filled. (In accordance with the fiction Tolkien's character Lowdham did not know the meaning of a few of the words, but their meanings can be found in other places: Zigurun is the Wizard, namely Sauron, and Nimruzðr is the Adunaic equvalent of Quenya Elendil. I have also added some capital letters in the Adunaic fragments. In the fiction, Lowdham did not know that the words in question were names.)
Kado Zigurun zabathan unakkha... "And so / [the] Wizard / humbled /
he came..."
...Eruhðnim dubdam Ugru-dalad... "...[the] Eruhini [Children of Eru]
/ fell / under [the] Shadow..."
...Ar-Pharazonun azaggara Avaloiyada... "...Ar-Pharazon /was warring/
against [the] Valar..."
...Barim an-Adun yurahtam daira saibeth-ma Eruvo "...[the] Lords of
[the] West / broke / the Earth / with [the] assent / of Eru..."
...azrðya du-phursa akhasada "...seas /so as to gush/ into [the] chasm..."
...Anadune zðran hikallaba... "...Numenor / [the] beloved / she fell
down..."
...bawðba dulgð... "...[the] winds [were] black..." (lit. simply "winds
/ black")
...balðk hazad an-Nimruzðr azulada... "...ships / seven / of Elendil
/ eastward..."
Agannalo buroda nenud... "Death-shadow / heavy /on us..."
...zaira nenud... "...longing [is] / on us..."
...adun izindi batan taido ayadda: ðdo katha batðna lokhð... "...west
/ [a] straight / road / once / went / now / all / roads / [are] crooked..."
Ephalak ðdon Yozayan "Far away / now [is] / [the] Land of Gift..."
Ephal ephalak ðdon hi-Akallabeth "Far / far away / now [is] / She-that-hath-fallen"
There are also a few Adunaic exclamations made by members of the Notion Club "speaking in tongues":
Ba kitabdahe! "Don't touch me!" (SD:250)
Narðka 'nBari 'nAdun yanakhim. "The Eagles of the Lords of the West
are at hand." (SD:251)
Urðd yakalubim! "The mountains lean over!" (SD:251)
The translations given here are sentences occurring together with the Adunaic words. It is not explicitly stated that they are the translations, but from the Adunaic words themselves it seems virtually certain that they are.
As noted by Christopher Tolkien, his father actually wrote a substantial account of Adunaic, namely Lowdham's Report in SD:413-440. This situation is unique in Tolkienian linguistics; normally we have to piece together information and analyze samples scattered over a great number of books. Adunaic would have been a language we could use with some confidence if the available vocabulary had not been so small. As a relatively detailed account is available, the serious student is referred to Sauron Defeated. Only a succinct survey of the main points of the grammar is given here, and the fairly detailed description of the phonology (and its development) is passed over. To reproduce all the information in Lowdham's Report is pointless, as Tolkien's own account is readily available. (The complex information regarding different noun classes and their inflection would have had to be reproduced almost word by word anyway.) In the case of the verb, though, we must rely on our own analysis, as Tolkien never reached that part of speech in his account. Neither does Lowdham's Report tell us much about adjectives. It is mainly concerned with the phonology and the general structure of the language, and gives what seems to be a pretty exhaustive account of how nouns is inflected.
General structure
Like the Semitic languages of our own age, Adunaic employs a system
of triconsonantal word-bases, apparently adopted from Khuzdul at some point
in the past. (Some bases have only two consonants.) But unlike the system
in Khuzdul (we think), each consonantal base is also associated with a
certain vowel that has to be present somewhere in all words derived from
this base (though it may be modified). Thus KARAB, sc. the consonantal
base K-R-B with the "characteristic vowel" a, means something wholly different
than KIRIB - a quite distinct consonantal base K-R-B that can be told apart
from the other exactly because it is married to another "characteristic
vowel", namely i.
Normally, the "characteristic vowel" (CV) appears between the first
and second consonant of the stem. Thus the base G-M-L with the CV i, meaning
"star" or "stars", produces actual words like gimli, gimle, gimlu, gimlat,
gimlð, gimlðya (SD:413), sc. the noun "star" in various cases and numbers.
But the CV may also be prefixed (IGMIL), suffixed (GIMLI) or wholly suppressed
in its normal place between the first and the second consonant (-GMIL,
with some other vowel prefixed). New words can be derived by moving the
CV around like this: while gimli is the normal word "star", igmil
means "a star-shaped figure" (SD:427). But if the CV ever disappeared wholly,
it would become impossible to tell apart words having the same consonants
in the stem. The golden rule is therefore that "one of the vowels of a
basic stem must be either the CV or one of its normal modifications" (SD:423,
on which page the modifications are described for those who are sufficiently
interested).
The Noun
It is practical to distinguish various genders of the Adunaic noun,
as in many Germanic languages: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. However,
Adunaic also has a so-called Common gender. In languages like German or
the Scandinavian languages, there is for the most part no logical connection
between the nature of the thing and its gender: True, German Mann, Frau,
Haus "man, woman, house" are Masculine, Feminine and Neuter, respectively,
but most words denoting inanimate objects can belong to any gender, and
it has often been pointed out that words like Madchen "girl" and Weib "wife"
are Neuter rather than Feminine. On the other hand, a semantically sex-neutral
noun like Mensch "human being" is grammatically speaking masculine. This
arbitrary distribution of genders is not found in Adunaic. Indeed Tolkien/Lowdham
doubted whether the word gender should strictly be used of the Adunaic
noun-classes at all; the classes refer directly to sex (SD:426), or in
the case of Neuter and Common nouns, to sexlessness. Masculine nouns denote
words applying to male beings and their functions (such as "father"), the
Feminina are the same for female beings, and the Neuters apply to inanimate
objects. The only exceptions involve inanimate objects being personified.
For instance, the Neuter word for sun, ure, turns into feminine Urð
if the Sun is considered a female being (influenced by the Elvish myth
that the Sun is the last fruit of Laurelin carried across the sky by the
female Maia Arien). The Common gender is used in the case of nouns that
are not characterized as to sex, such as ana "human being" and names of
animals (when not specially characterized; karab "horse" is Common, but
karbu "stallion" and karbð "mare" are logically Masculine and Feminine,
respectively). Masculine gender is often associated with the final consonants
-k, -r, -n, -d; cf. masculine names like Gimilkhad, Gimilzor, Pharazon.
Feminine gender is associated with -th, -l, -s, -z; cf. feminine names
like Inzilbeth, Zimraphel. (But these rules are not absolute, especially
in the case of personal names; Azrubel, the Adunaic translation of Quenya
Earendil "Sea-lover", is obviously not a feminine name.) Common and Neuter
nouns are more ill-defined in form, but Tolkien/Lowdham presents some general
rules in SD:427, like Common nouns preferring the vowel -a in the
last syllable.
More fundamental than the four "genders" is the division of all nouns
into Strong and Weak: "Strong nouns form the Plural, and in some cases
certain other forms, by modification of the last vowel of the Stem. Weak
nouns add inflexions in all cases" (SD:425).
The Adunaic noun is inflected for three numbers: Singular, dual and plural. Furthermore, it is inflected for three forms that may be called cases: A so-called Normal form, a Subjective form and an Objective form. For more detailed information about the various noun-classes and their inflection, see SD:436-438.
As the name strongly suggests, the Normal is the basic, uninflected form of the noun. In other words, the Normal singular is not morphologically marked as such by any affix. The Normal is used in cases where Adunaic grammar does not demand either the Subjective or the Objective (see below). The Normal is typically used when the noun is the object or the predicate of the sentence, as in Ar-Pharazonun Bar "King Pharazon [is] Lord", Bar "Lord" appearing in the Normal form because it is the predicate. It is possible to use a Normal noun as the subject of a sentence, but in that case the following verb must have pronominal prefixes. The Normal dual is constructed by adding the ending -at, so the dual of huzun "ear" is huznat "two ears". (It will be noted that the vowel of the syllable preceding the ending -at may disappear, thereby producing a new consonant cluster, like zn in this case - but this depends on what class the noun belongs to; long vowels are not lost). The Normal plural is formed by somehow introducing the long vowel ð in the final syllable, the plural of huzun being huzðn "ears". (In some classes of nouns, ð is added to the noun as a new final syllable, as in batan "road", pl. batani - but also batðna.) Note the distinction between dual and plural: One might think that the dual simply denotes two things and the plural denotes three or more things, but it is not quite as simple as that. Duals are used in the case of natural pairs, like huznat "two ears (of one person)". If we chop off one of Dick's ears and put it on a table together with one of Tom's ears, the Numenoreans would say that huzin and not huznat are lying on the table: the ears do not constitute a natural pair. Only in archaic language was the dual used with reference to two things that belonged together only casually.
The Subjective is the form a noun is in when it is the subject of a verb; hence the name. It is also used when a noun stands in apposition to another noun, as in Ar-Pharazon kathuphazganun "King Pharazon the Conqueror" (as opposed to the nominal sentence Ar-Pharazonun kathuphazgan "King Pharazon [is/was] a conqueror", with the predicate kathuphazgan "conqueror" in the Normal form). The form can be constructed in various ways, depending on which class the noun belongs to. Strong Neuters undergo certain internal vowel-changes, like zadan "house" becoming zadan, khibil "spring" becoming khibel and huzun "ear" becoming huzon. (These forms are ultimately products of a-infixion or, to use Lowdham's term, "a-fortification": The inflected forms represent *zadaan, *khibail, *huzaun, aa becoming long a and ai, au being monophthongized to long e, o.) Weak Neuters take the ending -a, the element that was infixed in the strong nouns being suffixed instead. But the subjective of masculine and feminine nouns are formed simply by adding the endings -un and -in, respectively: Ar-Pharazonun azaggara avaloiyada, "king Pharazon was warring against the Valar", *Zimraphelin banath 'nAr-Pharazon "Zimraphel [is] King Pharazon's wife". (The latter example I had to construct myself, for Tolkien/Lowdham provided no examples of the feminine subjective in -in. As observed by Erendis in UT:207, we don't hear too much about Numenorean women!) It will be noted that though the verb "is" is understood in Adunaic, its subject still appears in the subjective form. Common nouns take the ending -(a)n in the singular Subjective. The plural Subjective is formed by adding the ending -a in the case of Neuter nouns and -im otherwise; the dual lengthens the -at of the Normal to -at.
The Objective is not an independent form of the noun, but occurs only in compounds. It is formed by adding a u to the noun, as an infix or a suffix, often displacing another vowel or causing the vowel of the previous syllable to disappear: the Objectives of minal "heaven", azra "sea", huzun "ear", batan "road" are minul, azru, huzun/huznu, batanu, respectively. The Objective is used as the first element in compounds when the second element denotes an agent that does something to the first element. For instance, Quenya Earendil "Sea-lover" translates into Adunaic as Azrubel with azra "sea" in its Objective form azru because the sea is the object of the love of the "lover". Azrabel with "sea" in the Normal form still means "Sea-lover", but then in the sense of "lover from the sea" or something similar. Sometimes the "Object" relationship between the first and the second element of the compound may be somewhat ill-defined. In the Adunaic equivalent of Quenya Meneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven, minal "heaven, sky" occurs in its Objective form minul: Minultarik. The idea is that the tarik or pillar is supporting the sky, so that the sky is somehow the object of what the pillar "does". - The Objective has no plural or dual form; it is always singular. Hence the Adunaic version of Varda's title "Starkindler" is not Gimlu-nitðr with gimli "star" in its objective form gimlu, for that would mean "kindler of a (single, particular) star". (The form used is Gimilnitðr, gimil "stars" being an uninflected collective. See SD:427-428.)
Adunaic has no true genitive. Instead, compounds are often used; "the Land of Aman" may be expressed by what corresponds to "the Aman-land". Possession is typically expressed by the prefix an- "to, of", often reduced to 'n: as in Bar 'nAnadune, "Lord of Anadune", Narðka 'nBari 'nAdun "The Eagles of the Lords of the West" (SD:251, 428).
Prepositional affixes
Lowdham's Report mentions a few "adverbial 'prepositional' elements":
o "from", ad, ada "to, towards", ma "with", ze "at". These elements are
suffixed to the "Normal" form of the noun; in Lowdham's Report, they are
not counted as case endings. One more such prepositional element is apparently
dalad "under", as in ugru-dalad "under [the] Shadow". This dalad may incorporate
-ad "to", for the context shows that the meaning is not stationary position
under the Shadow, but movement to the position under it: Eruhðnim dubdam
ugru-dalad, "the Eruhini fell under the Shadow".
We have several examples of ada "to, towards, against, into, -ward":
Avaloiyada "against [the] Valar", akhasada "into [the] chasm", azulada
"eastward". There are examples of ma "with" and o "from" in the phrase
saibeth-ma Eruvo "with [the] assent of [lit. from] Eru". In both Avaloiyada
and Eruvo a glide consonant appears between the final vowels i and u of
the noun stems and the suffixed elements: y and v, respectively. See SD:424.
The "genitive" particle an, 'n discussed above may be considered just
another prepositional affix, though prefixed instead of suffixed.
The Adjective
Attested adjectives include words like izindi "straight", buroda "heavy",
ephalak far away (emphatic doubling ephal ephalak far far away), and also
(in SD:435) anaduni "western". It is not known how forms like the comparative
or the superlative are formed, if Adunaic had such forms at all. Unlike
the situation in languages like German, "there is no m[asculine,] f[eminine]
or n[euter] form of adjectives" (SD:425). But it appears that the adjective
does agree with the noun it describes in number: The adjectives dulgð "black"
and lokhð "crooked" show the ending ð, an Adunaic plural marker. The nouns
they describe are also plural: bawðba dulgð "black [were the] winds", katha
batðna lokhð "all roads [are] crooked".
A little can be learnt about adjective formation. The adjective anaduni
"western" is formed from the noun aduni "the West". As an is a particle
meaning "of", anaduni is literally *"of the West", but it may be taken
as an adjective and inflected as such. King Ar-Pharazon is called "the
Golden" in the Akallabeth, and pharaz means gold. If pharazon is the word
for "golden", the ending -on must be an adjective-former. But it may also
be a noun derived from pharaz, literally *"Golden One"; -on is indeed listed
as a nominal ending in SD:425.
We are told that "adjectives normally precede nouns" (SD:428). Bawðba
dulgð "winds black" does not mean "black winds", it is a nominal sentence
meaning "[the] winds were black" (SD:iii).
The Adverb
Two adverbs occur in our small corpus: taido "once" and ðdo "now",
the latter with the variant form ðdon. It appears that the form with final
n is used before words beginning in a vowel (including the semi-vowel Y:
ðdon Yozayan). Cf. the distribution of a/an in English, though an is not
used before semi-vowels. The noun Adun "West" can evidently be used in
the adverbial/allativic sense "westward". The particle ba "don't, *not"
(SD:250) may also be classified as an adverb.
The Participle
We have two examples of a past participle in -an: zabathan "humbled"
and zðran "loved, beloved". This ending is certainly cognate with Primitive
Quendian *-na, Quenya -na or -ina. Both of the participles follow the word
they describe.
Numerals
Only two numerals are known. satta "two" and hazid "seven" (SD:427,
428, hazad in SD:247). The base for "one" is said to be ?IR (SD:432, ?
= glottal stop), whence the divine name Eru, The One (Quenya Eru), but
the actual form of the numeral "one" is not given. We are told that all
the cardinal numerals except "one" are actually nouns. They follow their
noun: gimlð hazid "seven of stars" = seven stars.
Pronouns
No independent Adunaic pronouns are known, though they must have existed.
Some pronominal elements can be isolated from verbs; see below. SD:425
states that Adunaic "distinguishes gender (or rather sex) in the pronouns
of the third person", and according to SD:435 u and i "are the bases of
pronominal stems for 'he' and 'she' " - but it is not clear what the actual
words for "he" and "she" are. Hi-Akallabeth is translated "She-that-hath-fallen"
(SD:247), suggesting that "she" is hi. May "he" be *hu? (Compare Hebrew
hu' "he", hi' "she".) The word nenud is translated "on us"; perhaps "we"
or "us" is *nen?
The Verb
Christopher Tolkien extracts the following information from a few jottings
his father made about the Adunaic verb: "There were three classes of verbs:
I Biconsonantal, as kan 'hold'; II Triconsonantal, as kalab 'fall down';
III Derivatives, as azgara- 'wage war', ugruda- 'overshadow'. There were
four tenses: (3) continuative (past); (4) the past tense ('often used as
pluperfect when aorist is used = past, or as future perfect when aorist
= future'). The future, subjunctive, and optative were represented by auxiliaries;
and the passive was rendered by the impersonal verb forms 'with subject
in accusative'." (SD:439; (1) aorist ('corresponding to English "present",
but used more often than that as historic present or past in narrative');
(2) continuative (present); what is here called the "accusative" must be
the "Normal" form of the noun.) Hence, Adunaic expressed a passive construction
like "he was seen" by what corresponds to "him saw", i.e. "[someone] saw
him".
The "derivatives" referred to are evidently verbs derived from nouns;
ugruda- "overshadow" is clearly derived from ugru "shadow". Azgara- "wage
war" probably incorporates a noun "war" (azga? azgar?).
These are the inflected verbs that occur in Lowdham's Report and in
the final forms of the Adunaic fragments (I give the subject of the verbs
because the verb may somehow agree with its subject).
Verbs translated by the English past tense:
unakkha "he-came". Obviously a form of NAKH "come, approach".
dubdam "[the Eruhini] fell"
yurahtam "[the Lords of the West] broke"
hikallaba "she-fell-down" (she = Numenor)
ukallaba "[the Lord] fell" Bar ukallaba "the Lord fell", barun (u)kallaba
"it was the Lord who fell" (see SD:429). These are forms of KALAB, SD:416,
439.
ayadda "[the straight road] went".
usaphda "he understood" (base SAPHAD, SD:421)
There is also the continuative past tense in azaggara "[Ar-Pharazon]
was warring".
There are only a few verbs that are translated by the English present
tense:
yanakhim. "[the Eagles] are at hand." (SD:251) The verb yanakhim, here
translated "are at hand", is clearly derived from the verbal base NAKH
"come, approach" (SD:416).
yakalubim "[the mountains] lean over." Evidently a form of KALAB "fall
down". (SD:251)
There is one example of what seems to be a kind of subjunctive:
du-phursa "[seas] so-as-to-gush".
There is one example of an imperative:
Ba kitabdahe! "Don't touch me!" (SD:250) Ba is the negation "don't,
not"; Elvish cognates are known (WJ:370-371).
Before these we can analyze the verbal forms themselves, various affixes
must be identified and the basic verb-form isolated.
Plural verbs show the ending -m: yanakhim "(they) approach", yakalubim
"(they) lean over", dubdam "(they) fell", yurahtam "(they) broke". (We
may add nam "are" from the earlier form of the fragment given in SD.312,
clearly related to the Elvish base NA "to be", LR:374.)
Most verbs have pronominal prefixes. They are translated by English
pronouns only when the subject of the verb is not expressed by a separate
word:
u- "he" in unakkha "he-came", ukallaba "[he] fell", usaphda "he understood".
hi- "she" in hikallaba "she-fell-down" (compare ukallaba above)
yu- and ya- "they": yurahtam "(they) broke" (they = the Lords of the
West), yanakhim *"(they) are coming" (they = the Eagles), yakalubim "(they)
lean over" (they = the mountains). Concerning possible distinctions between
yu- and ya-, see note below.
ki- "you"? in Ba kitabdahe "don't [you] touch me" (see below).
a- "it"? in ayadda "went", the subject being an inanimate object (a
road).
These elements must be prefixed to the verb when its subject occurs in the Normal case (this subject must immediately precede the verb). The pronominal prefixes may also be employed in cases where the subject occurs in the subjective case (as in Barim an-Adun yurahtam daira "the Lords of the West broke the Earth"), but are not required.
NOTE: Based on the example dubdam "[they] fell", I argued in earlier versions of this article that du- might mean "they", but as Matthieu Kervran pointed out to me, the du- is probably part of a base *DUBUD "fall". I had assumed that the stem was *BADAM, but the ending -am is probably inflectional (composed of a past tense marker *-a and plural marker *-m, to be compared to -am in yurahtam "they broke"). The subject of the verb dubdam, namely Eruhðnim, occurs in the Subjective case, so no pronominal prefix should be needed. - The two different prefixes for "they", yu- and ya-, may well correspond to the endings u- "he" and a- *"it". Hence, yu- refers to a group of males (the subject of yurahtam being the Lords of the West), while ya- refers to a group of things or animals (the subjects of yakalubim and yanakhim being mountains and eagles, respectively). May there be a prefix *yi- (for *yhi-) meaning "they" of a group of females, corresponding to sg. hi- "she"?
In our sole example of an imperative, the cry ba kitabdahe! "don't touch
me!" (250), ba evidently means "not, don't". Kitabdahe, then, must mean
"touch me". It may be that the base for "touch" is *TABAD, here represented
by -tabda-, with a pronominal prefix ki- *"you" (listed above) and a suffix
-he "me". But it has also been suggested that -he is an imperative ending,
and that the literal meaning of ba kitabdahe is simply *"not you touch".
While nearly all the pronominal elements known from Adunaic can be compared
to Elvish elements of similar meaning, there are no Quendian first person
elements even remotely similar to -he. This fact may support the latter
interpretation of this suffix.
Removing the pronominal prefixes and the plural marker -m where necessary,
we arrive at the following basic forms:
Translated by English present tenses (including the continuative "is...-ing"
construction): nakhi "is at hand, *comes" (base NAKH "come, approach"),
kalubi "leans over" (base evidently KALAB "fall"). It may be that the i
is actually be part of a plural ending -im (compare the Subjective plural
ending as in Barim "Lords"), so that the verbal forms are simply nakh,
kalub - but there is no evidence either way, and the system would be more
symmetrical if we assume that the -i is part of the basic inflected form
of the verb.
Translated by English past tenses or past continuative constructions:
nakkha "came" (base NAKH "come, approach"), dubda "fell" (base *DUBUD),
rahta "broke" (*RAHAT), kallaba "fell down" (KALAB), yadda "went" (*YAD),
azaggara "was warring" (said to be a derived verb, the basic form being
given as azgara- in SD:439).
Probable subjunctive: du-phursa "so-as-to-gush" (*PHURUS).
Imperative: tabda or tabdahe.
A rather tentative interpretation:
The "present continuative" form of biconsonantal bases is formed by
A-fortification of the stem-vowel (turning a, i, u into a, e, o) and the
ending -i. Hence nakhi "is at hand, *comes" from NAKH. (We must assume
that a stem like ZIR "love" would have the present tense *zeri, while RUTH
"scar" would have the present tense *rothi.) Triconsonantal bases evidently
form their present tense after the pattern 1-CV-2-U-3-I (sc. by placing
the Characteristic Vowel between the two first consonants, inserting the
vowel u between the second and the third consonant and adding the
ending -i). Hence kalubi "leans over, *is falling" from KALAB "fall". No
example shows how the present tense of a derived verb is formed.
The past tense of a biconsonantal base is formed by doubling the final
consonant and adding the ending -a. Hence NAKH "come, approach" has the
past tense nakkha (KH producing the aspirate kkh, sc. k + ach-Laut, when
doubled). The form yadda "went" evidently represents a simple doubling
d > dd (stem *YAD). When it comes to the past tense of triconsonantal bases,
two distinct patterns are found in the material. All the forms show the
ending -a, just like the past tenses of biconsonantal bases, but the behaviour
of the second consonant of the stem differs. Three verbs are derived on
the pattern 1-CV-23-A, with no vowel between the second and the third consonant:
saphda "understood" (SAPHAD), dubda "fell" (*DUBUD) and rahta "broke" (*RAHAT).
But the verb kallaba "fell" from KALAB behaves differently, evidencing
a pattern 1-CV-22-CV-3-A instead: The second consonant is doubled and the
Characteristic Vowel persists before the last consonant of the stem. Is
this really the same past tense form as the above? May the tense
form of KALAB that corresponds to saphda, dubda, rahta not rather be kalba,
and may the forms of SAPHAD and *DUBUD that correspond to kallaba not rather
be sapphada and dubbuda? Tolkien did use kalba before he changed the form
to kallaba (with the prefix hi- for "she" in both cases); see SD:288. Did
he change the tense or revise the grammar? I suspect that he simply decided
to use another tense. Why may there be two forms that both translate into
past tenses in English? Tolkien noted that besides the continuative past
form, Adunaic has an aorist "corresponding to English 'present', but used
more often than that as historic present or past in narrative" (SD:439).
It may be, then, that one of the "past" forms we have identified represents
the aorist used as past in narrative, while the other "past" form is the
past continuative. In that case, which is which? Our sole inflected example
of a derived verb, azaggara "was warring", would by its English translation
seem to be a continuative past form. The more basic form is given in SD:439
as azgara- "wage war". Interestingly, the continuative form doubles the
second consonant g. Do we dare to assign a continuative meaning to all
the verbs that double the second consonant of the stem, so that nakkha,
yadda, and kallaba would mean *"was coming", *"was going", *"was falling"
rather than simply "came, went, fell"? And do we similarly dare to declare
saphda, dubda and rahta as aorists? (corresponding to continuative past
forms *sapphada, *dubbuda etc.)
The only example of a subjunctive, said in SD:439 to be formed by some
kind of auxiliary, is du-phursa "so-as-to-gush". May the prefixed element
du- represent the auxiliary? Phursa, clearly representing a triconsonantal
stem *PHURUS "gush", is by itself similar to the form tentatively identified
as an aorist above. So, once again tentatively, we conclude that the Adunaic
aorist is formed by prefixing du- to a form similar to the aorist. The
subjunctive does not take the plural ending -m, even if its subject (in
this case "seas") is plural.
The imperative verb buried in the phrase ba kitabdahe "don't touch
me" is either tabdahe or tabda, depending on whether we take the ending
-he to be an imperative ending or a pronominal suffix "me". Tabda (apparently
representing a triconsonantal base *TABAD) is again similar to the form
tentatively above identified as the aorist. We must conclude that the Adunaic
imperative is either identical in form to the aorist or is formed by adding
the suffix -he to the aorist.
In some cases no gloss can be given; Tolkien/Lowdham simply mentioned a word-form to illustrate some point regarding phonology or derivation, but did not gloss the word in question. Long vowels are marked by circumflexes; the main source (Lowdham's Report) uses macrons instead, but circumflexes are used in the narrative texts. Unless otherwise stated, the page numbers refer to Sauron Defeated. The digraphs th, ph, kh represent spirants (th as in think, ph = f and kh = German ach-Laut), while tth, kkh are aspirates (t + th, k + kh); pph, not exemplified, is similarly p + f (see SD:419). "Bases" are in capital letters. The earlier forms of Lowdham's "fragments" (SD:311-312), obsoleted by Tolkien's revisions, are excluded. So are a few other forms and names that do not seem to be valid at the point where Tolkien abandoned Adunaic. A few obsolete forms are mentioned under the entry for the form that replaced them, but are not given separate entries. Concerning the names of the Numenorean kings, page references are given to Unfinished Tales rather than LotR Appendix A, since all copies of UT have a uniform pagination.
-a Subjective ending for plural Neuters (430)
abar "strength, endurance, fidelity" (431). Evidently related to bar
"lord".
-ad, -ada "to, towards" (pronominal affixes) (429) Cf. Avaloiyada,
akhasada.
Adrahil masculine name (PM:439), replaced Agrahil.
adun "west, westward" (247, 435)
Adunaim *"Numenoreans", or perhaps rather *"Dunedain" (426)
agan "death", personified Agan "Death" (426; masculine when personified,
otherwise neuter). Cf. agannalo "death-shadow" (247)
Agathurush *"Fenland of Shadow" = S: Gwathlo (UT:263)
Aglahad masculine name (PM:440)
AK(A)LAB(A), (A)KALBA evidently modifications of KALAB, not translated
(418).
Akallabeth "She-that-is-fallen" (312) (also hi-Akallabeth), name of
the sunken Numenor.
akhasada "into [the] chasm" (247). (Incorporates -ada; hence *akhas
"chasm"?)
Alkarondas "Castle of the Sea", name of Ar-Pharazon's ship (PM:156,
spelt Alcarondas in SD:385). Seems to have replaced Aglarama of the same
meaning.
Amatthani "Land of Aman" (assimilated from Aman-thani) (435)
ammð, amme "mother" (434)
an adjectival prefix with genitival meaning, "of", often reduced to
'n: (435): Narðka 'nBari 'nAdun "The Eagles of the Lords of the West"
(251), thani anAman, thani n'Aman "Land of Aman" (435) (also Amatthani).
-an Subjective ending for Common nouns (also -n) (430)
ana "homo, human being" (426, 434, fully inflected in 437); masculine
anu "a male, man", feminine anð "a female" (434) (more technical words
than naru, kali "man, woman").
Anadune "Westernesse, Numenor" (247, 426)
anaduni "western" (426, 435)
Ar-Abattarðk "Tar-Ardamin" (UT:222). Adunaic *Abatta = Quenya Arda?
Ar-Adunakhor "Tar-Herunumen", The Lord of the West (UT:222)
Ar-Balkumagan "Tar-Ciryatan", *"King Shipwright" (PM:151). Surprisingly,
the name seems to incorporate the Objective of *balak "ship", though this
should mean "builder of a (particular) ship", as the Objective has no plural
form. Tar-Ciryatan "built a great fleet of royal ships" (UT:221), not just
one. Cf. Gimilnitðr vs. Gimlu-nitðr and the name Nimruzðr. Did Tolkien
reject the idea that the Objective is singular only?
Ar-Belzagar "Tar-Calmacil" (UT:222). The Q name seems to incorporate
macil = "sword", Adunaic *zagar? Less probably, the Quenya name may contain
calma "lamp" = Adunaic *bel or *belza?
Ar-Gimilzor "Tar-Telemnar "(UT:223). Telemnar may mean *"silver-flame",
but the Adunaic name seems to incorporate gimil "stars".
Ar-Inziladun "Tar-Palantir". (UT:223) The Quenya name means "the Far-sighted",
but Adunaic Inziladun means "Flower of the West" (UT:227).
Arminaleth = Quenya Armenelos, name of a city (PM:145).
Ar-Pharazon "King Pharazon, Tar-Calion" (435). From pharaz. Subjective
Ar-Pharazonun (247).
Ar-Pharazon kathuphazganun "King Pharazon the Conqueror" (429)
Ar-Sakalthor "Tar-Falassion" (UT:223) The Quenya name seems to incorporate
falasse "shore" = Adunaic *sakal?
Ar-Zimraphel "Tar-Miriel" (UT:224), see Zimraphel. Replaced Zimrahil,
PM:155.
Ar-Zimrathon "Tar-Hostamir" (UT:223). The Quenya name incorporates
mir "jewel" = Adunaic zimra; cf. Zimraphel = Miriel.
Aru "King", Aru n'Adunai "King of the Anadunians" (429)
-at dual ending (429)
attu, atto "father" (434)
Avale "goddess, *Valie" (428)
Avaloi "*the Valar, Powers" (305), Subjective pl. Avaloim (241); Avaloiyada
"against [the] Valar" (247), incorporating -ada.
Avalloni "*Avallone" (241, 305)
Avradð "Varda" (428)
azaggara "was warring", evidently a form of azgara- (247 cf. 439)
azar "star" - so according to PM:372, but in Lowdham's Report the word
for "star" is gimli, and azra (in SD:431 azar, later changed) means "sea".
azgara- "wage war" (439), cf. azaggara.
azra "sea", fully inflected in 431. Objective azru- in Azrubel (q.v.);
Subjective pl. azrðya in 247; also in azra-zain "sea-lands" (435).
Azrubel "Sea-lover" (= Quenya Earendil) (429, 305)
azulada "eastward" (247), incorporating -ada.
ayadda "went" (247)
<B>
ba "don't!" (250)
*balak "ship" (pl. balðk, q.v.), Objective balku- in Ar-Balkumagan,
q.v. Cf. huzun "ear", pl. huzðn, Objective huznu (430).
balðk "ships" (247). Sg. *balak?
banath "wife" (fully inflected in 437)
*bawab "wind" (see bawðba)
Bar "Lord" (428, fully inflected in 438), Subjective barun in 429;
Barðm an-Adun "[the] Lords of [the] West", the Valar. (247) Here the Subjective
plural is barðm; on p. 438 it is given as barðm, that may be more correct.
batan "road, path", pl. batðna (247, fully inflected in 431; notice
Note 16 on p. 435)
bawðba "winds", Subjective pl. (247) Sg. *bawab? (Cf. batan "road",
pl. batðna.)
beth "expression, saying, word" (but agental "sayer" as the final element
in compounds, as in izindu-beth). (427)
BITH "say" (416)
buroda "heavy" (247)
<D>
daira "Earth" (247)
daur "gloom" (earlier *daw'r) (423)
DAWAR *"gloom" (see daur)
dolgu "night" (with evil connotations) (306)
dubdam "fell" (pl.) (247)
dulgð "black" (pl.) (247)
du-phursa "so as to gush" (247)
<E>
ephalak "far away"; ephal ephalak "far far away" (247)
Eru "the One", God (Quenya Eru); Eruvo "from Eru" (248, 249); Eruhðnim
= Q: Eruhini, "the children of God" (247 cf. 249)
<G>
gimil "stars", an uninflected collective referring to the starry sky
in general. (427) Gimilnitðr "Star-kindler" = Quenya Elentari, title of
Varda (428). Gimlu-nðtir "kindler of a (particular) star", deliberate mistranslation
of Elentari to illustrate the point that the Objective is always singular
(428).
gimli "star", pl. gimlð (427). Fully inflected in 431.
Gimilkhad masculine name, seems to incorporate gimil "stars" (UT:223)
<H>
hazad "seven" (247). Any connection with Kh: Khazad "Dwarves", given
that the Dwarves were divided into Seven Houses? (427, 428 gives hazid.)
hi-Akallabeth "She-that-hath-fallen", Numenor. (247)
hikallaba "she fell down" (247)
huzun "ear", dual huznat "two ears" (428), fully inflected in 430,
see also note 15 on 435.
<I>
Ibal masculine name (UT:194)
ido "now", evidently idon when the next word begins in a vowel, cf.
English a/an (247)
igmil "star-shaped figure", pl. igmðl (427)
-im Subjective plural ending for all other nouns than Neuters (430).
Evidently in Adunaim, Avaloim, q.v.
Imrahil masculine name (UT:246), identified as a Numenorean name in
LotR Appendix E.
Imrazor masculine name (UT:447)
-in Subjective ending for weak Feminines (430).
Indilzar "Elros" (PM:164)
inzil "Flower", isolated from Inziladun "Flower of the West" (UT:227)
and Rothinzil "Foam-flower"; cf. also the feminine name Inzilbeth ("Flower-sayer"???)
mentioned in the Akallabeth.
izindi "straight" (247)
izindu-beth "true-sayer, prophet" (427)
izre (<izrei < izreyð) "sweetheart, beloved" (424, glossed and
fully inflected in 438). From the base ZIR.
?IR "one, alone" (? = glottal stop) (432)
<K>
kadar "city"; kadar-lai "city folk" (435)
kado "and so" (247)
KALAB "fall" (416); kalab "fall down" (439)
kali "woman" (434)
kallaba "fell", a form of KALAB (429)
kan "hold" (439)
karab "horse" (pl. karðb) (434). Masculine karbu "stallion" (434, 435),
feminine karbð "mare" (434).
katha "all" (247)
kathuphazgan "conqueror", Subjective kathuphazganun (429)
khau, kho "crow", pl. kwawi(m), khoi (426)
khibil "spring", fully inflected in 430.
kitabdahe! "touch me!" (from the phrase ba kitabdahe "don't touch me!"
(250) Base *TABAD "touch" (-tabda-) with pronominal affixes *ki- "you"
and *-he "me"?
kulub "roots, edible vegetables that are roots not fruits" (431), an
uninflected collective. Pl. kulbð "roots" of a definite number of roots
of plants.
<L>
lokhð "crooked" (pl.) (247)
lomi "night" (414), with no evil connotations (306)
<M>
-ma "with" (429)
magan *"wright", isolated from Ar-Balkumagan, q.v.
mano "spirit" (from *manaw-, *manau), pl. manoi (424, fully inflected
in 438)
minal "heaven, sky" (414), Objective minul in Minul-Tarik "Pillar of
Heaven", name of a mountain; Quenya Meneltarma (429, 241). Minal-tarik
would mean "Heavenly Pillar" (429). Cf. also Minal-zidar "Poise in Heaven"
(200). (241 gives minil instead of minal.)
mðk "baby boy" (427)
mðth "baby girl, maid-child" (427), "little girl" (437), fully inflected
in 438
miyat "(infant) twins" (427)
MIYI "small" (427)
<N>
-n Subjective ending for Common nouns (also -an) (430)
nadroth "hind-track", the wake of a boat; hence nad = "hind, *back"?
(PM:376)
NAKH "come, approach" (416). Cf. unakkha.
nalo "shadow", isolated from agannalo, q.v.
*narak "eagle"? Pl. narðka; cf. batan "road", pl. batðna.
nardu "soldier" (fully inflected in 438)
narðka "the Eagles" (sg. *narak?) Narðka 'nBari 'nAdun "The Eagles
of the Lords of the West" (251)
naru "man, male" (434, fully inflected in 437, that also gives an alternative
form naru)
nenud "on us" (247)
nðlo "moon", personified Nðlu (426 - masculine when personified, otherwise
neuter). Fully inflected in 431.
NIMIR "shine" (416)
nimir "Elf" (fully inflected in 436, Normal pl. Nimðr). Cf. also WJ:386:
"By the Dunedain the Elves were called Nimðr (the Beautiful)."
Nimriye "Nimrian [= Elvish] tongue", Quenya ("Avallonian") (414)
Nimruzðr Elendil, "Elf-lover" (247). The use of Objective nimru- for
"Elf" is surprising: As the Objective is always singular, this should mean
"lover of a particular Elf" rather than "lover of Elves in general". Cf.
Gimilnitðr vs. Gimlu-nitðr.
Nimruzðrim "Elf-friends" (PM:151), Subjective pl. of Nimruzðr.
nðph "fool" (426), also nuph (437)
nithil "girl" (427, fully inflected in 436)
nitðr "kindler", isolated from Gimilnitðr, q.v.
nulu "night", with evil connotations (306)
nuph "fool" (437), also nðph (426)
nuphar "parent", dual nuphrat "father and mother" as a pair (434)
<O>
-o "from", prepositional affix. In Eruvo.
obroth "fore-cutting", the curling water at the prow of a ship (so
ob = "(be)fore"?) (PM:376)
<P>
pa "hand" (< *pa3a), pl. pai (416, 426)
pharaz "gold" (426, also in LotR Appendix E). Cf. Ar-Pharazon.
phazan "prince, king's son" (436).
puh "breath" (426), fully inflected in 431.
<R>
raba "dog", masculine rabo, feminine rabe "bitch" (434, 437)
roth "cutting, track" (from a stem RUTH; in nadroth, obroth). Roth
was also used of the track of boats on water and could therefore be used
to mean "foam" (PM:376); cf. Rothinzil below.
Rothinzil "Foam-flower" = Q: Vingilot, Earendil's ship (360). See inzil.
Spelt Rothinzil in the opening paragraphs of the Akallabeth and in PM (e.g.
on page 370); the latter reading should probably be preferred.
rukh "shout" (426)
RUTH "scar, score, furrow", stem yielding words for plough and ploughing,
but "when applied to boats it referred to their track on water" (PM:376).
See roth, nadroth, obroth.
<S>
SAPHAD "understand" (416) Cf. usaphda.
saibeth "assent"; saibeth-ma "with assent" (247)
sapthan (p often being pronounced f) "wise-man, wizard" (421)
satta "two" (428)
sula "trump" (419)
sulum "mast" (419) (explained to be a cognate of Q tyulma, here derived
from PE *kyuluma, evidently obsoleting the earlier reconstruction *tyulma
in the Etymologies [LR:395])
<T>
taido "once" (not "one time", but "once upon a time")
tamar "smith" (fully inflected in 436)
tarik "pillar", in Minul-tarik "Pillar of Heaven" (429). Dual tarikat
(430).
thani anAman, thani n'Aman "Land of Aman" (435). Also Amatthani.
<U>
ugru "shadow", ugru-dalad "under [the] Shadow" (247; cf. 306). Verb
ugruda- "overshadow" (439)
ukallaba "fell" (429)
Ulbar masculine name (UT:195)
-un Subjective ending for Masculine nouns (430)
unakkha "he came", form of NAKH (247)
ure "sun", personified Urð (426 - feminine when personified, otherwise
neuter); uriyat "sun and moon" (428; actually Uri + the dual ending, the
"moon" being understood); urinðl(uw)at "sun and moon" (a compound of Uri
and Nðlu "Sun" and "Moon" + the dual ending), uriyat nðlo yet another way
of expressing "sun and moon", with the dual ending added to the first and
the latter following in the singular.
urðd "the mountains" (251). Sg. *urud?
*urud "mountain", pl. urðd (251). Cf. huzun "ear", pl. huzðn (430)
urug "bear" (426), urgð "female bear" (435)
uruk "goblin, orc" (fully inflected in 436)
usaphda "he understood" (420), from SAPHAD. Less commonly pronounced
usaptha.
<Y>
yanakhim "are at hand, *approach" (SD:251). Evidently a form of NAKH
"come, approach".
yakalubðm "lean over", pl. (251) Evidently a form of KALAB "fall down".
yurahtam "broke", pl. (247)
Yozayan "Land of Gift", a name of Numenor (Q: Andor). (In 241, 247,
cf. UT:184). Incorporates zayan (so *yo = "gift"?)
<Z>
zabathan "humbled" (247)
zadan "house", fully inflected in 430.
zain "lands", pl. of zayin. From *zayðn; in azra-zain.
zaira "longing" (247), zaira, zair in 423.
zayan "land" (423), pl. zain. In Yozayan, q.v.
Zamðn feminine name (UT:194)
-ze "at" (429)
zigur "wizard" (fully inflected in 437). Subjective Zigurun "the Wizard"
in 247, referring to Sauron.
Zimraphel "Miriel", feminine name. *Zimra seems to mean "jewel"; see
Ar-Zimrathon. Quenya Miriel may be interpreted "jewel-daughter", so Adunaic
*phel = "daughter"?
zini "female" (noun) (fully inflected in 437, that also gives an alternative
form zinð)
ZIR "love", desire" (423), cf. -zðr "lover" in Nimruzðr.
ziran "beloved" (247)
zorð "nurse" (438)
Q = Quenia
S = Sindarin
T = Telerin
PE = Primitive Elvish
Kh = Khuzdul