angamaitë

masculine name. Iron-handed

A descendant of Castamir, who warred against Gondor from Umbar in the middle of the Third Age (LotR/1048). The name was also the epessë (adopted name) of Angrod (PM/347). This name is a compound of anga “iron” (PM/347) and maitë “handed” (PE17/162).

Conceptual Development: In the drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices Castamir’s descendant was named Angomaitë (PM/199) and in the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings as well, but this was changed in the 2nd edition to Angamaitë (PM/215).

maitë

handed

maitë (stem *maiti-, given the primitive form ¤ma3iti) adj. "handed" or "handy, skillful" (VT49:32, 42) in Angamaitë, hyarmaitë, lungumaitë, morimaitë, Telemmaitë, q.v. Etym gives maitë pl. maisi "handy, skilled" (MA3), but Tolkien later eliminated the variation t/s (compare ataformaitë "ambidextrous", pl. ataformaiti).

anga

iron

anga noun "iron", also name of tengwa #7 (ANGĀ, Appendix E, SA, PM:347, LT1:249, 268). In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, anga was the name of letter #19, which tengwa Tolkien would later call noldo instead (VT45:6). Masc. names Angamaitë "Iron-handed" (Letters:347), Angaráto "Iron-champion", Sindarin Angrod(SA:ar(a) ). See also Angamando, tornanga and cf. Angainor as the name of the chain with which Melkor was bound (Silm)

anga

noun. iron

This was the Quenya word for “iron” for much of Tolkien’s life, derived from primitive ✶angā of the same meaning (PM/347).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. anga “iron” dates back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/31). In this document it had some competing alternatives: ᴱQ. yere(n) “pig iron” under the early root ᴱ√DYEÐE (QL/105) and {ᴱQ. tongo “iron”} under the early root ᴱ√TOŊO “to hammer” (QL/94), though this second form was deleted. Neither of these alternatives survived in Tolkien’s later writings, and The Etymologies of the 1930s had only ᴹQ. anga “iron” under the root ᴹ√ANGĀ (Ety/ANGĀ). Tolkien stuck with this form thereafter.

erë

iron

erë, eren noun "iron" or "steel"; Eremandu variant of Angamandu (Angband) (LT1:252; "iron" should be anga in LotR-style Quenya, but erë, eren may still be used for "steel". See also yaisa.)