nan dungortheb

place name. Valley of Dreadful Death

The valley in Beleriand where the spider-children of Ungoliant dwelled, translated “Valley of Dreadful Death” (S/81). The initial word of the name is nan(d) “valley” (SA/nan(d)), but the second word is difficult to analyze. Its second element gortheb could be a variant of gorthob “horrible” or it could contain a variant of gurth “death”. The first element Dun- is hard to reconcile, however, as there are no attested Sindarin words of this form meaning anything like “dread” or “death”. Based on its earlier definitions, it might be a variant of [N.] donn “shadowy”; see below.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this name was G. Nan Dumgorthin “Land of the Dark Idols” (LT2/35). In the Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s, the form Dungorthin emerged (LB/148), and in the Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this valled was named Ilk. Nan Dungorthin (LR/261), which was designated an Ilkorin name in The Etymologies and translated “Vale of Black Horror” (Ety/DUN, NAD, ÑGOROTH). At this stage its initial element was dunn “black” (Ety/DUN), whose Noldorin form was N. donn “shady, shadowy” (EtyAC/DUN).

In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, the name was revised to Nan Dungortheb (MR/127) and given its new translation “Valley of Dreadful Death” (MR/297, footnote), but none of the published material explains how the new name and translation correspond. Absent further evidence, N. donn is my best guess for the element Dun- in this name.

Elements

Word	Gloss
nan(d)	“vale, valley, vale, valley, [ᴱN.] dale; [N.] wide grassland; [G.] field acre”
donn	“swart, swarthy; shady, shadowy”
gorthob	“horrible”

Variations

• Dungortheb ✧ LB/348; LR/299; LRI/Nan-dungorthin

Nan Dungortheb

Nan Dungortheb

The name Nan Dungortheb is translated as "Valley of Dreadful Death", containing the word nan ("valley").