amon

noun. hill, steep-sided mount

amon

hill

pl1. emyn n. hill, lump, clump, mass, often applied to (esp. isolated) mountains. Q. umbo(n). FAmon Amarth

amon

noun. hill, mountain with steep sides; lump, clump, mass, hill, (isolated) mountain; lump, clump, mass; [G.] steep slope

The basis Sindarin word for “hill”. In one set of notes from around 1967, Tolkien said it could be applied also to any “lump, clump, mass” (PE17/93). In this same note Tolkien said it was “often applied to (especially isolated) mountains”, the most notable example being S. Amon Amarth “Mount Doom”. Its plural form emyn “hills” also appears in many names.

Conceptual Development: This word had a long history in Tolkien’s Elvish languages. It first appeared as G. amon “hill, mount, steep slope” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/19), where it was probably a derivative of the early root ᴱ√AM(U) “up(wards)”. ᴱN. amon “hill” also appears in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s again connected to am- “up” (PE13/137, 159), and was given as N. amon “hill” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√AM “up” (Ety/AM²).

Its Quenya cognate Q. ambo was given as derivative of √AM “go up” in notes from 1967, but in other 1967 notes on the comparative, Tolkien coined some different roots as the basis for this S. amon “hill”, first √MAB “lump, mass” (PE17/90) and then √MBON, the latter being the basis for the alternate meanings “lump, clump, mass” mentioned above (PE17/90-93). Tolkien’s motivation for this change was that he wanted √AMA to have a new meaning “addition, increase, plus” to serve as the basis for the intensive.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume S. amon was derived from √AM “up”, since I prefer Q. an- for intensives, but it may have been influenced by √MBON and this was the reason for its alternate meanings “lump, clump, mass”.

Cognates

• Q. ambo “hill, rising ground, mount” ✧ PE17/093
• Q. umbo(n) “hill, lump, clump, mass, lump, clump, mass, hill” ✧ PE17/093

Derivations

• ✶ambu(na) “*hilly” ✧ PE17/092
  • √AM “go up, go up, [ᴹ√] up”
• ✶ṃbono “hill, lump, clump, mass” ✧ PE17/093
  • √MBON “*lump, mass” ✧ PE17/093

Element in

• S. Amon Amarth “Mount Doom, (lit.) Hill of Doom” ✧ PE17/093
• S. Amon Anwar “Hill of Awe” ✧ UT/301
• S. Amon Darthir
• S. Amon Dîn “Silent Hill”
• S. Amon Ereb “Lonely Hill” ✧ SA/er
• S. Amon Ethir “Hill of Spies” ✧ S/217
• S. Amon Gwareth
• S. Amon Hen “Hill of Sight, (lit.) Hill of the Eye”
• S. Amon Lanc “Naked Hill” ✧ UT/280
• S. Amon Lhaw “Hill of Hearing, *(lit.) Hill of Ears”
• S. Amon Obel
• S. Amon Rûdh “Bald Hill” ✧ S/204
• N. Amon Carab “Hill of the Hat” ✧ WJ/187
• S. Amon Sûl “Weathertop, (lit.) Hill of the Wind”
• S. Amon Tirith “Hill of Guard” ✧ RC/772
• S. Amon Uilos “Hill of Ever-snow”
• S. Emyn Arnen “Hills of Arnen” ✧ VT42/17
• S. Emyn Beraid “Tower Hills” ✧ LotR/1097
• S. Emyn Hen Dúnadan “Hills of the Eye of the Dúnadan” ✧ PM/186 (Emyn Hen Dúnadan*)
• S. Emyn Gwahaedir “*Hills of the Palantír”
• S. Emyn Duir “Dark Mountains” ✧ UT/280
• S. Emyn Muil “Drear Hills” ✧ RC/334
• S. Emyn-nu-Fuin “Mountains of Mirkwood, (lit.) Mountains under Night” ✧ UTI/Emyn-nu-Fuin
• S. Emyn Uial “Hills of Evendim” ✧ LotRI/Emyn Uial

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶ambuna > amon	[ambuna] > [ambona] > [ambon] > [ammon] > [amon]	✧ PE17/092
✶ṃbono > amon	[ṃbono] > [ambono] > [ambon] > [ammon] > [amon]	✧ PE17/093

Variations

• Amon ✧ PE17/033; RC/772; S/204; S/217; SA/er; UT/280; UT/301; VT42/17; WJ/187

orod

noun. mountain

orod

mountain

pl1. ered or eryd, pl2. #orodrim _n. _mountain. Tolkien notes that "eryd > ered by late change, but y unstressed remained in certain circumstances, e.g. before nasals" (PE17:33). >> dol, doll, Thangorodrim

orod

noun. mountain

The Sindarin word for “mountain”, a derivative of √RŌ/ORO “rise” (PE17/63). Its proper plural form is eryd; the plural form ered in The Lord of the Rings is a late [Gondorian only?] pronunciation (PE17/33).

Conceptual Development: The singular form of this noun was extremely stable. It first appeared as G. orod “mountain” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s beside variant ort (GL/63), and it reappeared as N. orod “mountain” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT “height, mountain” (Ety/ÓROT). It appeared in a great many names in the sixty year span that Tolkien worked on the Legendarium.

The development of its plural form is a bit more complex. Its Gnomish plural was orodin (GL/63), but by the Early Noldorin of the 1920s, its plural was eryd (MC/217). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, Tolkien gave its plural form as oroti > ereid > ered (Ety/ÓROT). This fits with normal Noldorin plural patterns of the 1930s: compare plurals N. eregdos → eregdes, N. golodh → geleidh, N. doron → deren, N. thoron → therein. Sindarin plural patterns consistently show o → y in final syllables, such as S. golodh → gelydh or S. Nogoth → Negyth.

This Noldorin plural for orod “mountain” made it into Lord of the Rings drafts, and Tolkien never corrected it before publication. This meant Tolkien was stuck with this remnant of Noldorin plural patterns, which was contradicted by other plural forms in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was forced to contrive an explanation for this phenomenon:

> S. Ered. This is used always in L.R. as plural of orod, mountain. But Emyn, pl. of Amon. Cf. also Eryn Forest (oron originally plural = trees?) in Eryn Lasgalen. Rodyn, pl. of Rodon = Vala. It seems necessary to assume that: eryd > ered by late change, but y unstressed remained in certain circumstances, e.g. before nasals. † Use Eryd in Silmarillion (PE17/33).

Despite his statement that y only remained before nasals, ered is the only Sindarin word that retains the Noldorin plural pattern: see the examples golydh and nogyth above, neither involving nasals. Also, despite J.R.R. Tolkien’s intent to use eryd in The Silmarillion, his son Christopher Tolkien retained the form ered in The Silmarillion as published, most likely to avoid confusing readers when they compared this plural to the plural forms in The Lord of the Rings.

Neo-Sindarin: Most knowledgeable Neo-Sindarin writers assume o → y in final syllables is the correct Sindarin plural pattern, and orod → ered is an aberration. I personally assume it is a late Gondorian-only (mis)pronunciation. See the discussion of Sindarin plural nouns for more information.

Cognates

• Q. orto “mount, mountain, hill, [ᴹQ.] mountain-top; [Q.] mount, mountain” ✧ PE17/064

Derivations

• ᴹ√OROT “height, mountain”
• √RŌ/ORO “up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount, up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount; [ᴹ√] high, [ᴱ√] steepness, rising” ✧ PE17/063

Element in

• S. alae! ered en Echoriath, ered e·mbar nín “[?behold!] the mountains of Echoriath, the mountains of my home!” ✧ UT/040; UT/040; UT/054
• S. Erebor “Lonely Mountain”
• S. Ered Engrin “Iron Mountains” ✧ SA/orod
• S. Ered Gorgoroth “Mountains of Terror”
• S. Ered Lindon “Mountains of Lindon” ✧ SA/orod
• S. Ered Lithui “Ashen Mountains” ✧ RC/765
• north S. Ered Lómin “Echoing Mountains” ✧ S/118
• S. Ered Luin “Blue Mountains”
• S. Ered Mithrin “Grey Mountains”
• S. Ered Nimrais “White Mountains, (lit.) White-horns Mountains”
• S. Ered Wethrin “Mountains of Shadow, (lit.) Shadowy Mountains”
• S. Eryd-wethion “Mountains of the Region of Shadows”
• S. Eryd Echor “Encircling Mountains” ✧ RC/621
• S. Eryd Lammad “*Echoing Mountains” ✧ WJ/192
• S. Orchorod “High Mountain Circle”
• S. orodben “mountaineer, one living in the mountains”
• S. Orod-na-Thôn “Mount of the Pine Tree(s)” ✧ LotR/0469
• S. Orodreth “Mountaineer”
• S. Orodruin “Mountain of Fire” ✧ SA/orod
• S. Orthanc “Mount Fang, Forked Height”
• S. Thangorodrim “Mountains of Tyranny” ✧ SA/orod

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√OR/ORO > orod	[oroto] > [orot] > [orod]	✧ PE17/063
√OR/ORO > eryd/ered	[oroti] > [oruti] > [œryti] > [œryt] > [œryd] > [eryd]	✧ PE17/063

Variations

• Orod ✧ LotR/0469

aegas

noun. mountain peak

aeglir

noun. range of mountain peaks

amon

hill

1) amon (pl. emyn) (steep-sided mount), 2) dôl (i dhôl, construct dol) (head), pl. dŷl (i nŷl). Note: In the Etymologies, this word was derived from a root with initial nd- (NDOL), which would make the mutations different (i nôl, pl. i ndŷl). However, the later name Fanuidhol "Cloudyhead" apparently indicates that the lenited form of this d was later to be dh (whereas it would be n if the former derivation had been maintained). 3) tund (i dund, o thund, construct tun) (mound), pl. tynd (i thynd), coll. pl. tunnath.

amon

hill

(pl. emyn) (steep-sided mount)

amon

steep-sided mount

(hill), pl. emyn.

amon

steep-sided mount

amon (hill), pl. emyn.

ambenn

uphill

(adj.) ambenn (sloping upward), pl. embinn,

orod

mountain

1) orod (pl. ered, eryd; coll. pl. #orodrim isolated from Thangorodrim), 2) ôr (stem orod-), also with pl. eryd, ered. (Names:178). Archaically, the plural forms were öryd, öröd.

orod

mountain

(pl. ered, eryd; coll. pl. #orodrim isolated from Thangorodrim)

ôr

mountain

(stem orod-), also with pl. eryd, ered. (Names:178). Archaically, the plural forms were öryd, öröd.

tund

hill

(i** dund, o thund, construct tun) (mound), pl. tynd (i** thynd), coll. pl. tunnath.

dôl

hill

(i** dhôl, construct **dol) (head), pl. dŷl (i** nŷl). Note: In the Etymologies, this word was derived from a root with initial nd- (NDOL), which would make the mutations different (i** nôl, pl. i** ndŷl). However, the later name Fanuidhol "Cloudyhead" apparently indicates that the lenited form of this d was later to be dh (whereas it would be n** if the former derivation had been maintained).

cîl

pass between hills

(i gîl, o chîl) (cleft, gorge), no distinct pl. form except with article (i chîl), coll. pl. cíliath. . A homophone means ”renewal”.