A phrase given by Tolkien as an example of how the subjective case can be used to represent the verb “to be” (SD/429). Since the first noun the subject, the second noun is the predicate and the verb “is” is implied. Depending on context, the sentenced could refer to the past so that the subjective would represent “was” instead. This sentence is contrasted with Ar-Pharazôn kathuphazgânun, where the second noun is inflected in the subjective instead, so that the entire noun phrase would be the subject: “King Ar-Pharazon the Conqueror...”.
Adûnaic
a
pronoun. *it
ar-pharazônun kathuphazgân
King Ar-Pharazon is (was) a Conqueror
arbazân
masculine name. Arbazân
adrahil
masculine name. Adrahil
There were two men with this name in Tolkien’s legendarium. Adrahil I was a Gondorian prince who fought with King Ondoher against the Wainriders (UT/293-4, 319 note #39). Adrahil II was the 21st prince of Dol Amroth and the father of Imrahil (LotR/1056, PM/223). Since Tolkien said that “Imrahil is a Númenórean name” (LotR/1113), it is likely Adrahil was also Adûnaic. It seems that Adûnaic names were traditional for the princes of Dol Amroth: many of the known names (such as Adrahil, Imrahil and Imrazôr) are Adûnaic in form. It is not clear what the elements of these names might mean, however.
Conceptual Development: In the drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices, Tolkien listed Adrahil as a Lemberin (Nandorin) name, along with Imrahil (PM/36). Probably when Imrahil became Adûnaic, Adrahil switched languages as well.
angelimir
masculine name. Angelimir
The 20th prince of Dol Amroth (PM/223). The language and meaning of this name are not clear, but based on the idea that the princes of Dol Amroth took Adûnaic names (as discussed in the entry for Adrahil), this entry assumes the name is Adûnaic. David Salo suggested instead it was Sindarin (GS/341).
aglahad
proper name. Aglahad
The 19th prince of Dol Amroth (PM/223). The language and meaning of this name are not clear, but based on the idea that the princes of Dol Amroth took Adûnaic names (as discussed in the entry for Adrahil), this entry assumes the name is Adûnaic. David Salo attempted to analyze it as a Sindarin name instead (GS/340).
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.
abrazân
masculine name. *Steadfast, Faithful
The Adûnaic name that Lowdham used to address Jeremy in Tolkien’s unfinished story: “The Notion Club Papers” (SD/252). In an earlier version of the story, Jeremy was called ᴹQ. Voronwe (SD/290) and Abrazân may be the Adûnaic equivalent of that name, meaning “Steadfast, Faithful”. If so, its first element is probably related to Ad. abâr “strength, endurance, fidelity”. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/BAR) that the entire name may be the agental-formation of an unattested verb ✱abrazâ- “to stand fast”.
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).
adûnâ
noun. Númenórean, (lit.) Westerner
The Adûnaic word for the Númenóreans themselves, clearly related to adûn “west” (PE17/18, SD/240). It is attested only in plural forms Adûnâi (normal plural) and Adûnâim (subjective plural). The final vowel of its singular form must be a long â; if it were short, its plural form would be ✱✱Adûnî instead of the attested Adûnâi.
aglarrâma
proper name. Castle of the Sea
An earlier name for the ship Alcarondas, likely the Adûnaic equivalent of that name (SD/372, PM/156). Aglarrâma was glossed “Castle of the Sea”, but many students of Tolkien’s languages feel that this is unlikely to be a literal translation of the name. The first part of its Quenya name is Q. alcar “glory”, and the element Ad. aglar of its Adûnaic name may have the same meaning, possibly as a loan word from S. aglar. It is not clear what the last element of the name would mean. This analysis is all rather speculative, since it isn’t even clear what languages the names Aglarrâma and Alcarondas belong to.
akallabêth
proper name. Downfallen
The Adûnaic name of Númenor after its fall, the equivalent of Q. Atalantë (S/281). Tolkien usually translated this word as “Downfallen”, but its literal meaning was “(She) That Has Fallen” (PE17/111, SD/247). The final element -êth seems to be a feminine suffix, also seen in Arminalêth. The middle element -kallab- seems to be the past formation kallaba of the verb kalab- “to fall (down)”. The function of the initial a- isn’t clear, but it may be some sort of perfective augment, as seen in the Quenya perfect tense; see the discussion of the Adûnaic draft-perfect for more information.
Other Interpretations: Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/36) that the prefix a- is probably some kind of emphatic suffix rather than evidence of another verb tense. Thorsten Renk proposes (NBA/39) that the a- is a relative pronoun “that”, analogous to Q. ya, which is an interesting possibility.
amân
masculine name. Manwë
The Adûnaic name of Manwë (SD/376). According to Christopher Tolkien, the invention of this Adûnaic name preceded the use of Q. Aman as the name of the Blessed Realm, and was likely the inspiration for this Quenya name (SD/376). The later status of Ad. Amân as the name of Manwë is unclear, but it could be that the ancestors of the Númeróreans conflated the name of the Valar with the name of the land he ruled. Conceptual Development: The first Adûnaic name for Manwë was Manawē (SD/55).
arminalêth
proper name. *Royal Heaven (City)
The Adûnaic name for the capital of Númenor, whose Quenya name is Armenelos (SD/363, PM/145). The final element -êth seems to be a feminizing suffix, also seen in Ad. Akallabêth. The initial element Ar- is the same as that used in the name of kings and queens, and the middle element minal means “heaven”, so perhaps the literal meaning is something like ✱“Royal Heaven (City)”, similar in the sense to the Quenya name.
athânâtê
place name. Land of Gift
The first-draft Adûnaic name for the “Land of Gift”, later replaced by Amatthânê (SD/312).
avallôni
place name. Haven of the Gods
The Adûnaic name for Tol Eressëa, though it may also (or instead) have referred the Blessed Realm, home of the Valar (SD/241). It was translated “Haven of the Gods” (SD/361). Given its meaning, the name seems to contain the word Ad. Avalô, the Adûnaic name for the Valar. It seems likely that Ad. Avallôni is direct borrowing of Q. Avallónë “Outer Isle”, reinterpreted by the Númenorieans to fit their language. It is probably pronounced [awallōni], since the sound [w] in Adûnaic was sometime written “v” (SD/434).
Conceptual Development: An earlier form of this name, Avallondē may have been a mixed name, containing the Quenya element ᴹQ. londe (SD/344).
avradî
feminine name. *Varda
An Adûnaic name for a goddess with the title Gimilnitîr “Star-kindler” (SD/428). Though Tolkien never made it explicit, it is clearly the Adûnaic name of Varda (S. Elbereth). This name is curious, since [v] is not one of the phonemes used in Adûnaic (SD/418). Most likely it is pronounced [awradī]. Tolkien said that to represent the sound [w], he sometimes “used ‘v’ in the Anglicanizing of Adunaic names” (SD/434). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/12) that it may be a derivative of Primitive Elvish ✶Baradā.
azrubêl
masculine name. Sea-lover, Friend of the Sea
The Adûnaic name of Q. Eärendil, having a similar meaning “Friend of the Sea” (SD/359). The first element is the objective form of azra “sea” and the second is an agental-formation for the verb stem bêl- (PM/373). An earlier version of this name, Azrabêl, predates Tolkien’s invention the objective case for Adûnaic (SD/359).
Conceptual Development: The first Adûnaic name given to this character was Pharazîr (SD/305).
abâr
noun. strength, endurance, fidelity
A noun translated as “strength, endurance, fidelity”, and used as an example of noun declension in Lowdham’s Report (SD/431). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/9) that it may be related to the Elvish root ᴹ√BOR(ON) “endure”. It may also be related to the name Abrazân “✱Steadfast, Faithful”.
Conceptual Development: This word also appeared in earlier Adûnaic names Zen’nabâr and Abarzâyan (both glossed “Land of Gift”), where it apparently had the meaning “gift”. These names were eventually replaced by Yôzâyan in which the element yô means “gift”, freeing abâr to have the meaning: “strength, endurance, fidelity”.
adûnayân
noun. language of Númenor
The language of Númenor, appearing in a 1965 document first published in Nature of Middle-earth in 2021 (NM/323). Prior to that point, various hypothetical words have been proposed for this language’s name, such as ✱Adûnaiyê (Andreas Moehn, EotAL), ✱Adûnâyê (Thorsten Renk, NBA/1), and Adûnâiyê (my own invention), modelled after Nimriyê “Elvish”.
adûn izindi batân tâidô ayadda
[the] road west once went straight, (lit.) west straight road once went
The 11th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247), whose word order varied considerably in the different drafts of the text. The first two words are the adjectives adûn “west” and izindi “straight, right, true”. They modify the subject batân “road, path, way”, which is in the normal-case rather than the subjective. This is consistent with the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, since the verb ayadda has a pronominal suffix a- “✱it” (SD/429).
The fourth word is an adverb tâidô “once, then”. The verb form yadda seems to be the past tense of #yad- “to go”, functioning here as a pluperfect (see SD/439). This makes sense in the narrative, since this sentence describes the previous state (the road west going straight to Valinor) while the next sentence uses the aorist tense to describe the current state (all roads being bent around the now-round world).
Tolkien’s glosses match the word order of the Adûnaic sentence: “west straight road once went”. This might be rendered in more ordinary English as “[the] road west once went straight”.
The previous (second draft) version of this sentence had more differences from the final version than any other sentence in the second draft (SD/312). It had a different word order, with the adjective izindi “straight” appearing directly before the verb, perhaps functioning as an adverb. It has ēluk instead of tâidô and the verb form yadda is missing the pronominal prefix a-. Unfortunately, Christopher Tolkien did not publish the English glosses for this sentence, so it is hard to decipher the meaning (if any) of these differences.
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.
adūnāim azūlada
The Adunai (Men of W.) eastward
The first draft of the 8th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312), which is essentially a different sentence from the final version. The first word Adūnāim is the subjective plural of Adûnâ “Númenórean”. The second word, azūlada “eastwards” is the same as in the final version: a composition of azûl “east” and the suffix -ada “(to)wards”.
agan
noun. death
A noun for “death” attested both as an independent word (SD/426) and in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow” (SD/247).
agannâlô burôda nênud
[the] death-shadow [is] heavy on us
The 9th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). The subject agannâlô “death-shadow” is a compound of agan “death” and nâlu “shadow” in the subjective case. The next word burôda “heavy” is simply an adjective, and nênud “on us” is a combination of the pronoun nê “us” and the prepositional suffix -nud “on”. Since there is no verb, the subjective here functions as the verb “to be” (SD/429), so that the English translation should be “the death-shadow is heavy on us”, though Tolkien did not include “is” in his translation.
In the previous (second draft) version of this sentence, the spelling of some words were slightly different: buruda (as it was in the first draft) instead of the final form burôda and nēnu instead of the final form nēnud (SD/312). The first draft of this sentence uses the same words but is grammatically different.
agannūlo burudan nēnum
death-shade heavy-is on-us
The first draft of the 9th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312), which was close to the final version but had minor differences in spelling and grammar. The subject agannūlo “death-shade” seems to be in the normal-case rather than the subjective, and nūlo “shade” is a variant spelling of later nâlu. The word burudan “heavy” seems to buruda (so spelled in the second draft but burôda in the final version) with the predicate suffix -n “is”. The final word nēnum “on us” is a combination of the pronoun nê “us” and the prepositional suffix -num “on” (nēnu in the second draft and nēnud in the final version).
akhâs
noun. chasm
A noun for “chasm” attested only in the prepositional phrase akhāsada “into chasm” (SD/247) and akhās-ada “chasm-into” (SD/311), the latter example making it clear which element means what.
an-
prefix. of; genitive/adjectival prefix
A prefix translated as “of” (SD/247) and one of the ways that genitive relationships are expressed in Adûnaic (SD/429). According to Tolkien, “it is not a preposition ... it is the equivalent of an inflexion or suffix” (SD/435). As such, it is used to form adjectives from nouns, as anadûni “western, ✱of the West” from adûni “the West”. When following another noun, it is often elided so that the a is lost, as in Ârû ’nAdûnâi “King of the Númenóreans” (SD/429) and Bâr ’nAnadûnê “Lord of Númenor” (SD/428). This elision occurs in most examples, but seems not to happen in some cases:
When the an- is separated from the modified noun: balîk hazad an-Nimruzîr “ships seven of-Nimruzîr” (SD/247).
When the modified nouns is declined into the subjective case: Bârim an-Adûn “Lords of the West” (SD/247).
However, when the subjective noun ends in a vowel, elision still occurs: narîka ’nBâri ’nAdûn “Eagles of the Lords of the West” (SD/251).
Tolkien used a dash to separate an- from the noun to which it is prefixed but omitted the dash when the prefix was elided. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/10) that Ad. an- may be related to the Sindarin genitive marker S. na(n) “with, by”
ar-pharazônun azaggara avalôiyada
[Ar-Pharazôn] was warring against [the] Powers
The 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It differed from its earlier drafts only in its use of grammar. Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ was warring against Powers”, omitting the name Ar-Pharazôn because Lowdham was unsure how to translate it. In more ordinary English might be “Ar-Pharazôn was warring against the Powers”.
The subject Ar-Pharazônun is the subjective form of the name Ar-Pharazôn. The verb azaggara “was warring” is a form of azgarâ- “to wage war”, either the past tense or continuative-past tense (see the entry for that continuative-past tense for further discussion). The last word Avalôiyada “against the Powers” is the plural form of Avalô “Power, God” with the prepositional suffix -ada “toward, against” separated from the i of the plural by the usual glide-consonant y.
The previous (second draft) version of this sentence differs from the final version in two ways (SD/312). First, the subject is in the normal-case instead of the subjective case, perhaps because Tolkien had not finalized the rules for the subjective case. Second, its verb form was azagrāra, although the final verb form azaggara was written nearby as an alternative. See the verb azgarâ- for possible interpretations.
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.
attô
noun. father
A noun for “father” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, attû and attô, with no indication as to which would be preferred. For reasons similar to those given in the entry for ammê “mother”, my guess is that attû is an archaic form, and attô was preferred by the time of Classical Adûnaic. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AT(AR) “father”, perhaps from Primitive Elvish ᴹ✶atū.
azar
noun. star (draft)
Christopher Tolkien mentions this as a noun meaning “star” from early and unpublished materials related to “The Notion Club Papers” stories (PM/372). It may be an element in the early Adûnaic name Indilzar for Elros. As Indilzar was replaced by Gimilzôr, it is likely that azar was replaced by gimli and gimil, which are well attested in later writings.
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.
azrîya du-phursâ akhâsada
that [the] seas should gush into [the] chasm
The 5th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). The subject azrîya is the subjective plural of azra “sea”. Judging by the glosses, the verbal prefix du most likely indicates the optative or subjunctive moods (see those entries for discussion). The verb form phursâ resembles the aorist tense of the verb phurus-, except that the long â is unusual. Perhaps this variation is because the verb is actually in an infinitive form, though Andreas Moehn instead suggested the verb stem may be a derived verb ✱phursâ- (EotAL/PHUR). The last word akhâsada is the word akhâs “chasm” with the prepositional suffix -ada “towards, into”.
The gloss of the manuscript version was “that seas should gush into Chasm” (VT24/12). This gloss seems to indicate that this sentence might actually be a subordinate phrase of the preceding sentence Bârim an-Adûn yurahtam dâira sâibêth-mâ Êruvô “Lords of the West, they broke the Earth with assent from Eru”. This would fit well with its use of the optative/subjunctive mood, so that this phrase gives reason why the Valar broke the Earth (to sink Númenor). However, both the manuscript and typescript versions separated the two sentences with an ellipsis “...”, indicating that they are separate sentences.
azrē nai {phurusam >>} phurrusim akhās-ada
seas might-flow Chasm-into
The first draft of the 5th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). Its has the same vocabulary as the final version except that it has nai “might” (an adverb?) instead of the prefix du. This nai is almost certainly a variant of Q. nai “maybe, be it that”.
The draft version has several other grammatical differences from later versions. The subject azrē “seas” seems to be a simple rather than subjective plural. Tolkien initially wrote phurusam for the verb and then changed to phurrusim “flow”, perhaps aorist and past tenses of the verb phurus-, respectively. Both conjugations have the plural verb suffix -m. The last phrase akhās-ada “into Chasm” is essentially identical to the final version, however.
azûl
noun. east
A noun for “east” attested only in the prepositional phrase azûlada “eastward, ✱to the east” = azûl + -ada “to(ward)” (SD/247, 312).
abarzâyan
place name. Land of Gift
A draft Adûnaic name for the “Land of Gift”, later replaced by Yôzâyan (SD/388). Its final element is zâyan “land”. Its initial element seems to be abâr, which also appeared in its predecessor Zen’nabâr. If so, then abâr probably meant “gift” at this stage, though its later meaning was “strength, endurance, fidelity”.
amatthâni
place name. Blessed Realm, (lit.) Land of Manwë
The Adûnaic name for the Blessed Realm, home of the Valar (SD/388, SD/420). Its Quenya equivalent would be Aman, though Tolkien did not coin the Quenya name until a later conceptual stage of his legendarium. The Adûnaic word is derived from their name for the ruler of the Bless Realm: Amân (Manwë). Its literal meaning is “Manwë’s Land”. Conceptual Development: The first Adûnaic name for the Blessed Realm was Zen’namân (SD/385).
amatthânê
place name. Land of Gift
agân
masculine name. Death
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”.
ar-pharazôn
King Pharazon
A short phrase illustrating the Adûnaic compositional genitive (SD/435).
ar-pharazôn kathuphazgânun
King Ar-Pharazon the Conqueror
A phrase given by Tolkien as an example of how a pair of nouns would be declined into the subjective case, with only the last noun inflected (SD/429). The entire noun phrase would be the subject of the sentence. It is contrasted with Ar-Pharazônun kathuphazgân, where the first noun is inflected instead. This would be a the sentences “Ar-Pharazôn (is) a conquerer”.
ar-pharazônun bâr ’nanadûnê
King Pharazon is Lord of Anadune
An example sentence illustrating Adûnaic grammar: it is a copula (a “to be” expression) without an explicit verb for “is” (SD/428). The subject of the sentence, Ar-Pharazônun, is in the subjective case, which represents the verb “to be”. The rest of the sentence, Bâr ’nAnadûnê “Lord of Anadune (Númenor)” is the predicate and is in the normal-case. This sentence also provides an example of the use of the genitive prefix an- “of”, here elided to ’n because of the preceding uninflected noun.
azra-zâin
noun. sea-lands, maritime regions
A noun given as an example of a genitive compound (SD/429), translated “sea-lands, maritime regions” (SD/435) but literally meaning “✱lands of the sea”.
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.
adûnakhôr
masculine name. Lord of the West
Son of Ar-Abattârik and the 20th ruler of Númenor, whose Quenya name was Herunúmen. In both languages, his name (somewhat heretically) means “Lord of the West” (LotR/1036, S/267). Its first element adûn means “west”, which implies that its second element means “lord”, but it isn’t clear whether this element is ✱akhôr or ✱khôr. I think that khôr is more likely, because it resembles the Primitive Elvish root √KHER “rule, govern, possess”, to which it may be related.
agathurush
place name. Greyflood
The Adûnaic name of the river S. Gwathló “Greyflood” (UT/263), also glossed “flood under shadow” (VT42/9). This later name does not fit the Adûnaic phonetic rules described by Tolkien in Lowdham’s Report, since “sh” [ʃ] is not a phoneme used in Adûnaic (SD/418). It may be that Tolkien changed his mind about the phonemes of Adûnaic, or it may be that Agathurush had already undergone some of the phonetic changes leading to the Westron language, which had this sound (LotR/1120). It isn’t clear how this name could be decomposed into its elements.
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”.
aphanuzîr
masculine name. ?Bliss-friend
The Adûnaic name for Q. Amandil (SD/389). The last element of this name is an agental-formation for the verb zîr- “to love”, also seen in the name of his son Nimruzîr “Elf-friend” (Q. Elendil). The initial element seems to be the objective form of a noun aphana, whose meaning is unclear. The equivalent element in his Quenya name is Aman “Blessed Realm”, but Tolkien had not yet coined this word when he invented the name Aphanuzîr. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/PHAN) that it means “bliss”. This fits the earlier story of the Lost Road (LR), in which Tolkien wrote of various incarnations of a father and son whose names were “Bliss-friend” and “Elf-friend” in many languages. Amandil and Elendil were two of these incarnations.
Conceptual Development: The first Adûnaic name given to this character was Arbazân (SD/365).
ar-
prefix. king or queen
A prefix appearing before the Adûnaic names of kings and queens, the equivalent of Q. Tar- “High” (SA/ar(a)). It is most likely either a prefixal form of Ad. ârû “king” or derived from the same root. Conceptual Development: This prefix was introduced in the earliest versions of Adûnaic from the 1940s (SD/311, SD/248), and survived in the later Adûnaic names of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
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.
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.
ammê
noun. mother
A noun for “mother” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, ammî and ammê, with no indication as to which would be preferred. However, ammî resembles a plural word, and Tolkien elsewhere stated that such forms tended to change their final vowel to -ê (SD/438), so my guess is that ammî is an archaic form. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AM “mother”. Some authors have suggested it is directly related to ᴹQ. amme (AAD/10, AL/Adûnaic), but as Andreas Moehn points out (EotAL/MAM) such basic words are rarely borrowed from other languages, so the relationship is more likely from the Primitive Elvish root.
anadûni
adjective. western
anadûnê zîrân hikalba
Númenor the beloved she fell (down)
The 6th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). Its subject Anadûnê “Númenor” is in the normal-case rather than the subjective. This is consistent with the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, which allowed a normal subject if the verb has a pronominal inflection (SD/429), in this case the prefix hi- “she” of the verb hikalba (place names in Adûnaic are often feminine-nouns).
The placement of the adjective zîrân “beloved” after the noun is curious, since according to Tolkien adjectives normally precede the nouns they modify (SD/428). Perhaps in this instance the adjective is used as a noun. Its manuscript gloss “the beloved” instead of simply “beloved” (as in the typescript) supports this possibility. Alternately, it could be in an abnormal position because it is a participle (verbal adjective).
The verbs in the typescript and manuscript versions are slightly different: kallaba “fell down” (SD/247) and kalba “fell” (VT24/12), the past and aorist tenses of the verb kalab- “to fall (down)”. Tolkien also vacillated between these two forms in the second draft version of the sentence before settling on the aorist. Since the fall of Númenor had already come to pass in the fictional context of the Lament, the past tense here could be functioning here as a pluperfect (SD/439), but the aorist tense would also work if the sentence describes the fall of Númenor at that point in the narrative. Tolkien’s vacillation is therefore understandable: either verb form could work albeit with slightly different meanings. The Quenya translation of this sentence, ᴹQ. Númenóre ataltane (SD/247), uses the simple past instead of the perfect, matching the Adûnaic manuscript version rather than typescript.
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.
asdi
?. [unglossed]
A word Tolkien used to illustrate Adûnaic pronunciation (pronounced [azdi]) without giving its meaning (SD/421).
arûn
masculine name. Lord
An Adûnaic name for Morgoth, perhaps coined by Sauron when he introduced the worship of the dark god to the Númenóreans, translated as “Lord” (SD/376). It is derived from the word ârû “king” and was sometimes used in a compound together with Morgoth’s true Adûnaic name: Arûn-Mulkhêr (SD/367). In other writings (SD/357) it was the original Adûnaic name of Morgoth before he fell to evil, but that hardly makes sense in the conceptual scenario of the later Silmarillion, in which Morgoth had already become evil before men awoke.
avalê
noun. goddess
kadô
conjunction. and so
A word glossed “and so” in both the draft and final versions Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247, 311). This is the only known Adûnaic conjunction. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/DAW, KA3) that the element -dô is some sort of modifying suffix, also seen in tâidô and îdô, so that the conjugation “and” is simply ka. Thorsten Renk also used ka for simple “and” (NBA/15).
kadô zigûrun zabathân unakkha
and so [Sauron] he came humbled
The 1st phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It changed little from its original draft, with only the verb unekkū becoming unakkha. Tolkien did not interpret the name Zigûrun in any version of the text, but it can be equated to Sauron from information given elsewhere (SD/250). Tolkien’s gloss was “and so ‽ humbled he-came”, which in more ordinary English might be “and so Sauron he came humbled”.
The subject Zigûrun of the sentence is the subjective form of the name Zigûr. The verb unakkha has the 3rd-person singular masculine inflection u- “he”. In the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, the subject would be emphasized with this syntax (SD/429), so the sense might be more like “and it was Sauron who came humbled”. It could be that the “so” of the English gloss is a representation of this emphasis, and that the initial word kadô is simply the conjugation “and”.
The verb form nakkha is the past tense of nakh- “to come”. Since the majority of the text seems to be in the aorist, this use of the past tense would function as a pluperfect according to the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report (SD/439). If so, the sense would be more like “Sauron had come” rather than “Sauron came”. Finally, the position of the adjective zabathân “humbled” is difficult to explain, since Tolkien stated that “adjectives normally preceded nouns” (SD/428). Perhaps it follows because it is used as a predicate of the subjective subject Zigûrun (a construction discussed on SD/429), so that the literal interpretation of the full phrase would be “✱and so Sauron [was] humbled, he had come [to Númenor]”. Alternately, zabathân could appear in this abnormal position because it is a participle (verbal adjective).
kadō zigūrun zabathān {hunekkū >>} unekkū
and so ‽ humbled he-came
The first draft of the 1st phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311), differing only from the the final version in its use of the verb (h)unekkū for later unakkha. In the draft, Tolkien changed the 3rd-person singular masculine suffix in this sentence from hu- to u- as he vacillated over the proper form of this inflection.
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.
manawē
masculine name. Manwë
yôzâyan
place name. Land of Gift
This is the Adûnaic equivalent of Q. Andor “Land of Gift”, one of the names given to the land of Númenor (UT/184, SD/241). Its final element is zâyan “land”, so its initial element ✱yô most likely means “gift”. Conceptual Development: Tolkien experimented with many variations on this name before settling on Yôzâyan. The development seems to have been Athânâtê >> Amatthânê >> Zen’nabâr >> Abarzâyan >> Yôzâyan, all of which were glossed “Land of Gift”.
-ada
preposition. to, toward, into, against, -ward
A prepositional suffix variously translated as “(in)to” or “(to)ward”, and in one place “against” (SD/247, SD/429). It can appears as either -ada or -ad (SD/429), but in most examples it is -ada, the one exception being Gimlad “Starwards”.
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).
kalab-
verb. to fall (down)
A verb translated “fall down” (SD/439). This verb has more conjugations than any other attested Adûnaic verb, and is therefore useful for studying the Adûnaic verb system. Excluding the first draft of the Lament of Akallabêth, it appears in four forms: ukallaba “[he] fell” (SD/429), hikallaba “she fell (down)” (SD/427), hikalba “she fell” (VT24/12) and yakalubim “lean over” (SD/251). Andreas Moehn suggested (LGtAG, EotAL/KAL’B) the last of these could be a different verb kalub- “to lean”, but I think it is likelier to be a form of kalab-, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/26-27).
Various verbal prefixes and suffixes can be extracted by comparison to other forms: the pronominal prefixes u- “he”, hi- “she” and ya- “they (neuter)”, as well as the plural verb suffix -m. Removing these elements, we have three distinct forms: kallaba “fell”, kalba “fell” and kalubi “lean over”. These likely represent distinct verb tenses. The question is: which ones?
Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/26-27) that kalubi is most likely the continuative-present with the literal sense “✱are falling over”, a conclusion with which most other authors agree (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/14). Andreas Moehn agreed on this verb tense (LGtAG, EotAL/KAL’B), but suggested that it is from the verb kalub- “to lean” instead.
The two remaining forms kalba and kallaba both have the gloss “fell”. This ambiguity is because the Adûnaic aorist tense could used to describe the past in a narrative (SD/439). Most authors agree that these forms are the Adûnaic aorist and past tenses respectively, though Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested that kallaba is the continuative-past instead (VSH/27-28). See the entry on the Adûnaic past tense for further discussion.
Finally, there is form appearing only in the draft versions of the Lament: akallabi “fell in ruin”. I believe this is an example of draft-perfect tense; see that entry for further discussion.
pharaz
noun. sea
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).
êphalak
adjective. far away
indilzar azrabêlôhin
*Elros child of Earendil
A draft Adûnaic phrase referring to Indilzar (Elros) as the child of Azrabêl (Eärendil) which appears with and without the patronymic suffix -hin (SD/365, 382). This phrase used an earlier form Indilzar for the Adûnaic name of Elros (instead of later Gimilzôr) and an earlier form Azrabêl of the Adûnaic name of his father Eärendil (instead of later Azrubêl). It also seems to include the suffix -ô, although this could also be the draft-genitive inflection.
zen’nabâr
place name. Land of Gift
A draft Adûnaic name for the “Land of Gift”, later replaced by Abarzâyan (SD/378). Its initial element zen is a draft name for “land” also seen in the draft name Zen’namân for the Blessed Realm. Its final element seems to be abâr, joined to the first element with an elided form of the genitive prefix an- “of”. If so, then at the time abâr may have meant “gift”, but its later meaning was “strength, endurance, fidelity”.
ârû ’nadûnâi
King of the Anadunians
An phrase illustrating Adûnaic grammar, in particular how the genitive prefix an- “of” must be used when a plural noun needs to be put into a genitive relationship with another noun (SD/429). Without the an-, the preceding noun would be in an objective relationship instead. Here the an- is elided to ’n because of the preceding uninflected noun.
ûrinîluwat
Sun and Moon
ûriyat nîlô
sun and moon
kali
noun. woman
A noun translated “woman” (SD/434).
êphal
adjective. far
An adjective (or adverb?) translated as “far” (SD/247, SD/312).
pharazôn
masculine name. Golden
The son of Gimilkhâd who usurped the throne to become the 25th and final ruler of Númenor, translated “Golden” (LotR/1114, S/270). His Quenya name was Tar-Calion. Since Calion appears to mean “✱Son of Light”, Ar-Pharazôn is an example of a Númenórean ruler whose Adûnaic and Quenya names had different meanings.
The first element in his name is the noun pharaz “gold”. Since Pharazôn is glossed “Golden”, the second element -ôn may be an adjectival suffix. Andreas Moehn instead suggested (EotAL/PHAR’Z) that the name means “✱Golden One”, closer to its Quenya equivalent, and that the suffix -ôn is a masculine variant of the agental suffix -ân. Either way, the name is also notable in that it does not undergo the Adûnaic syncope when its suffix is added.
Conceptual Development: The name also appeared in “The Notion Club Papers” from the 1940s (SD/311), in some examples inflected into the subjective case (SD/247, 428-9).
balak
noun. ship
The noun for “ship”, attested only in the plural (balîk) and objective (balku) forms (SD/247, PM/151). Its plural form indicates that it is a strong-noun (Strong I), so its final vowel must be short. In theory its final vowel could be any of a, i or u, each of which would be replaced by long î in plural nouns. However, its attested objective form uses the variant objective-with-syncope form balku instead of ordinary ✱baluk. Since the Adûnaic syncope seems only to occur for nouns with two identical short vowels, this indicates the singular form of this word is balak.
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).
khay-
verb. to lie (down)
A verb appearing only as akhaini “lay” in the first draft of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). In later versions of the Lament it was change to the verb yad- “to go”, but since this replacement has a different sense, perhaps khay- remains valid.
This verb is only attested in the form akhaina “lay” and like all the draft verbs is difficult to analyze. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne analyze its initial element as the 3rd-singular pronominal suffix a- and its final element -ni as a past tense marker (VSH/34, 37), also suggesting it may be derived from the Elvish root √KAY “lie (down)” (AAD/10). This Elvish derivation seems likely to me, but I think the form of the verb may instead be the draft-perfect.
Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/35) the verb stem may instead be khain-. While he could be right about its use in the draft Adûnaic language, this doesn’t fit the later phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report, which allow only long diphthongs in Classical Adûnaic (SD/423).
manô
noun. spirit
A noun translated “spirit” and fully declined as an example of a Weak II noun (SD/438). It appeared with both a short a (SD/424) and long â (SD/438). Given its ending -ô, it might be a masculine-noun, but it seems unlikely that spirits would only be male. This entry assumes it is a common-noun instead. It is probably related to ᴹQ. manu “departed spirit” as suggested by various authors (AAD/19, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/MAN).
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-.
pharaz
noun. gold
A noun meaning “gold”, the only Adûnaic word defined in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1114).
Conceptual Development: This noun also appears in “Lowdham’s Report on the Adunaic Language” from the 1940s (SD/426).
sapda
?. [unglossed]
A word Tolkien used to illustrate Adûnaic pronunciation without giving its meaning (SD/421).
satta
noun. two
The Adûnaic number “two” (SD/428). It seems likely that it is related to Q. atta “two”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (AAD/22), though it is unclear how the initial s- might have developed in the Adûnaic. It may also be related to the Adûnaic dual suffix -at, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/SAT).
tabad-
verb. to touch
A verb translated “touch”, attested only in the phrase bâ kitabdahê “Don’t touch me!” (SD/250). The initial element ki is perhaps the 2nd person pronoun “you”, and the final element hê is perhaps the object pronoun “me”. This leaves the middle element tabda “touch”, which looks like the aorist tense of a triconsonantal verb tabad-. Most authors agree with this decomposition of the verb (EotAL/TAB’D, NBA/18, AL/Adûnaic), though Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/18) the final element is a marker of the imperative.
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).
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).
tamar
noun. smith
A noun translated “smith” and fully declined as an example of a masculine Strong I noun (SD/436). It may be related to the Eldarin root √TAM “construct”, as suggested by several authors (AAD/23, EotAL/TAM).
zadan
noun. house
A noun translated “house” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).
Adrahil II
Adrahil II
Akallabêth
Akallabêth
Akallabêth is an Adûnaic word meaning "She that hath Fallen" (from the verb kalab, meaning 'fall down'). The Quenya translation of this word is Atalantë, derived from the verbal stem talat. Akallabêth/Atalantë was also a general name for the island of Númenor after its Downfall. The Exiles became reluctant to speak of the land by any other name, or indeed much at all; but at times "they turned towards the West in the desire of their hearts" and remembered Akallabêth, their former home
Ar-Gimilzôr
Ar-Gimilzôr
Ar-Pharazôn
Ar-Pharazôn
Pharazôn means "Golden" in Adûnaic, and is derived from the word pharaz, 'gold'.
Adûnaic
Adûnaic
Adûnaic is an Anglicized name of the language.
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.
anazûli
adjective. eastern
A reconstruction; cp. #azûl "east" and anadûni "western" (SD/426, 435).
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.
aglar Speculative
noun. glory
An element of the name Aglarrâma that might be a noun meaning “glory”; see the entry for that name for further discussion.
aphana Reconstructed
noun. ?bliss
An element of the name Aphanuzîr (SD/389), possibly meaning “bliss”; see the entry for that name for further discussion.
-zê
preposition. at
A prepositional suffix translated “at” (SD/429), but not appearing in any example sentences. It is perhaps a later repurposing of the draft-dative case suffix -s, since the other draft-cases became prepositional suffixes in later versions of the Adûnaic grammar: draft genitive -ō versus later preposition -ô “from”, draft instrumental -ma versus later preposition -mâ “with”.
-ôn
suffix. adjective or agental suffix
A suffix appearing only in the name Pharazôn “Golden” and possibly also in Zimrathôn. Since the element pharaz is elsewhere defined as “gold” (LotR/1114, SD/426), perhaps this suffix can be used to form adjectives from nouns in Adûnaic. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/ZIM’R) it may instead be an agental suffix, a variant of -ân.
sâibêth
noun. assent
A noun translated “assent” (SD/247). The second element of this word is probably bêth “word” as suggested by several authors (AAD/22, EotAL/BITH). It isn’t clear what the first element means.
Conceptual Development: In the draft versions of the Lament of Akallabêth, the form of this word was sōbēth (SD/311).
-ak Reconstructed
preposition. away
A suffix in the word êphalak “far away”, a derivative of êphal “far” (SD/247). Some authors have suggested that -ak is an intensive suffix “very” instead of suffix meaning “away” (LGtAG, NBA/32). However, the corresponding Quenya word vahai(y)a “far away” is a combination va “(away) from” and haiya “far”, so it seems to me that the literal translation “away” is more likely to be correct (this translation of va was published after LGtAG and NBA were written).
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
zimra Reconstructed
noun. jewel
An element appearing in the names Zimraphel (UT/224) and Zimrathôn (UT/222) and also the Hadorian name Zimrahin (WJ/234). The corresponding Quenya names Q. Míriel and Q. Hostamir both seem to contain mírë “jewel”, so this is the likely meaning of the Adûnaic word as well, as suggested by most authors (AAD/25, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZIM’R).
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.
pâ
noun. hand
A noun translated “hand”, given as an example of an apparent Adûnaic uniconsonantal noun, which had a biconsonantal-root but lost one of its consonants from its ancient form ✶Ad. paʒa (SD/416, 426).
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).
urud
noun. mountain
huzun
noun. ear
A noun translated as “ear” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).
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).
kherû
masculine name. Lord
A rejected draft version of the Adûnaic name for Morgoth translated “Lord”, replaced by Arûn of the same meaning (SD/376). It is transparently a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√KHER, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/18). A later form of this word, ✱khôr “lord”, may appears as an element in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the 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).
-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).
bâ
particle. don’t
A particle glossed “don’t” in the phrase bâ kitabdahê “Don’t touch me!”. It may be a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√AB “refuse, deny, say no”, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (AL/Adûnaic). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/25, AAD/13) it is an example of the optative mood mentioned by Tolkien SD/439, where “optative” is an expression of a desire or wish. If so, it expresses a negative wish. A positive wish might be expressed by the particle du.
bâr
noun. lord
A noun translated as “lord” (SD/311, 428). This nouns wins the prize for “most inflected Adûnaic noun”, since we have declensions for this noun in both the draft Adûnaic grammar and the later grammar of Lowdham’s Report. As such, it is very helpful for comparing how the noun declensions changed as Tolkien developed Adûnaic grammar. For example, comparing its draft plurals bāri/bārim to its later plural bârî/bârîm indicate the draft plural was originally formed with a short rather than long i. There are a few lingering examples of this short-i plural in later writings (SD/247, 251).
Conceptual Development: In earlier writings the rejected name Kherû “Lord” (SD/376) indicates a possible earlier form of this noun; Kherû itself was changed to Arûn. A similar form reappears in later writings in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”: either akhôr or khôr “lord”. Whether or not this later word replaced bâr is unknown.
hê
pronoun. me
This element appears to be the object pronoun “me” in the phrase bâ kitabdahê “don’t touch me” (SD/250). It is not clear whether it could also serve as a subject pronoun “I”. Thorsten Renk instead suggested (NBA/18) that -hê may be a marker for the imperative, and proposed the invented word Ad. !ni for “I, me”, a hypothetical cognate of Q. ni.
lâi
collective noun. folk
nimruzîr
noun. Elf-friend
A noun meaning “Elf-friend”, attested only in the (subjective) plural form Nimruzîrim (PM/151). It is identical to the Adûnaic name Nimruzîr of Q. Elendil, which had the same meaning.
Conceptual Development: An earlier name for the faithful Númenóreans was Avaltiri (SD/347).
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).
zîrân
adjective. beloved
An adjective translated “(the) beloved” (SD/247), apparently formed from the verb zîr- “to love, desire” with the participle suffix -ân. Its placement in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor beloved fell (down)” is unusual, since according to Tolkien adjectives normally precede the nouns they modify (SD/428). It is possible that the adjective here is being used as a noun “the beloved”, an idea supported by the translation of this sentence in the final manuscript: “Anadune the beloved she fell” (VT24/12). See the entry for the Adûnaic participle for further discussion.
ârû
noun. king
A noun translated as “king” (SD/429). The Adûnaic word for “queen” is not attested, but could be a feminized form of this word, such as ✱ârî.
îdô
adverb. now
A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.
Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.
I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.
The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:
agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”
batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”
In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.
In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.
It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.
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.
-ân Reconstructed
suffix. agental suffix
A suffix that is used in some examples for agental-formation: creating nouns from verbs that indicate the agent who performs the verb’s action. The clearest example is sapthân “wise man” derived (after some ancient sound modifications) from saphad- “to understand”. This formation means “✱one who understands”. Less clear examples are ✱magân “wright, ✱builder”, perhaps from a verb ✱mag- “to build”, and kathuphazgân “conquerer”, perhaps a combined of katha “all” and a verb ?phazag- “to take”, meaning “✱one who takes all”.
It is not clear how this suffix related to the similar participle suffix -ân used for form adjectives from verbs. See the entry on participle for further discussion. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/TAN) that -ân as an agental formation may be related to anâ “human being”.
khibil
noun. spring
A noun translated “spring” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).
nûph
noun. fool
A noun translated “fool” and fully declined as an example of a Weak I noun (SD/437-8). It was later written in the form nîph (SD/426), but since all the attested declensions are based on nûph, the entry here uses the earlier form.
The word nûph is a common-noun but it has some example inflections with masculine and feminine suffixes: nûphun (masculine subjective), nûphin (feminine subjective), nûphi (feminine objective). This seems to be another way that an individual’s gender be indicated (“male fool”, “female fool”) instead of using explicit masucline and feminine suffixes like -û or -î.
rûkh
noun. shout
A word glossed “shout” (SD/426). Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/RUKH) that it may be a verb rûkh- “to shout”, but it appears in a list of nouns, so I think it likelier that it is noun form.
-nud Reconstructed
preposition. on
A preposition attested only in the phrase “on us” in the Lament of Akallabêth, changing through the drafts as nēnum >> nēnu >> nēnud (SD/247, 312). Most authors identify -nud as the prepositional element (AAD/20, LGtAG, NBA/14), perhaps related to Q. nu “under”. If so, it may be a derivative of the Elvish roots √NŪ/UNU “under” or √NDU “down”, with a semantic shift to the meaning “on”.
khôr Reconstructed
noun. lord
An element meaning “lord” appearing only in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”, though a similar form appears in the earlier names Kherû “Lord” and Mulkhêr “Lord of Darkness”. It isn’t clear whether this element is ✱akhôr or ✱khôr, but khôr resembles the Primitive Elvish root √KHER “rule, govern, possess”, to which it may be related.
This possible relationship has been suggested by various authors (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/KHUR). Andreas Moehn rejected the relationship, pointing out that Primitive Elvish ✶khēru “lord” would have developed phonetically into Ad. ✱✱khîru (EotAL). However, khôr may be derived from some more ancient Avari loan word, which underwent different phonetic developments than those of the Eldarin languages, perhaps ✶kher- > khar > khaur > Ad. khôr.
nê Reconstructed
pronoun. us
A first person plural object pronoun “us” attested only in the prepositional phrase “on us” in the Lament of Akallabêth, developing though the various drafts as nēnum >> nēnu >> nēnud (SD/247, 312). Most authors identify the element nê as the pronoun (AAD/20, LGtAG, NBA/14), which seems likely since the prepositional element is probably -num/nu/nud related to Q. nu “under”. It is not clear whether this pronoun can also be used as a subject pronoun “we”, or if it must always be an object “us”.
yô Reconstructed
noun. gift
An element in the name Yôzâyan “Land of Gift” (UT/184, SD/241). The final element of this name is zâyan “land”, so its initial element yô most likely means “gift”, as suggested by several authors (AAD/24, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/YAW), though Andreas Moehn points out this word could have the form yôz instead (EotAL/YAW).
A pronominal prefix, most likely the neuter singular pronoun “it”, appearing in the word ayadda “[it] went” in the sentence adûn izindi batân tâidô ayadda “the road west [it] once went straight” (SD/247). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.