bawab

noun. wind

The noun for “wind”, attested only in the plural (bawîb) and subjective plural (bawîba) forms (SD/247, SD/312). Its plural form indicates that it is a strong-noun (Strong I), so its final vowel must be short, but in theory it could be any of a, i or u, each of which would be replaced by long î in plural nouns. Nouns with identical vowels are more common, however, so ✱bawab is the most likely singular form, though as Helge Fauskanger points out (AL/Adûnaic) the normal form could also be the weak noun ✱bawâb with a poetic strong plural (SD/435).

bawîba dulgî

winds (were) black

The 7th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). The subject bawîba is the subjective plural of #bawab “wind”. There is no verb, so the subjective here functions as the to-be verb “were”, as discussed on SD/429. The adjective dulgî is the plural of dulgu “black”, agreeing in number with the subject.

This sentence did not appear at all in the first draft. In the second draft of the Lament, it was simply the noun phrase dulgu bawīb “✱black wind” rather than a full sentence (SD/312). Curiously, the adjective in the second draft did not agree in number with the noun it modified.

anadûnê

place name. Westernesse

The Adûnaic name for Númenor (Q. Númenórë), with the same meaning as its Quenya name: “Westernesse” (S/261). In The Silmarillion appendix, Christopher Tolkien stated that is it a loan word from Elvish (SA/andúnë). According to J.R.R. Tolkien’s own writing (SD/426), this is true, albeit not directly. Anadûnê is a feminized form of the adjective anadûni “western, of the west”, which is itself related to S. dûn “west”.

-mâ

preposition. with

A prepositional suffix translated “with” (SD/247, 429).

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, it was the grammatical inflection -ma used for the draft-instrumental (SD/438).

adûn

noun. west, westward

A noun meaning “west(ward)” (SD/435, PE17/18). Tolkien stated that was “a loan word from Eldarin speech in the language of the Folk of Hador, from which Númenórean was later derived” (PE17/18). Probably it is derived from S. dûn “west”, as suggested by several authors (AAD/9, EotAL/NDU). Tolkien stated that it was an adjective and its proper noun form was adûni (SD/435), but adûn was used as a noun in phrases such as Bârîm an-adûn “Lords of the West” (SD/247).

adūn batān akhaini ezendi

West road lay straight

The first draft of the 11th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). It resembles the final version, but is missing the adverb tâidô and has the verb khay- “to lie” instead of yad- “to go”.

The first two words adūn “west” and batān “road” are the same as in the final version. The verb form akhaini “lay” seems to be the draft-perfect tense of the verb #khay- “to lie”. The word ezendi “straight” (instead of later izindi) appears at the end, perhaps functioning as an adverb.

anadûni

adjective. western

An adjective translated “western” formed from the noun adûni “the West” which was in turn formed from the adjective adûn “west”; the initial an- was the genitival prefix (SD/435). This adjective anadûni was in turn femininized to produce the place name Anadûnê “Westeresse, Númenor”.

anadūni akallabi

Westernesse fell in ruin

The first draft of the 6th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version in its grammar and in the omission of the word zîrân “beloved”. The subject anadūni seems to be an earlier version of Anadûnê “Númenor”. The verb akallabi “fell in ruin” is an early form of kalab- “to fall (down)”, perhaps in the draft-perfect tense.

zigûr

noun. wizard

A noun translated “wizard” and given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead. As the proper name Zigûr, it was the Adûnaic name for Sauron.

banâth

noun. wife

The noun for “wife”, given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead.

sapthân

noun. wise man, wizard

A noun translated “wise man, wizard” given as an example of the phonetic development of primitive aspirates in contact with stops (SD/421). According to Tolkien, it was pronounced [safθān], indicating that the combination pth would be pronounced as a voiceless labial fricative [f] followed by a voiceless dental fricative [θ]. Given the phonetic rules of Adûnaic, most voiceless stops would be pronounced as fricatives before another fricative in Classical Adûnaic.

kali

noun. woman

A noun translated “woman” (SD/434).

abattârik

masculine name. ?World Pillar

The Adûnaic name of the Tar-Ardamin, the 19th rulers of Númenor (UT/222). His Quenya name appears to mean “✱World Tower”. The last element of his Adûnaic name is clearly Ad. târik “pillar”, so perhaps its meaning is similar. If so, the first element of his Adûnaic name may mean “World”. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/BAN¹) this element is likely ✱aban or abân, with the final n altered to t in the compound according to the rules of Adûnaic assimilation.

adûni

noun. the West

According to Tolkien, this is the proper noun form of the adjective adûn “west” (SD/435), though adûn is used as a noun in some examples as well.

arpharazōn azgaranādu avalōi-{men >>}si

‽ was waging war‽ Powers on

The first draft of the 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version primarily in grammar. It has a difficult-to-interpret form azgaranādu of the verb azgarâ-. See the entry to that verb for possible interpretations. The last word avalōi-si seems to be the draft-dative plural form of Avalô “Power, God”, changed from the draft-instrumental plural form avalōi-men.

avalô

noun. Power, God

An Adûnaic noun translated as “God” or “Power” (SD/247, 305), the equivalent of (and possibly derived from) Q. Vala. It is probably pronounced [awalō], since the sound [w] in Adûnaic was sometime written “v” (SD/434). It frequently appeared in its plural or subjective plural forms Avalôi(m) “Powers, Gods”.

Conceptual Development: In early drafts of Adûnaic its plural was Avalâi with a long â instead of ô, perhaps indicating an earlier singular form Avalâ closer to Vala. Earlier still this word was given as plural Balāi, a more direct derivative of the Elvish root form ᴹ√BAL.

azgarâ-

verb. to wage war

A verb meaning “to wage war” (SD/439), one of two examples of an derived-verb and the only one with any attested inflections. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne initially suggested it is composed of the words ✱azga “war” and a causative suffix ✱-râ- (VSH/24), but later suggested (AAD/12) it may be related ✱zagar so that its literal meaning was “✱wield a weapon” or “✱put to the sword”, similar to ᴹQ. mahta- “wield a weapon, fight” < ᴹ√MAK “sword”. Andreas Moehn also suggested (EotAL/ZAG’R) the verb may be related to ✱zagar “sword”.

This verb appears in slightly different forms in each version of the Lament of Akallabêth, changing as follows: azgaranādu (SD/311) >> azagrāra (SD/312) >> azaggara (SD/247). All three versions have similar glosses, “was waging war” or “was warring”, which seems to imply these are all instances of the continuative-past tense. As they are the only clear instances of this tense, it is difficult to decipher the conceptual development of this verb.

The first form azgaranādu belongs to the draft Adûnaic period and is probably grammatically distinct from the later forms. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne thoroughly analyzed this draft form (VSH/35). The two later forms appeared in very similar versions of the Lament. Rather than representing a revision of the grammar, they could represent distinct verb tenses, as for example Tolkien’s vacillation between the forms hikalba and hikallaba in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba. The question is, to which tense does each form belong?

Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/28) concluded that the azaggara represents the continuative-past without analyzing azagrāra. Andreas Moehn agreed with them in his grammatical article on Adûnaic (LGtAG) but changed his mind in his etymological analysis (EotAL/ZAG’R), concluding it is the past tense instead. I also believe azaggara is more likely to be a simple past tense.

The double-g of the form azaggara resembles other verb forms identified as the past tense in the theories used here, and it seems likelier to me that Tolkien changed the verb from the continuative-past to the simple past without revising the gloss. The second a in azaggara is likely inserted in the verb stem to break up the consonant cluster in az-ggara, since Adûnaic allows at most two consecutive medial-consonants (SD/418).

If the above reasoning is correct, this would make the form azagrāra the best candidate for the continuative-past. Perhaps the repetition of the final suffix -ra is used to mark the continuous nature of the action. All of this is highly speculative, however, since we are working only from a single example.

batân

noun. road, path, way

A noun variously translated as “road”, “path” or “way” (SD/247, 431; VT24/12) and fully declined on SD/431. This noun also appears in the variant strong-plural form batîn that was sometimes used with Weak I nouns in older and poetic writing (SD/247, 435). Its ordinary weak plural form batânî appears in the declension chart on SD/431. Several authors have suggested (AAD/13, EotAL/BAT) that this noun may be a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT). If so, its final element may be the agental suffix -ân, and its initial element may be a verb ✱bat- “walk”, so that the literal sense of the word might be “✱walkway”.

bêth

noun. expression, saying, word

A noun translated as “expression, saying, word” (SD/427). It is likely derived from the Primitive Adûnaic root √BITH “say” (SD/416). This word is very similar to Sindarin peth “word”, especially in the Sindarin lenited form beth. The ancient development of the Adûnaic word may have been similar to Sindarin, with Primitive Elvish root ᴹ√KWET > ✱√PET > ✶Ad. √BITH, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (AL/Adûnaic).

nâlu

noun. shadow

A noun attested only in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow [is]” (SD/247, VT24/12). The first element of the compound, agan “death”, as identified elsewhere (SD/426), so the remaining element must mean “shadow”. The compound is the subject of the sentence agannâlô burôda nênud “death-shadow [is] heavy on us” and is therefore in the subjective case. According the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, the only possibly normal form producing this subjective is nâlu: compare nîlu “moon” to its subjective form nîlô (SD/431).

Conceptual Development: In early writings, the compound was (non-subjective) agannūlo, so that the apparent draft form of this noun was nūlo. A similar form nūlu appears on SD/306, described only as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’”. It could be a separate word or another variation of this word, with the development nūlo >> nūlu >> nālu. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/21) that the earlier forms may be related to ᴹQ. nulla “dark, dusky, obscure”.

rothinzil

proper name. Foam-flower

The Adûnaic name of Eärendil’s ship Vingilótë “Foam-flower”, of the same meaning (S/249). This name appears in earlier writings as Rôthinzil with a long ô (SD/360). Its later form is a violation of the phonetic rules laid out by Tolkien in Lowdham’s Report, which said that the vowels [ē] and [ō] could only be long in Adûnaic (SD/423). The later form could be an Anglicanized or a Westronized form (where a short [o] could appear), or it could indicate that Tolkien changed his mind about Adûnaic phonetic rules. Some linguistic notes from the 1930s suggest Tolkien at one point considered making the name Quenya (P19/49).

rôth

noun. foam, white crest of waves

An element appearing in the name Rothinzil “Foam-flower”, attested in later writings (1968) as roth (PM/369, 376). This later form is incompatible with the earlier phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s, which allowed only long [ō] in Adûnaic words. If this word were used in the phonetic context of Lowdham’s Report (Middle Adûnaic), it should be rôth, and in these earlier texts, the Adûnaic name of Eärendi’s ship was Rôthinzil with a long ô (SD/360). Even in later writings, Tolkien lists róþ ([rōθ] = rôth) as one of its possible forms (PM/369). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

ugru

noun. shadow

A noun translated “shadow” (SD/247), also described as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’” (SD/306). It appears in the preprositional phrase ugru-dalad “under shadow” (SD/247) and in the draft-dative form ugrus “‽horror‽shadow” (SD/311).

êphalak

adjective. far away

A combination of êphal “far” and the suffix -ak (SD/247, 312), which could either mean “away” or be some kind of intensifier. See the entry for -ak for further discussion.

-ô

preposition. from

A prepositional suffix translated “from” (SD/429). In a few places, the suffix appears with the glide-consonant v (pronounced [w]) between it and a preceding u-vowel (SD/247, 249). It is likely related to the Quenya genitive inflection Q. -o.

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, this suffix was a grammatical inflection, the draft-genitive -ō (SD/438).

bith-

verb. to say

A verbal form of Ad. bêth “expression, saying, word” attested only as an agental-formation as part of the noun izindu-bêth “true-sayer” (SD/427); see that entry for further discussion of its phonetic development. As suggested by Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/24, 26), the verb stem is probably bith-, consistent with its primitive root ✶Ad. √BITH. Since agental forms generally have a lengthened or fortified vowel, the verb stem bith- could have the fortified agental form -bêth.

dâira

noun. Earth

A noun translated as “Earth” in the final version of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It may be related to S. dôr “land”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/13).

Conceptual Development: In the Lament of Akallabêth (first draft), this noun appeared as kamāt (SD/311).

gimilnitîr

feminine name. Star-kindler

A title of the goddess Avradî (Q. Varda) translated “Star-kindler” (SD/428), and therefore the Adûnaic equivalent of S. Gilthoniel. The first element gimil means “stars”, and the second is an agental-formation for the verb nitir- “to kindle” (SD/427-8).

katha

adjective. all

A word translated “all” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/288, VT24/12). This word appeared in the form kâtha in the final typescript version of the Lament (SD/247), but in all other instances appeared as katha. If the final typescript is later than the final manuscript, kâtha may be its final form, but I believe that the manuscript was later, and katha better matches its appearance as an element in kathuphazgân “conqueror” (SD/429). This last example is interesting in that it is an example of an adjective declined into the objective case.

nakh-

verb. to come

A verb translated in the past tense as “came” (SD/247, 311), so probably meaning “to come”. Like kalab-, this is one of the few Adûnaic verbs attested in more than one conjugation. As such, it is useful in the study of Adûnaic verbs, in this case biconsonantal-verbs as opposed to triconsonantal kalab-.

It is attested in two forms, unakkha “he-came” and yanākhim “are at hand”. The initial elements in these forms are the 3rd-sg masculine pronominal prefix u- and the 3rd-pl neuter pronominal prefix ya-, respectively, while the latter form has the plural verbal suffix -m. Removing these elements leaves the conjugated forms nakkha and nākhi, which are the past and continuative-present tenses according to the theories used here. If the second form is the continuative-present, its literal meaning may be “are coming”.

Conceptual Development: In the draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this verb stem was apparently nek-, with past forms hunekkū >> unekkū “he-came”, with Tolkien vacillating on the proper form of the 3rd-sg masculine pronominal prefix u-.

nithil

noun. girl

A noun translated “girl” and fully declined as an example of a feminine Strong I noun (SD/430). It is also used as an example of feminine nouns that use the suffix -i in their objective inflection as opposed to the usual -u: nithli (SD/431). Though not explicitly stated, nithli is also an example of the variant objective-with-syncope syntax discussed on SD/435. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/21) it may be related to the Elvish root √NETH “young”.

nîlu

noun. moon

A noun translated as “moon” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/431). It appears with both a short and long final -u, but Tolkien indicated that the form with long û is actually the personified form Nîlû “Man in the Moon” (SD/426), perhaps the Adûnaic name of Tilion. Tolkien also listed the “later forms Nil, Njūl” (SD/306), one of which may be the Westron word for “moon”, most likely Wes. nil. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/NUL) that this noun may be related to nûlo/nûlu/nâlu, but given the evil connotations of these words (SD/306) and the different stem vowels, this seems unlikely to me.

pharaz

noun. sea

A draft word for “sea”, deleted and replaced with azar (SD/305), which later become azra. This word reappeared later with a different meaning: pharaz “gold”.

thâni

noun. land

A noun translated “land” (SD/435) appearing in the Adûnaic names for the Blessed Realm: Amatthâni and thâni’nAmân. Its Primitive Adûnaic form was also ✶thāni, though its primitive was glossed “realm" (SD/420).

u

pronoun. he

A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).

yad-

verb. to go

A verb appearing in the Lament of Akallabêth in the form ayadda “(it) went” (SD/247, VT24/12). Its initial element is the 3rd persons neuter plural suffix a- “it”. This leaves the basic verb form yadda, which is the past tense according to the theories used here.

Conceptual Development: It appeared in the form yadda in the first draft version of the Lament, and this form was also briefly considered as a replacement for unakkha “he-came” in the first sentence of the Lament (SD/312).

zâyan

noun. land

An Adûnaic word for “land” (SD/423). It has an irregular plural form zâin which is the result of the phonetic change (SD/423): [[pad|medial [w] and [j] vanished before [u] and [i]]]. Thus, the archaic plural changed from †zâyîn > zâîn > zâin.

Conceptual Development: In earlier names this word appeared as zen (SD/378, 385).

ûri

noun. sun

A noun translated “sun” (SD/306, 428). This word appears in the forms ûrê, ûri and ûrî, but Tolkien declared that the form with long î is actually the personified form Ûrî “Lady of the Sun” (SD/426), perhaps the Adûnaic name of Q. Arien. The form ûrê only appears once (SD/426), so ûri is probably to be preferred as the ordinary word for Sun, especially since it is a neuter noun, which ordinarily cannot end in a long -ê (SD/427). Tolkien lists the “later forms Uir, Ŷr” (SD/306), one of which may be the Westron word for “sun”, most likely Wes. uir. As suggested by several authors (AAD/24, EotAL/UR), ûri is probably derived from the Elvish root ᴹ√UR.

azga Reconstructed

noun. war

A hypothetical noun for “war” appearing as an element in the verb azgarâ- “to wage war”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/24), though as others have suggested (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZAG’R) it could equally well be azgar.

magân Reconstructed

noun. wright, *builder

A noun meaning “wright” attested only as an element in the name Balkumagân “Shipwright” (PM/151). It seems to be an agental-formation of a verb ?mag- “build” with the agental suffix -ân. Therefore, its literal sense might be “✱builder”.

agân

masculine name. Death

The masculine personification of agan “death” (SD/426). This could be the Adûnaic name for Mandos.

anâ

noun. human being

A noun translated “human being” (SD/426) given as an example of a noun ending in a long vowel that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the extremely rare class of Strong-IIb nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead. It also had masculine and feminine variants anû “(human) man” and anî “(human) woman” (SD/434) but in ordinary speech it seems likely that more specific words would be used: narû “man, male”, zinî “female”, kali “woman”.

khibil

noun. spring

A noun translated “spring” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).

nardû

noun. soldier

A noun translated “soldier” and fully declined as an example of a masculine Weak II noun (SD/438). Several authors have suggested (AAD/20, EotAL/NERE) that it may be related to narû “man”.

raba

noun. dog

A noun translated “dog” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/437). It is also used as an example of a common-noun that can be altered to masculine and feminine forms rabô “male dog” and rabê “bitch” (SD/434).

urug

noun. bear

A noun translated “bear” (SD/426), also given by Tolkien as an example of how common-nouns can be altered into masculine and feminine forms using the suffixes -û and -î: urgī “female bear, she-bear” (SD/435).

zadan

noun. house

A noun translated “house” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).

zinî

noun. female

A noun translated “female” and fully declined as an example of an (archaic) feminine Strong II noun (SD/437). The archaic form of this word is †zini which is a Strong II noun since it ends in a single short vowel. Its non-archaic form is zinî, which is presumably declined as a Weak II noun; most masculine and feminine nouns became weak in Classical Adûnaic (SD/436).

aban Reconstructed

noun. ?world

An element in the name Abattârik, whose Quenya equivalent Ardamin seems to mean “✱World Tower” (UT/222). Since the last element of this name is târik “pillar”, it is possible that the first element means “world”. This first element could be ✱abat, but it could also be ✱aban with the last n becoming t according to the Adûnaic rules for assimilation, as suggested before by several authors (AAD/9, EotAL/BAN¹). Andreas Moehn further suggested (LGtAG) it may have replaced earlier dâira “Earth”, though the two words could also co-exist with slightly different meanings.

bat- Reconstructed

verb. to walk

A hypothetical verb, perhaps meaning “walk”, that may appear as an element in the noun batân “road, path, way”.

agan

noun. death

A noun for “death” attested both as an independent word (SD/426) and in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow” (SD/247).

azra

noun. sea

The Adûnaic word for “sea” (SD/429), appearing as azar in some early texts (SD/305). It is fully declined on SD/431.

mag- Speculative

verb. to build

A hypothetical verb from which the agental-formation magân “wright, ✱builder” is derived, itself attested only as an element in the name Balkumagân “Shipwright”. It may be related to the Elvish root ᴹ√MAG “use, handle”, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/MAG).

sakal Reconstructed

noun. shore

This word is attested only in Sakalthôr, whose Quenya name is Falassion (UT/223). The first element of the Quenya name seems to be falassë “shore”, so the first element of his Adûnaic name probably has the same meaning, as suggested by several authors (AAD/22, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/SAK’L).

êphal

adjective. far

An adjective (or adverb?) translated as “far” (SD/247, SD/312).