eruhin

proper name. Child of Eru (God)

A name for Elves and Men as children of Eru (God), frequently appearing in its plural form Eruhíni (Let/189, MR/320, WJ/403). It is a compound of Eru “God” and a suffixal form -hin of hína “child” (SA/híni).

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared in the tales of the Fall of Númenor from the 1940s as the Adûnaic word #Êruhin, attested only in its plural forms Êruhîn(im) (SD/247-8, 311). See that entry for further discussion of its early history.

Eru

the one

Eru divine name "the One" = God (VT43:32, VT44:16-17), "the One God" (Letters:387), a name reserved for the most solemn occasions (WJ:402). Often in the combination Eru Ilúvatar, "Eru Allfather" (cf. MR:112). Genitive Eruo (MR:329, VT43:28/32), dative Erun (VT44:32, 34). The adjectival form Eruva "divine" (Eruva lissëo "of divine grace", VT44:18) would be identical to the form appearing in the possessive case. Compound nouns: Eruhantalë "Thanksgiving to Eru", a Númenórean festival (UT:166, 436), Eruhin pl. Eruhíni "Children of Eru", Elves and Men (WJ:403; SA:híni, cf. _Eruhîn _in Letters:345), Eruion *"son of God" (or "God the Son"?) (VT44:16), Erukyermë "Prayer to Eru", a Númenórean festival (UT:166, 436), Erulaitalë "Praise of Eru", a Númenórean festival (UT:166, 436), Eruamillë "Mother of God" (in Tolkien's translation of the Hail Mary, VT43:32, see also VT44:7), Eruontari, Eruontarië other translations of "Mother (Begetter) of God" (VT44:7, 18), Erusén "the children of God" (RGEO:74; this is a strange form with no plural ending; contrast the synonym Eruhíni.) #Eruanna and #erulissë, various terms for "grace", literally "God-gift" and "God-sweetness", respectively (VT43:29; these words are attested in the genitive and instrumental case, respectively: Eruanno, erulissenen).

êruhin

proper name. Child of God

A title for the race of men as the children of Êru “God” (SD/247). It is only attested in the plural Êruhîn (SD/311, 358) and subjective plural Êruhînim (SD/247-8) forms “Children of God”.

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared as Eruhil(di) (SD/341, 399), probably incorporating ᴹQ. hilde “men”. In these early appearances Tolkien may have conceived of this as a Quenya word before introducing its Adûnaic form Êruhîn. In its early appearances the latter name sometimes had a short initial E: Eruhîn (SD/358), possibly another transitional form resembling later Sindarin Eruchîn. In still later writings, Tolkien coined a Quenya word Q. Eruhin of the similar meaning, encompassing both Men and Elves.

êruhînim dubdam ugru-dalad

[the Children of Eru] fell under shadow

The 2nd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). Tolkien did not interpret the name Êruhînim in any version of the text, but elsewhere it is glossed “Children of God (Eru)” (SD/248). Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ fell ‽shadow under/beneath”, with the translation of the last word differing slightly in the typescript (SD/247) and manuscript (VT24/12). In ordinary English the phrase might be “the Children of Eru fell under shadow”.

The subject Êruhînim of the sentence is the subjective plural form of #Êruhin. The verb dubdam seems to be in the aorist form of #dubud- “to fall”, glossed in past tense because it is in a narrative occurring in the past. The verb has the plural marker -m in agreement with the number of the subject. The word dalad “under, beneath” is suffixed to the noun it modifies, as is usual of Adûnaic prepositions.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence (SD/312) differs only in its use of the verb form dubbudam (past tense) instead of the final version’s form dubdam (aorist). The first draft version used all the same words but differed in its grammar.

ēruhīn udūbanim dalad ugrus

‽ fell under ‽horror‽shadow

The first draft of the 2nd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version only in grammar. The subject of the sentence seems to be a simple plural of #Êruhin, not in the subjective case. The verb might be inflected with the 3rd-person singular masculine suffix u- “he”, but this contradicts the plurality of the subject. Another explanation is that the verb is in the draft-perfect tense and the initial u- is an augment vowel. Either way, it is difficult to explain why it has the verbal suffix -nim instead of the usual plural suffix -m.

The word dalad “under” comes before the noun rather than as a suffix as is usual of later Adûnaic prepositions. The word it modifies seems to be the draft-dative case of the word ugru “shadow”, indicating that the objects of prepositions could be declined into various cases in the draft grammar.

Eru

the one

as a name of God: #Eru, isolated from CHILDREN OF THE ONE (Elves and Men) Eruchín** **(sg. *Eruchen)