máhanaxar

place name. Ring of Doom, *(lit.) Ring of Judgement

The circle of thrones where the Valar sat in council (S/38), an adaptation of the Valarin word Māχananaškād “Doom-ring” (WJ/399, 401). The Valarin word māχan more accurately means “authority, authoritative decision” (WJ/399), so the “doom” in its English translation is most likely used in its older sense “judgement”. This circle is also known by the (Vanyarin?) name Rithil-Anamo, said to be a translation of the same Valarin name (WJ/401).

Derivations

• Val. Māχananaškād “Doom-ring” ✧ WJ/401

Elements

Word	Gloss
Máhan	“one of the eight chiefs of the Valar”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
Val. māχananaškād > Máhanaxar	[māxananaskad] > [māxanaskad] > [māxanaskað] > [māhanaskað] > [māhanaskar] > [māhanaksar]	✧ WJ/401

Rithil-Anamo

ring of doom

Rithil-Anamo place name "Ring of Doom", translation of the foreign word Máhanaxar that was adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:401). Compare Anamo, q.v. Presumably *Risil-Anamo in Exilic Quenya, since the digraph th of rithil must represent the spirant þ (expressed by the letter súlë, older thúlë, in Tengwar writing).