>> -roth
Sindarin
-rod
suffix. -rod
rod
rod
rod
noun. tube, stem, *pipe
groth
noun. large excavation, delving, underground dwelling, large excavation, delving, underground dwelling; [N.] cave, tunnel, [G.] grot
A noun for a large excavation (WJ/415) or a cave or tunnel (EtyAC/ROT) with variants groth and grod, the former seen in names like Menegroth “Thousand Caves” and the latter in names like Novrod “Hollow-delving” (later Nogrod “Dwarf-delving”). It was derived from strengthened forms ✶grottā or grotā of the root √ROT (WJ/414-415).
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was (archaic) G. †roth “cave, grot” from the early root ᴱ√roto (GL/65); this root was glossed “hollow” in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/80). Both strengthened and unstrengthened variants N. groth and roth “cave, tunnel” appeared under the root ᴹ√ROT “bore, tunnel”, a late entry to The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/ROT). Suffixal forms -roth, -rod were mentioned in passing in Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s as derivatives of √ROT “cave” in connection to the name S. Nimrodel (PE17/49).
A fairly lengthy discussion of these words appeared in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (WJ/414-415), where Tolkien gave the root form as √groto “dig, excavate, tunnel” contrasted with √rono “arch over, roof in”. Tolkien also compared groth/grod to S. rond “vaulted or roofed chamber”, only the latter of which “could be applied both to natural and to artificial structures”. Of the two Tolkien said:
> Though distinct in origin the derivatives of ✱groto and ✱rono naturally came into contact, since they were not dissimilar in shape, and a ✱rondō was usually made by excavation. Thus S groth < ✱grottā (an intensified form of grod < ✱grotā) “a large excavation” might well apply to a rond. Menegroth means “the Thousand Caves or Delvings”, but it contained one great rond and many minor ones (WJ/415).
Neo-Sindarin: Despite Tolkien’s comments in the Quendi and Eldar essay, there are some cases where grod/groth seems to apply to natural caves as well as excavated ones, such as Nimrodel “Lady of the White Cave” and Androth “✱Long Cave”. As such, I would use it for both natural and excavated caverns.
raud
adjective. noble, eminent; lofty, high, tall; excellent
raud
noun. metal
A noun appearing as N. rhaud “metal” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√RAUTĀ of the same meaning (Ety/RAUTĀ). In that document, it was the basis for the second element of the names Finrod, Angrod and Damrod. In Tolkien’s later writings the second element of these names were based on S. raud “noble” instead. This 1930s “metal” word might reappear in Rodëol “metal of Eöl” in drafts of the Silmarillion from the 1950s, since in Sindarin initial *r* did not become *rh* as it did in Noldorin. For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I think it best to stick to [N.] tinc “metal”.
suff.