adunaic - the vernacular of numenor

8/3/2019 Adunaic - The Vernacular of Numenor

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Adnaic -the vernacular of NmenorAlso spelt: Adunaic (so in Lowdham's Report, our main source concerning this language,butAdnaic in the appendices to LotR)Also called: Nmenrean

INTERNAL HISTORY

When Men awoke in Hildrien at the first rising of the Sun, they started to invent alanguage, just like the Elves had done at Cuivinen millennia before. But as we know, Menwere never as creative as the Firstborn: "The desire for words awoke in us, and we began tomake 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 wasalready much watered down when their first representatives arrived in Beleriand. It did nottake Felagund long to interpret the tongue of Bor and his people, for "these Men had longhad dealings with the Dark Elves east of the mountains, and from them had learned muchof their speech, and since all the languages of the Quendi were of one origin, the languageof Bor and his folk resembled the Elven-tongue in many words and devises" (Silmarillionchapter 17). It is also pretty clear that Men had been in contact with Dwarves and hadborrowed much from Khuzdul, the language Aul made for his children: In PM:317,Tolkien refers to "the theory (a probable one) that in the unrecorded past some of thelanguages of Men - including the language of the dominant element in the Atani from

which Adnaic was derived - had been influenced by Khuzdul". We do not have enoughmaterial to identify whatever purely Mannish elements there may be in this mixture ofDwarvish and Dark-elven.

In Beleriand, Men eagerly learnt Sindarin, "but their own speech was not forgotten, andfrom it came the common tongue of Nmenor" (Silmarillion chapter 17). The First Ageended in the War of Wrath. The Valar finally bent their cataclysmic power upon Beleriandand 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. (Bythe way, how could anyone possibly survive the destruction of Beleriand? The Professornever 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 ofthe ocean, closer to Valinor than to Middle-earth. The Edain went over the seas and foundtheir new home, and led by Elros the son of Erendil they founded the realm of Nmenor. Itwas to last for three thousand two hundred and eighty-seven years, until the terrible daywhen Ar-Pharazn broke the Ban of the Valar, sailing into the West to conquer the BlessedRealm.

What was the linguistic situation in the Land of the Star while it stood? On the map ofNmenor in Unfinished Tales p. 164 the names are in Quenya. But the same book tells usthat Quenya was not a spoken language in Nmenor. All places had "official" High-Elvennames that were used in state documents, but in daily speech Sindarin or Adnaic names,


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generally of the same meaning, were used instead. Sindarin, Grey-elven, was known bymost people - the Nmenorean nobles even used it as their daily speech. But the vernacularspoken by common people was and ever remained Adnaic, a Mannish language derived

from the tongues of the Men who had sided with the Elves in the war against Morgoth.

In Anadn, as Nmenor or Westernesse was called in Adnaic, this language underwentcertain changes during the three thousand years the realm lasted. Some sounds disappearedand others merged, so that certain consonants were lost. On the other hand, new vowelsappeared: Originally, Adnaic only possessed the cardinal vowels a, i and u, but later thediphthongs ai and au were simplified to long and . Apart from the phonological changes,the language changed by a certain influx of Elvish loan-words. For instance, Quenya lm"night" was borrowed into Adnaic as lmi; interestingly, the word kept its cozyValinorean connotations: A lmi is a fair night under the stars, and the dark is notperceived as something gloomy. We also recognize other Elvish names, especially the

names of the Valar: Amn "Manw", Avrad"Varda", Mulkhr "Melkor". However,some words that may appear to be loan-words from Quenya do not, in fact, representborrowings. When "sky, heaven" is menel in Quenya and minal in Adnaic, the latter is aword that the ancestors of the Edain must have adopted from Avarin (Dark-elven) longbefore 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 arequite a few obvious Elvish borrowings, early and late, among the Adnaic wordsmentioned in Lowdham's Report:

adn "west" (SD:247), Sindarin dn (LR:376).

amm, amm "mother" (SD:434), Quenya amm (LR:348). Likely a late loan fromQuenya.

att, att "father" (SD:434), Quenya atar, hypocoristic atto (LR:349).azra "sea" (SD:429), evidently from the Primitive Elvish stem AYAR (Quenya ar)

(LR:349).b "don't" (SD:250). Primitive Elvish *BA "no!", Quenya v, Telerin b "I will not"

or "Do not", Sindarin baw! "No! Don't!" (WJ:370-371).bth "expression, saying, word" (SD:427). Sindarinpeth (lenited beth) "word". As

bth is derived from a stem BITH (SD:416), this is likely derived from the form PrimitiveElvish *KWET "say, speak" had taken in some Avarin language, from which the ancestorsof the Edain borrowed it. (We know that there was at least one Avarin language that

showedp for original *kw, so it is plausible that there may have been a dialect that addedvoice to thisp, producing initial b.) Cf. also later Westron batta "talker".

khr "lord" (as in Adnakhr, Lord of the West), Elvish stem KHER "rule, govern,possess" (LR:364), Quenya heru "lord".

li "folk", Quenya li (SD:435), evidently lai in one Avarin dialect (WJ:410).lkh"crooked" (SD:247), Eldarin stem lok- "bend, loop" (Silmarillion Appendix).nar "man" (SD:434), Elvish stem NERE (WJ:393; though according to the

Etymologies, the original stem was DER, with NR as a special Quenya form - seeLR:354, 376).


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Even more examples could be listed. This gives weight to some words of Faramir's that didnot make it into the published LotR, that "all speech of men in this world is Elvish indescent". (WR:159/PM:63. In the case of Adnaic, we must nonetheless take into account a

strong influence from Dwarvish as well as Elvish.) But despite its considerable amount ofElvish ingredients, Adnaic was considered a Mannish language. Though it was thelanguage of the common people, we definitely get the impression that it was not esteemedas 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 matterhow few people actually knew it. TheAkallabth informs us that "beside their own[Adnaic] names, all the lords of the Nmenreans had also Eldarin names", and in the caseof the first fifteen kings, only their Quenya names are given. True, it is said of Aldarion, thesixth king, that he actually preferred Adnaic to Eldarin (UT:194), but the very fact thatthis is mentioned indicates that it was not the normal opinion. Yet the star of Adnaic wasto 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 successorTar-Atanamir, the Nmenreans started to envy the Elves their immortality. The friendshipbetween Valinor and Nmenor became cold, and while the Elvish languages were onceheld in high esteem, the Nmenreans stopped teaching them to their children at the time ofTar-Ancalimon. The kings continued to use Quenya names, but only because this was whatmillennia of tradition demanded. The sixteenth king is stated to have used both a High-Elven and an Adnaic name: Tar-Calmacil vs. Ar-Belzagar - and the "King's men", hostileto all things Elvish, used the latter. But it lasted until the coronation of the twentieth kingbefore any monarch ascended the throne in an Adnaic name: Ar-Adnakhr, the Lord ofthe West. The Elf-friends were not too happy when even he translated it into Quenya Tar-Herunmen in the official Scroll of Kings, for only Manw could properly be called Lordof the West. Adnakhr's two successors on the throne of Nmenor followed his exampleand used Adnaic names. However, the twenty-fourth king, Ar-Inziladn, wanted to restorethe friendship with the Elves and the Valar and called himselfPalantir, the Far-Sighted, inQuenya. He was the last to reject Adnaic. He died without sons, and his daughter Mrielshould have become Ruling Queen. However, her cousin Pharazn took her to wife withouther consent, so that he would become King. Evidently he could not stand her Quenya nameMriel, so he simply re-christened her Zimraphel in Adnaic (once again without herconsent, we must assume). Ar-Pharazn challenged Sauron in Middle-earth, and the evilMaia got free transport to Nmenor by pretending to surrender. It is well known that by hiscunning 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 highlyregarded before Sauron came, things did not become any better now. Yet Sauron's chiefgoal was to seduce the King to invade Aman, thus provoking a war between Nmenreansand the Valar. As Sauron well knew, the former would be utterly defeated and destroyed bythe latter. In the end, Sauron had his will, and as he had foreseen, that was the end ofNmenor. It also meant the end for Classical Adnaic. Of the few Nmenreans whosurvived the Downfall, many were Elf-friends, led by Elendil, Anrion and Isildur.According to PM:315, the Adnaic tongue was not tended in Middle-earth: The survivingFaithful of Nmenor spoke Sindarin themselves and had no great love of Adnaic, thisbeing the language of the rebel Kings that had tried to suppress the Elvish tongues.Unloved and untended, Adnaic changed into Westron, the Common Tongue of later ages.


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(We are not told whether the evil Black Nmenoreans who had sailed to Middle-earthbefore the Downfall and eventually rose to power among the Haradrim attempted topreserve and cultivate a purer form of Adnaic - at least as a noble or learned tongue

among themselves.)

EXTERNAL HISTORY

Tolkien devised Adnaic 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 workon the so-called "Notion Club Papers" and his revision of the legend of Nmenor.One of the members of this fictitious club (inspired by the Inklings!) supposedlylearnt Adnaic 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 Defeatedp. 413-440. The fact that Tolkien never completedLowdham's Report - it breaks off before it reaches the verb - and did no furtherwork on Adnaic 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 itwould doubtless have been reduced to a wreck, as new conceptions caused shiftsand 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 theselanguages, was inherent in this art. But in the case of Adunaic, as things turnedout, a stability was achieved, though incomplete: a substantial account of one ofthe great languages of Arda." (SD:439-440)

It seems, however, that Tolkien while writing the appendices to LotR was about to rejectthe whole concept of a special Nmenrean language, despite all his work on Adnaic lessthan a decade earlier. He toyed with the idea that the Edain had abandoned their Mannishtongue and adopted "the Elvish Noldorin" (read: Sindarin) instead. See PM:63. The ideathat the Nmenreans spoke Elvish represented a revival of an earlier conception: In LR:68it is said that Sauron, hating all things Elvish, taughtthe Nmenreans the old Mannishtongue they themselves had forgotten. Here the implication seems to be that theNmenreans spoke Quenya; see Christopher Tolkien's note in LR:75. But Tolkienchanged his mind several times, back and forth; the final outcome was that the Edain neverabandoned their own tongue after all. By being mentioned and exemplified in the

appendices to LotR, Adnaic became a fixed part of the mythos.

THE CORPUS

There are no coherent Adnaic texts. Except single words scattered around inLowdham's Report, most of the corpus consists of a number of fragmentarysentences given in SD:247, with Lowdham's interlinear translation. The translationgiven here is based on it; a few gaps have been filled. (In accordance with thefiction Tolkien's character Lowdham did not know the meaning of a few of thewords, but their meanings can be found in other places: Zigrun is the Wizard,namely Sauron, and Nimruzr is the Adnaic equvalent of Quenya Elendil. I have


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also added some capital letters in the Adnaic fragments. In the fiction, Lowdhamdid not know that the words in question were names.)

Kad Zigrun zabathn unakkha... "And so / [the] Wizard / humbled / he came..."...ruhnim dubdam Ugru-dalad... "...[the] Eruhni [Children of Eru] / fell / under [the]Shadow..."...Ar-Pharaznun azaggara Avaliyada... "...Ar-Pharazn / was warring / against [the]Valar..."...Brim an-Adn yurahtam dira sibth-m ruv "...[the] Lords of [the] West /broke / the Earth / with [the] assent / of Eru..."...azrya du-phurs akhsada "...seas /so as to gush/ into [the] chasm..."...Anadn zrn hikallaba... "...Nmenor / [the] beloved / she fell down..."...bawba dulg... "...[the] winds [were] black..." (lit. simply "winds / black")...balk hazad an-Nimruzr azlada... "...ships / seven / of Elendil / eastward..."

Agannl burda nnud... "Death-shadow / heavy /on us..."...zira nnud... "...longing [is] / on us..."...adn izindi batn tid ayadda: d ktha batna lkh... "...west / [a] straight / road /once / went / now / all / roads / [are] crooked..."phalak dn Yzyan "Far away / now [is] / [the] Land of Gift..."phal phalak dn hi-Akallabth "Far / far away / now [is] / She-that-hath-fallen"

There are also a few Adnaic exclamations made by members of the Notion Club"speaking in tongues":

B kitabdah! "Don't touch me!" (SD:250)

Narka 'nBri 'nAdn yankhim. "The Eagles of the Lords of the West are at hand."(SD:251)Urd yakalubim! "The mountains lean over!" (SD:251)

The translations given here are sentences occurring together with the Adnaic words. It isnot explicitly stated that they are the translations, but from the Adnaic words themselves itseems virtually certain that they are.

THE STRUCTURE OF ADNAIC

As noted by Christopher Tolkien, his father actually wrote a substantial account ofAdnaic, namely Lowdham's Reportin SD:413-440. This situation is unique inTolkienian linguistics; normally we have to piece together information and analyzesamples scattered over a great number of books. Adnaic would have been alanguage we could use with some confidence if the available vocabulary had notbeen so small. As a relatively detailed account is available, the serious student isreferred to Sauron Defeated. Only a succinct survey of the main points of thegrammar is given here, and the fairly detailed description of the phonology (and itsdevelopment) is passed over. To reproduce all the information in Lowdham'sReport is pointless, as Tolkien's own account is readily available. (The complexinformation regarding different noun classes and their inflection would have had to


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be reproduced almost word by word anyway.) In the case of the verb, though, wemust rely on our own analysis, as Tolkien never reached that part of speech in hisaccount. 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 giveswhat seems to be a pretty exhaustive account of how nouns is inflected.

General structure

Like the Semitic languages of our own age, Adnaic employs a system oftriconsonantal word-bases, apparently adopted from Khuzdul at some point in thepast. (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 hasto 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 "characteristicvowel" a, means something wholly different than KIRIB - a quite distinctconsonantal base K-R-B that can be told apart from the other exactly because it ismarried to another "characteristic vowel", namely i.

Normally, the "characteristic vowel" (CV) appears between the first and second consonantof the stem. Thus the base G-M-L with the CV i,meaning "star" or "stars", produces actualwords like gimli, giml, gimlu, gimlat, giml, gimlya (SD:413), sc. the noun "star" invarious 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 apartwords having the same consonants in the stem. The golden rule is therefore that "one of thevowels 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 gendersof the Adnaic noun, as in manyGermanic languages: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter. However, Adnaic alsohas a so-called Commongender. In languages like German or the Scandinavian

languages, there is for the most part no logical connection between the nature ofthe thing and its gender: True, German Mann, Frau, Haus"man, woman, house"are Masculine, Feminine and Neuter, respectively, but most words denotinginanimate objects can belong to any gender, and it has often been pointed out thatwords like Mdchen"girl" and Weib"wife" are Neuter rather than Feminine. On theother hand, a semantically sex-neutral noun like Mensch"human being" isgrammatically speaking masculine. This arbitrary distribution of genders is notfound in Adnaic. Indeed Tolkien/Lowdham doubted whether the word gendershould strictly be used of the Adnaic noun-classes at all; the classes refer directlyto sex(SD:426), or in the case of Neuter and Common nouns, to sexlessness.Masculine nouns denote words applying to malebeings and their functions (such


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as "father"), the Feminine are the same for female beings, and the Neuters apply toinanimate objects. The only exceptions involve inanimate objects beingpersonified. For instance, the Neuter word for sun, r, turns into feminine rifthe Sun is considered a female being (influenced by the Elvish myth that the Sun isthe last fruit of Laurelin carried across the sky by the female Maia Arien). TheCommongender is used in the case of nouns that are not characterized as to sex,such as an "human being" and names of animals (when not speciallycharacterized; karab "horse" is Common, but karb "stallion" and karb"mare" arelogically Masculine and Feminine, respectively). Masculine gender is oftenassociated with the final consonants -k, -r, -n, -d; cf. masculine names likeGimilkhd, Gimilzr, Pharazn. Feminine gender is associated with -th, -l, -s, -z;cf. feminine names like Inzilbth, Zimraphel. (But these rules are not absolute,especially in the case of personal names; Azrubl, the Adnaic translation ofQuenya Erendil"Sea-lover", is obviously not a feminine name.) Commonand

Neuternouns are more ill-defined in form, but Tolkien/Lowdham presents somegeneral rules in SD:427, like Common nouns preferring the vowel -a, in the lastsyllable.

More fundamental than the four "genders" is the division of all nouns into Strong andWeak: "Strong nouns form the Plural, and in some cases certain other forms, bymodification of the last vowel of the Stem. Weaknouns add inflexions in all cases"(SD:425).

The Adnaic noun is inflected for three numbers: Singular, dual and plural. Furthermore, itis 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-classesand their inflection, see SD:436-438.

As the name strongly suggests, theNormal is the basic, uninflected form of the noun. Inother words, the Normal singular is not morphologically marked as such by any affix. TheNormal is used in cases where Adnaic grammar does not demand either the Subjective orthe Objective (see below). The Normal is typically used when the noun is the object or thepredicate of the sentence, as in Ar-Pharaznun Br "King Pharazn [is] Lord", Br"Lord" appearing in the Normal form because it is the predicate. It is possible to use aNormal noun as the subject of a sentence, but in that case the following verb must havepronominal prefixes. TheNormal dual is constructed by adding the ending -at, so the dual

ofhuzun "ear" is huznat "two ears". (It will be noted that the vowel of the syllablepreceding the ending -at may disappear, thereby producing a new consonant cluster, like znin this case - but this depends on what class the noun belongs to; long vowels are not lost).TheNormal plural is formed by somehow introducing the long vowel in the final syllable,the plural ofhuzun being huzn "ears". (In some classes of nouns,is added to the noun asa new final syllable, as in batn "road", pl. batni - but also batna.) Note the distinctionbetween dual and plural: One might think that the dual simply denotes two things and theplural denotes three or more things, but it is not quite as simple as that. Duals are used inthe case ofnatural pairs, like huznat "two ears (of one person)". If we chop off one ofDick's ears and put it on a table together with one of Tom's ears, the Nmenreans wouldsay that huzn and not huznat are lying on the table: the ears do not constitute a natural


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pair. Only in archaic language was the dual used with reference to two things that belongedtogether only casually.

The Subjective is the form a noun is in when it is the subject of a verb; hence the name. It isalso used when a noun stands in apposition to another noun, as in Ar-Pharaznkathuphazgnun "King Pharazn the Conqueror" (as opposed to the nominal sentence Ar-Pharaznun kathuphazgn "King Pharazn [is/was] a conqueror", with the predicatekathuphazgn "conqueror" in the Normal form). The form can be constructed in variousways, depending on which class the noun belongs to. Strong Neuters undergo certaininternal vowel-changes, like zadan"house" becoming zadn, khibil "spring" becomingkhibl and huzun "ear" becoming huzn. (These forms are ultimately products ofa-infixion or, to use Lowdham's term, "a-fortification": The inflected forms represent*zadaan, *khibail, *huzaun, aa becoming long and ai, au being monophthongized tolong , .) 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 areformed simply by adding the endings -un and -in, respectively: Ar-Pharaznun azaggaraavaliyada, "king Pharazn was warring against the Valar", *Zimraphelin banth 'nAr-Pharazn "Zimraphel [is] King Pharazn's wife". (The latter example I had to constructmyself, for Tolkien/Lowdham provided no examples of the feminine subjective in -in. Asobserved by Erendis in UT:207, we don't hear too much about Nmenrean women!) It willbe noted that though the verb "is" is understood in Adnaic, its subject still appears in thesubjective form. Common nouns take the ending -(a)n in the singular Subjective. Theplural subjective is formed by adding the ending -a in the case of Neuter nouns and -imotherwise; the dual lengthens the -at of the Normal to -t.

The Objective is not an independent form of the noun, but occurs only in compounds. It isformed by adding a u to the noun, as an infix or a suffix, often displacing another vowel orcausing the vowel of the previous syllable to disappear: the Objectives ofminal "heaven",azra "sea", huzun "ear", batn "road" are minul, azru, huzun/huznu, batnu,respectively. The Objective is used as the first element in compounds when the secondelement denotes an agent that does something to the first element. For instance, QuenyaErendil "Sea-lover" translates into Adnaic as Azrubl with azra "sea" in its Objectiveform azru because the sea is the objectof the love of the "lover". Azrabl with "sea" in theNormal form still means "Sea-lover", but then in the sense of "lover from the sea" orsomething similar. Sometimes the "Object" relationship between the first and the secondelement of the compound may be somewhat ill-defined. In the Adnaic equivalent of

QuenyaMeneltarma, the Pillar of Heaven, minal "heaven, sky" occurs in its Objectiveform minul: Minultrik. The idea is that the trik or pillar is supporting the sky, so thatthe sky is somehow the object of what the pillar "does". - The Objective has no plural ordual form; it is always singular. Hence the Adnaic version of Varda's title "Starkindler" isnotGimlu-nitr with gimli "star" in its objective form gimlu, for that would mean "kindlerof a (single, particular) star". The form used is Gimilnitr, gimil "stars" being anuninflected collective (hence grammatically "singular"). See SD:427-428. There are,however, a few compounds in our corpus where the prefixed Objective does seem to have aplural or at least numberless meaning; see the entries Ar-Balkumagn and Nimruzr in thewordlist below. Perhaps Tolkien revised the grammar so that the Objective may sometimesbe numberless rather than strictly singular.


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Adnaic has no true genitive. Instead, compounds are often used; "the Land of Aman" maybe expressed by what corresponds to "the Aman-land". Possession is typically expressed bythe prefix an-"to, of", often reduced to 'n: as in Br 'nAnadn, "Lord of Anadn",

Narka 'nBri 'nAdn "The Eagles of the Lords of the West" (SD:251, 428).

Prepositional affixes

Lowdham's Report mentions a few "adverbial 'prepositional' elements": "from",ad, ada "to, towards", m "with", z "at". These elements are suffixed to the"Normal" form of the noun; in Lowdham's Report, they are not counted as caseendings. One more such prepositional element is apparently dalad "under", as inugru-dalad"under[the] Shadow". This dalad may incorporate -ad "to", for thecontext shows that the meaning is not stationary position under the Shadow, but

movement tothe position under it: ruhnim dubdam ugru-dalad, "the Eruhni fellunder the Shadow".

We have several examples ofada "to, towards, against, into, -ward": Avaliyada "against[the] Valar", akhsada "into [the] chasm", azlada "eastward". There are examples ofm"with" and "from" in the phrase sibth-m ruv "with [the] assent of [lit. from] Eru".In both Avaliyada and ruv a glide consonant appears between the final vowels i and uof 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 prepositionalaffix, though prefixed instead of suffixed.

The Adjective

Attested adjectives include words like izindi "straight", burda "heavy", phalak"far away" (emphatic doubling phal phalak "far far away"), and also (in SD:435)anadni "western". It is not known how forms like the comparative or thesuperlative are formed, if Adnaic had such forms at all. Unlike the situation inlanguages like German, "there is no m[asculine,] f[eminine] or n[euter] form ofadjectives" (SD:425). But it appears that the adjective does agree with the noun itdescribes in number: The adjectives dulg"black" and lkh"crooked" show theending, an Adnaic plural marker. The nouns they describe are also plural:bawbadulg"black [were the] winds", ktha batna lkh"all roads[are]crooked".

A little can be learnt about adjective formation. The adjective anadni "western" is formedfrom the noun adni "the West". As an is a particle meaning "of", anadni is literally *"ofthe West", but it may be taken as an adjective and inflected as such. King Ar-Pharazn iscalled "the Golden" in the Akallabth, and pharaz means gold. Ifpharazn is the word for"golden", the ending -n must be an adjective-former. But it may also be a noun derivedfrom pharaz, literally *"Golden One"; -n is indeed listed as a nominal ending in SD:425.


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We are told that "adjectives normally precede nouns" (SD:428). Bawba dulg"windsblack" 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: tid "once" andd "now", the latter withthe variant formdn. It appears that the form with final n is used before wordsbeginning in a vowel (including the semi-vowel Y:dn Yzyan). Cf. thedistribution of a/anin English, though anis not used before semi-vowels. The nounAdn "West" can evidently be used in the adverbial/allativic sense "westward". Theparticle b "don't, *not" (SD:250) may also be classified as an adverb.

The ParticipleWe have two examples of a past participle in -n: zabathn "humbled" and zrn"loved, beloved". This ending is certainly cognate with Primitive Quendian *-n,Quenya -naor -ina. Both of the participles follow the word they describe.

Numerals

Only two numerals are known. satta "two" and hazid "seven" (SD:427, 428, hazadin SD:247). The base for "one" is said to be ?IR (SD:432, ? = glottal stop), whence

the divine name ru, 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" areactually nouns. They follow their noun: giml hazid "seven of stars" = seven stars.

Pronouns

No independent Adnaic pronouns are known, though they must have existed.Some pronominal elements can be isolated from verbs; see below. SD:425 statesthat Adnaic "distinguishes gender (or rather sex) in the pronouns of the thirdperson", 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 wordsfor "he" and "she" are. Hi-

Akallabth is translated "She-that-hath-fallen" (SD:247), suggesting that "she" ishi. May "he" be *hu? (Compare Hebrew hu'"he", hi'"she".) The word nnud istranslated "on us"; perhaps "we" or "us" is *nn? (See also list of pronominalprefixes in the section about the Verb below.)

The Verb

Christopher Tolkien extracts the following information from a few jottings his father madeabout the Adnaic verb: "There were three classes of verbs: I Biconsonantal, as kan 'hold';II Triconsonantal, as kalab 'fall down'; III Derivatives, as azgar- 'wage war', ugrud-


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'overshadow'. There were four tenses: (3) continuative (past); (4) the past tense ('often usedas pluperfect when aorist is used = past, or as future perfect when aorist = future'). Thefuture, 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 orpast in narrative'); (2) continuative (present); what is here called the "accusative" must bethe "Normal" form of the noun.) Hence, Adnaic expressed a passive construction like "hewas seen" by what corresponds to "him saw", i.e. "[someone] saw him".

The "derivatives" referred to are evidently verbs derived from nouns; ugrud-"overshadow" is clearly derived from ugru "shadow". Azgar- "wage war" probablyincorporates a noun "war" (azga? azgar?).

These are the inflected verbs that occur in Lowdham's Report and in the final forms of the

Adnaic fragments (I give the subject of the verbs because the verb may somehow agreewith its subject).

Verbs translated by the English past tense:

unakkha "he-came". Obviously a form ofNAKH "come, approach".dubdam "[the Eruhni] fell"yurahtam "[the Lords of the West] broke"hikallaba "she-fell-down" (she = Nmenor)ukallaba "[the Lord] fell" Br ukallaba "the Lord fell", brun (u)kallaba"it was the Lord who fell" (see SD:429). These are forms ofKALAB,

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-Pharazn] was warring".

There are only a few verbs that are translated by the English present tense:

yankhim. "[the Eagles] are at hand." (SD:251) The verb yankhim, heretranslated "are at hand", is clearly derived from the verbal base NAKH"come, approach" (SD:416).

yakalubim "[the mountains] lean over." Evidently a form ofKALAB "falldown". (SD:251)

There is one example of what seems to be a kind of subjunctive: du-phurs "[seas] so-as-to-gush".

There is one example of an imperative: B kitabdah! "Don't touch me!" (SD:250) B isthe negation "don't, not"; Elvish cognates are known (WJ:370-371).


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Before these we can analyze the verbal forms themselves, various affixes must be identifiedand the basic verb-form isolated.

Plural verbs show the ending -m: yankhim "(they) approach", yakalubim "(they) leanover", dubdam "(they) fell", yurahtam "(they) broke". (We may add nam "are" from theearlier 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 whenthe subject of the verb is not expressed by a separate word:

u- "he" in unakkha "he-came", ukallaba "[he] fell", usaphda "heunderstood".hi- "she" in hikallaba "she-fell-down" (compare ukallaba above)

yu- and ya- "they": yurahtam "(they) broke" (they = the Lords of the West),yankhim *"(they) are coming" (they = the Eagles), yakalubim "(they) leanover" (they = the mountains). Concerning possible distinctions between yu-and ya-, see note below.ki- "you"? in B kitabdah "don't [you] touch me" (see below).a-"it"? in ayadda "went", the subject being an inanimate object (a road).

These elements mustbe prefixed to the verb when its subject occurs in the Normal case(this subject must immediately precede the verb). The pronominal prefixes may also beemployed in cases where the subject occurs in the subjective case (as in Brim an-Adnyurahtam dira "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- mightmean "they", but as Matthieu Kervran pointed out to me, the du- is probably part of a base *DUBUD "fall". Ihad assumed that the stem was *BADAM, but the ending -am is probably inflectional (composed of a pasttense marker *-a and plural marker *-m, to be compared to -am in yurahtam "they broke"). The subject ofthe verb dubdam, namely ruhnim, occurs in the Subjective case, so no pronominal prefix should beneeded. - The two different prefixes for "they", yu- and ya-, may well correspond to the endings u- "he" anda- *"it". Hence, yu- refers to a group of males (the subject ofyurahtam being the Lords of the West), whileya- refers to a group of things or animals (the subjects ofyakalubim and yankhim being mountains andeagles, 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 b kitabdah! "don't touch me!" (250), bevidently means "not, don't". Kitabdah, then, must mean "touch me". It may be that thebase for "touch" is *TABAD, here represented by -tabda-, with a pronominal prefix ki-*"you" (listed above) and a suffix -h "me". But it has also been suggested that -h is animperative ending, and that the literal meaning ofb kitabdah is simply *"not you touch".While nearly all the pronominal elements known from Adnaic can be compared to Elvishelements of similar meaning, there are no Quendian first person elements even remotelysimilar to -h. This fact may support the latter interpretation of this suffix.

Removing the pronominal prefixes and the plural marker -m where necessary, we arrive atthe following basic forms:


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Translated by English present tenses: nkhi "is at hand, *comes" (base NAKH "come,approach"), kalubi "leans over" (base evidently KALAB "fall"). It may be that the i isactually be part of a plural ending -im (compare the Subjective plural ending as in Brim

"Lords"), so that the verbal forms are simply nkh, kalub - but there is no evidence eitherway, and the system would be more symmetrical if we assume that the - i is part of the basicinflected form of the verb.

Translated by English past tenses or past continuative constructions: nakkha "came" (baseNAKH "come, approach"), dubda "fell" (base *DUBUD), rahta "broke" (*RAHAT),kallaba "fell down" (KALAB), yadda "went" (*YAD), azaggara "was warring" (said tobe a derived verb, the basic form being given as azgar- in SD:439).

Probable subjunctive: du-phurs "so-as-to-gush" (*PHURUS).

Imperative: tabda or tabdah.

A rather tentative interpretation:

The "present continuative" form ofbiconsonantal bases is formed by A-fortification of thestem-vowel (turning a, i, u into , , ) and the ending -i. Hence nkhi "is at hand, *comes"from NAKH. (We must assume that a stem like ZIR "love" would have the present tense*zri, while RUTH "scar" would have the present tense *rthi.) Triconsonantal basesevidently form their present tense after the pattern 1-CV-2-U-3-I (sc. by placing theCharacteristic Vowel between the two first consonants, inserting the vowel u between thesecond 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 derivedverb isformed.

The past tense of a biconsonantal base is formed by doubling the final consonant andadding the ending -a. Hence NAKH "come, approach" has the past tense nakkha (KHproducing 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 pasttense oftriconsonantal bases, two distinct patterns are found in the material. All the formsshow the ending -a, just like the past tenses of biconsonantal bases, but the behaviour of thesecond 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 verbkallaba "fell" from KALAB behaves differently, evidencing a pattern 1-CV-22-CV-3-Ainstead: The second consonant is doubled and the Characteristic Vowel persists before thelast consonant of the stem. Is this really the same past tense form as the above? May thetense form ofKALAB that corresponds to saphda, dubda, rahta not rather be kalba, andmay the forms ofSAPHAD and *DUBUD that correspond to kallaba not rather besapphada 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 revisethe grammar? I suspect that he simply decided to use another tense. Why may there be twoforms that both translate into past tenses in English? Tolkien noted that besides thecontinuative past form, Adnaic has an aorist"corresponding to English 'present', but used


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more often than that as historic present or past in narrative" (SD:439). It may be, then, thatone 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 derivedverb, azaggara "was warring", would by its Englishtranslation seem to be a continuative past form. The more basic form is given in SD:439 asazgar- "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 secondconsonant 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 similarlydare to declare saphda, dubda and rahta as aorists? (corresponding to continuative pastforms *sapphada, *dubbuda etc.)

The only example of a subjunctive, said in SD:439 to be formed by some kind of auxiliary,is du-phurs "so-as-to-gush". May the prefixed element du- represent the auxiliary?

Phurs, clearly representing a triconsonantal stem *PHURUS "gush", is by itself similar tothe form tentatively identified as an aorist above - except for the lengthening of the finalvowel. This 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 b kitabdah "don't touch me" is either tabdahor tabda, depending on whether we take the ending -h to be an imperative ending or apronominal suffix "me". Tabda (apparently representing a triconsonantal base *TABAD)is again similar to the form tentatively above identified as the aorist. We must conclude thatthe Adnaic imperative is either identical in form to the aorist or is formed by adding thesuffix -h to the aorist.

This concludes our discussion of Adnaic grammar. For another study, seeLalaith's article at http://rover.wiesbaden.netsurf.de/~lalaith/Tolkien/Grammar.html.

ADNAIC WORDLIST

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 glossthe 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 SauronDefeated. The digraphs th, ph, kh represent spirants (thas in think, ph= fand kh= German ach-Laut), while tth, kkh are aspirates (t + th, k + kh); pph, notexemplified, is similarly p + f (see SD:419). "Bases" are in capital letters. Theearlier forms of Lowdham's "fragments" (SD:311-312), obsoleted by Tolkien'srevisions, are excluded. So are a few other forms and names that do not seem tobe valid at the point where Tolkien abandoned Adnaic. A few obsolete forms arementioned under the entry for the form that replaced them, but are not givenseparate entries. Concerning the names of the Nmenrean kings, pagereferences are given to Unfinished Talesrather than LotR Appendix A, since mostcopies of UT have a uniform pagination.


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-a Subjective ending for plural Neuters (430)abr "strength, endurance, fidelity" (431). Evidently related to br "lord".

-ad, -ada "to, towards" (postpositional affixes) (429) Cf. Avaliyada, akhsada.Adrahil masculine name (PM:439), replaced Agrahil.adn "west, westward" (247, 435)Adnim *"Nmenreans", or perhaps rather *"Dnedain" (426)agan "death", personified Agn "Death" (426; masculine when personified,

otherwise neuter). Cf. agannlo "death-shadow" (247)Agathurush *"Fenland of Shadow" = Sindarin Gwathl (UT:263)Aglahad masculine name (PM:440)AK(A)LAB(A), (A)KALBA evidently modifications ofKALAB, not translated

(418).Akallabth "She-that-is-fallen" (312) (also hi-Akallabth), name of the sunken

Nmenor.akhsada "into [the] chasm" (247). (Incorporates -ada; hence *akhs "chasm"?)Alkarondas "Castle of the Sea", name of Ar-Pharazn's ship (PM:156, spelt

Alcarondas in SD:385). Seems to have replaced Aglarrma of the same meaning. Otherstake Alcarondas as being properly a Quenya form, translation of the actual Adnaic nameAglarrma - but neither name is easy to match with the translation (?) "Castle of the Sea".

Amatthni "Land of Aman" (assimilated from Amn-thni) (435)amm, amm "mother" (434)an adjectival prefix with genitival meaning, "of", often reduced to 'n: (435): Narka

'nBri 'nAdn "The Eagles of the Lords of the West" (251), thni anAmn, thnin'Amn "Land of Aman" (435) (also Amatthni).

-an Subjective ending for Common nouns (also -n) (430)an "homo, human being" (426, 434, fully inflected in 437); masculine an "a male,

man", feminine an"a female" (434) (more technical words than naru, kali "man,woman").

Anadn "Westernesse, Nmenor" (247, 426)anadni "western" (426, 435)Ar-Abattark "Tar-Ardamin" (UT:222). Adnaic *Abatta = QuenyaArda?Ar-Adnakhr "Tar-Herunmen", The Lord of the West (UT:222)Ar-Balkumagn "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. Gimilnitr vs. Gimlu-nitr; but foranother example of a "plural" or numberless Objective see Nimruzr. Did Tolkien rejectthe idea that the Objective is singular only?

Ar-Belzagar "Tar-Calmacil" (UT:222). The Quenya name seems to incorporatemacil = "sword", Adnaic *zagar? (This element would in any case be related to the verbazgar- "wage war".) Much less probably, the Quenya name may contain calma "lamp" =Adnaic *bel or *belza?

Ar-Gimilzr "Tar-Telemnar" (UT:223). Telemnarmay mean *"silver-flame", butthe Adnaic name seems to incorporate gimil "stars".

Ar-Inziladn "Tar-Palantir". (UT:223) The Quenya name means "the Far-sighted",but Adnaic Inziladn means "Flower of the West" (UT:227).


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Arminalth = QuenyaArmenelos, name of a city (PM:145).Ar-Pharazn "King Pharazn, Tar-Calion" (435). From pharaz. Subjective Ar-

Pharaznun (247). Ar-Pharazn kathuphazgnun "King Pharazn the Conqueror" (429)

Ar-Sakalthr "Tar-Falassion" (UT:223) The Quenya name seems to incorporatefalass "shore" = Adnaic *sakal?

Ar-Zimraphel "Tar-Mriel" (UT:224), see Zimraphel. Replaced Zimrahil, PM:155.Ar-Zimrathn "Tar-Hostamir" (UT:223). The Quenya name incorporates mir(mr)

"jewel" = Adnaic *zimra; cf. Zimraphel =Mriel.ru "King", ru n'Adni "King of the Anadunians" (429)ASAD ??? (421)Asdi ??? Often pronounced azdi. A derivative of the base ASAD. (421)-at dual ending (429)ATLA ??? Also in the form TAL(A). (418)att, att "father" (434)

Aval "goddess, *Vali" (428)Avali "*the Valar, Powers" (305), Subjective pl. Avalim (241); Avaliyada

"against [the] Valar" (247), incorporating -ada.Avallni "*Avalln" (241, 305)Avrad"Varda" (428)ayadda "went" (247)azaggara "was warring", evidently a form ofazgar- (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".azgar- "wage war" (439), cf. azaggara and Ar-Belzagar.azra "sea", fully inflected in 431. Objective azru- in Azrubl (q.v.); Subjective pl.

azrya in 247; also in azra-zin "sea-lands" (435).Azrubl "Sea-lover" (= QuenyaErendil) (429, 305)azlada "eastward" (247), incorporating -ada.b "don't!" (250)*balak "ship" (pl. balk, q.v.), Objective balku- in Ar-Balkumagn, q.v. Cf. huzun

"ear", pl. huzn, Objective huznu (430).balk "ships" (247). Sg. *balak?banth "wife" (fully inflected in 437)Br "Lord" (428, fully inflected in 438), Subjective brun in 429; Barm an-Adn

"[the] Lords of [the] West", the Valar. (247) Here the Subjective plural is barm; on p. 438it is given as brm, that may be more correct.

batn "road, path", pl. batna (247, fully inflected in 431; notice Note 16 on p. 435)*bawb "wind" (see bawba)bawba "winds", Subjective pl. (247) Sg. *bawb? (Cf. batn "road", pl. batna.)bth "expression, saying, word" (but agental "sayer" as the final element in

compounds, as in izindu-bth). (427)BITH "say" (416)burda "heavy" (247)dira "Earth" (247)dur "gloom" (earlier *daw'r) (423)DAWAR *"gloom" (see dur)dolgu "night" (with evil connotations - contrast lmi) (306)


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dubdam "fell" (pl. verb) (247)dulg"black" (pl.) (247) Evidently from the same base as dolgu "night".du-phurs "so as to gush" (247)

phalak "far away"; phal phalak "far far away" (247)ru "the One", God (QuenyaEru); ruv "from ru" (248, 249); ruhnim =

QuenyaEruhni, "the children of God" (247 cf. 249)gimil "stars", an uninflected collective referring to the starry sky in general. (427)

Gimilnitr "Star-kindler" = QuenyaElentri, title of Varda (428). Gimlu-ntir "kindler ofa (particular) star", deliberate mistranslation ofElentri to illustrate the point that theObjective is always singular (428).

Gimilkhd masculine name, seems to incorporate gimil "stars" (UT:223)GIMLI ??? Variant forms and derivatives are listed in 425. 434 gives GIM'L, plus a

derivative GAIMAL (434).gimli "star", pl. giml(427). Fully inflected in 431.

hazad "seven" (247). Any connection with Khuzdul Khazd"Dwarves", given thatthe Dwarves were divided into Seven Houses? (427, 428 gives hazid.)

hi-Akallabth "She-that-hath-fallen", Nmenor. (247)hikallaba "she fell down" (247)huzun "ear", dual huznat "two ears" (428), fully inflected in 430, see also note 15 on

435.bal masculine name (UT:194)id "now", evidently idn when the next word begins in a vowel, cf. English a/an

(247)IGIML ??? Variant forms are and derivatives are listed in 422-423.igmil "star-shaped figure", pl. igml (427)

-im Subjective plural ending for all other nouns than Neuters (430). Evidently inAdnim, Avalim, q.v.

Imrahil masculine name (UT:246), identified as a Nmenrean name in LotRAppendix E.

Imrazr masculine name (UT:447)-in Subjective ending for weak Feminines (430).Indilzar "Elros" (PM:164)inzil "Flower", isolated from Inziladn "Flower of the West" (UT:227) and

Rothinzil "Foam-flower"; cf. also the feminine name Inzilbth ("Flower-sayer"???)mentioned in theAkallabth.

izindi "straight" (247)

izindu-bth "true-sayer, prophet" (427)izr (< izri < izry) "sweetheart, beloved" (424, glossed and fully inflected in 438).

From the base ZIR.?IR "one, alone" (? = glottal stop) (432)kadar "city"; kadar-li "city folk" (435)kad "and so" (247)KALAB "fall" (416); kalab "fall down" (439)kali "woman" (434)kallaba "fell", a form ofKALAB (429)kan "hold" (439)KARAB ??? (415) The base ofkarab?


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karab "horse" (pl. karb) (434). Masculine karb "stallion" (434, 435), femininekarb"mare" (434).

ktha "all" (247)

kathuphazgn "conqueror", Subjective kathuphazgnun (429). This word mayseem to incorporate the objective of (a word related to) ktha "all" above. Is a "conqueror"perceived as *"one who subdues all/everything" or similar? The final element *phazgnunfortunately cannot be interpreted, but it may be an agental formation (same ending - n asin [Ar-]Balkumagn *"[King] Ship-maker"; here it apparently does not mark a pastparticiple).

kw, ku ??? From the base KIW (424).khu, kh "crow", pl. kwwi(m), khi (426)khibil "spring", fully inflected in 430.KIRIB ??? (415)kitabdah! "touch me!" (from the phrase b kitabdah "don't touch me!" (250) Base

*TABAD "touch" (-tabda-) with pronominal affixes *ki- "you" and *-h "me"?KIW ??? Cf. kw, ku. (424)ky, ki ??? From the base KIW. Cf. KUY (424)KUL'B ??? (422) The source ofkulub? Variant forms and derivatives are listed in

422-423.KULUB ??? The source ofkulub? Variant forms and derivatives are listed in 425.kulub "roots, edible vegetables that are roots not fruits" (431), an uninflected

collective. Pl. kulb"roots" of a definite number of roots of plants.(424)KUY ??? Cf. ky, ki (424)lkh"crooked" (pl.) (247)

lmi "night" (414), with no evil connotations (306) - contrast dolgu-m "with" (429)*magn *"wright", isolated from Ar-Balkumagn, q.v.man "spirit" (from *manaw-, *manau), pl. mani (424, fully inflected in 438)mk "baby boy" (427)minal "heaven, sky" (414), Objective minul in Minul-Trik "Pillar of Heaven",

name of a mountain; QuenyaMeneltarma (429, 241). Minal-trik would mean "HeavenlyPillar" (429). Cf. also Minal-zidar "Poise in Heaven" (200). (241 gives minil instead ofminal.)

mth "baby girl, maid-child" (427), "little girl" (437), fully inflected in 438miyt "(infant) twins" (427)

MIYI "small" (427)-n Subjective ending for Common nouns (also -an) (430)nadroth "hind-track", the wake of a boat; hence nad = "hind, *back"? (PM:376)NAK- ??? (422). Variant forms and derivatives are listed in 422-423.NAKH "come, approach" (416). Cf. unakkha.nlo "shadow", isolated from agannlo, q.v.*nark "eagle"? Pl. narka; cf. batn "road", pl. batna.nardu "soldier" (fully inflected in 438)narka "the Eagles" (sg. *nark?) Narka 'nBri 'nAdn "The Eagles of the Lords

of the West" (251)naru "man, male" (434, fully inflected in 437, that also gives an alternative form


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nar)nnud "on us" (247)nlo "moon", personified Nl (426 - masculine when personified, otherwise neuter).

Fully inflected in 431.NIMIR "shine" (416)nimir "Elf" (fully inflected in 436, Normal pl. Nimr, Objective nimru- in

Nimruzr, q.v.) Cf. also WJ:386: "By the Dnedain the Elves were called Nimr(theBeautiful)."

Nimriy "Nimrian [= Elvish] tongue", Quenya ("Avallonian") (414)Nimruzr "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. Gimilnitr vs. Gimlu-nitr.

Nimruzrim "Elf-friends" (PM:151), Subjective pl. ofNimruzr.nph "fool" (426), also nph (437)

nithil "girl" (427, fully inflected in 436)nitr "kindler", isolated from Gimilnitr, q.v.nlu "night", with evil connotations (306)nph "fool" (437), also nph (426)nuphr "parent", dual nuphrt "father and mother" as a pair (434)- "from", prepositional affix. In ruv.obroth "fore-cutting", the curling water at the prow of a ship (so ob = "(be)fore"?)

(PM:376)p "hand" (< *pa3a), pl. pi (416, 426)PA3 probable form of the base that yielded p, q.v. (416)pharaz "gold" (426, also in LotR Appendix E). Cf. Ar-Pharazn.

phazn "prince, king's son" (436).ph "breath" (426), fully inflected in 431.raba "dog", masculine rab, feminine rab "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.

Rthinzil "Foam-flower" = Quenya Vingilot, Erendil's ship (360). See inzil. SpeltRothinzil in the opening paragraphs of theAkallabth and in PM (e.g. on page 370); thelatter reading should probably be preferred.

rkh "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.

SAPAD ??? (421) Cf. sapda.SAPHAD "understand" (416) Cf. usaphda.saibth "assent"; saibth-m "with assent" (247)sapda ??? (often pronounced sabda). A derivative ofSAPAD. (421)sapthn (p often being pronounced f) "wise-man, wizard" (421)satta "two" (428)sla "trump" (419)sulum "mast" (419) (explained to be a cognate of Quenya tyulma, here derived from

Primitive Elvish *kyulum, evidently obsoleting the earlier reconstruction *tyulm in the


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Etymologies [LR:395])tid "once" (not "one time", but "once upon a time") (247)TAL(A) ??? Also in the form ATLA. (418)

tamar "smith" (fully inflected in 436)trik "pillar", in Minul-trik "Pillar of Heaven" (429). Dual trikat (430).thni anAmn, thni n'Amn "Land of Aman" (435). Also Amatthni.ugru "shadow", ugru-dalad "under [the] Shadow" (247; cf. 306). Verb ugrud-

"overshadow" (439)ukallaba "fell" (sg. verb) (429)Ulbar masculine name (UT:195)-un Subjective ending for Masculine nouns (430)unakkha "he came", form ofNAKH (247)r "sun", personified r(426 - feminine when personified, otherwise neuter);

riyat "sun and moon" (428; actually ri + the dual ending, the "moon" being

understood); rinl(uw)at "sun and moon" (a compound ofri and Nlu "Sun" and"Moon" + the dual ending), riyat nlo yet another way of expressing "sun and moon",with the dual ending added to the first and the latter following in the singular.

urd "the mountains" (251). Sg. *urud?*urud "mountain", pl. urd (251). Cf. huzun "ear", pl. huzn (430)urug "bear" (426), urg"female bear" (435)uruk "goblin, orc" (fully inflected in 436)usaphda "he understood" (420), from SAPHAD. Less commonly pronounced

usaptha.yakalubm "lean over", pl. (251) Evidently a form ofKALAB "fall down".yankhim "are at hand, *approach" (SD:251). Evidently a form ofNAKH "come,

approach".Yzyan "Land of Gift", a name of Nmenor (QuenyaAndor). (In 241, 247, cf.

UT:184). Incorporates zyan (so *y = "gift"?)yurahtam "broke", pl. (247)zabathn "humbled" (247)zadan "house", fully inflected in 430.zin "lands", pl. ofzyin. From *zyn; in azra-zin.zira "longing" (247), zaira, zir in 423.Zamn feminine name (UT:194)zyan "land" (423), pl. zin. In Yzyan, q.v.-z "at" (429)

zigr "wizard" (fully inflected in 437). Subjective Zigrun "the Wizard" in 247,referring to Sauron.

Zimraphel "Mriel", feminine name. *Zimra seems to mean "jewel"; see Ar-Zimrathn. QuenyaMriel may be interpreted "jewel-daughter", so Adnaic *phel ="daughter"?

zini "female" (noun) (fully inflected in 437, that also gives an alternative form zin)ZIR "love", desire" (423), cf. -zr "lover" in Nimruzr.zirn "beloved" (247)zr"nurse" (438)


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adunaic - the vernacular of numenor

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