agan

noun. death

A noun for “death” attested both as an independent word (SD/426) and in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow” (SD/247).

agân

masculine name. Death

The masculine personification of agan “death” (SD/426). This could be the Adûnaic name for Mandos.

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).

nâlu

noun. shadow

A noun attested only in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow [is]” (SD/247, VT24/12). The first element of the compound, agan “death”, as identified elsewhere (SD/426), so the remaining element must mean “shadow”. The compound is the subject of the sentence agannâlô burôda nênud “death-shadow [is] heavy on us” and is therefore in the subjective case. According the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, the only possibly normal form producing this subjective is nâlu: compare nîlu “moon” to its subjective form nîlô (SD/431).

Conceptual Development: In early writings, the compound was (non-subjective) agannūlo, so that the apparent draft form of this noun was nūlo. A similar form nūlu appears on SD/306, described only as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’”. It could be a separate word or another variation of this word, with the development nūlo >> nūlu >> nālu. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/21) that the earlier forms may be related to ᴹQ. nulla “dark, dusky, obscure”.

ugru

noun. shadow

A noun translated “shadow” (SD/247), also described as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’” (SD/306). It appears in the preprositional phrase ugru-dalad “under shadow” (SD/247) and in the draft-dative form ugrus “‽horror‽shadow” (SD/311).

gurth

noun. death

The usual Sindarin word for “death”, derived from the root √ÑGUR of similar meaning (UT/39; Ety/ÑGUR).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/43), anchored by well established names like Gurthang or Gurtholf(in), the name of Túrin’s sword. Tolkien experimented with various alternate forms over the years, such as G. urthu (GG/14), G. gurthu (GL/43), ᴱN. gurdh (PE13/146) and N. guruth (Ety/ÑGUR), but kept coming back to gurth as the basic form.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word for death in general and especially violent death, as opposed to the more euphemistic [N.] gwanath or gwanu “death”, more literally “departure”.

guru

noun. death, death (abstract)

A Sindarin word for “death” derived from primitive ✶ñgurū (PE17/87), unusual in that its primitive ancient vowel u did not vanish. In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had variant forms [N.] gûr and gurw “death” marked with a “?”, both derived from Old Noldorin nguru and indicating some uncertainty on the exact phonetic developments (EtyAC/ÑGUR). Elsewhere in The Etymologies Tolkien said that [N.] guru was “Death as state or abstract”, as opposed to [N.] gwanw or gwanath for the “act of dying” (Ety/GWAN).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume guru was for death as an abstraction or principle, and for the death of individuals I would use either gurth or gwanu/gwanath; see those entries for discussion.

Nûrnen

place name. Death

_ topon. _Death, dead water. >> guru

guru

noun. death

_ n. _death. guru << gûru.

gurth

noun. death

guruthos

noun. dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, [N.] fear of death

A word for the fear of death in the phrase le nallon sí di’nguruthos, translated in The Road Goes Ever On published from 1967 as “here overwhelmed in dread of Death I cry” or more literally “to thee I cry here beneath-death-horror” (RGEO/64), also translated in a 1958 letter to Rhona Beare as “to thee I cry now in the shadow of (the fear of) death” (Let/278). In notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien identified the elements as guru “death” and thoss “fear” (PE17/87), based on the roots √ÑGUR and √THOS (PE17/95).

Conceptual Development: The form N. {gurthos >>} guruthos “fear of death” appeared in the margin of The Etymologies next to the entry for the root ᴹ√GOS “dread” where the word’s final element was probably N. gost “dread, terror” (EtyAC/GOS). As such, its initial element when the word was first introduced was probably N. guruth “death” (Ety/ÑGUR).

Gurthang

noun. death sword

gurth (“death”) + ang (“iron”)

gurth an glamhoth

Death to the din-horde

guruthos

noun. the shadow of death, death-horror

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

dúath

dark shadow

(i dhúath) (nightshade), pl. dúaith (i núaith). Compare the Ephel Dúath or ”Mountains of Shadow” forming th outer fence of Mordor, perhaps suggesting that Dúath is also the word used of Sauron as ”the Shadow”.

gwanath

death

1) (act of dying) gwanath (i **wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith), 2) (act of dying, especially the ”death” of Elves by fading or weariness) gwanu (i **wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract): 3) gûr (i ngûr = i ñûr, o n**gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir), 4) gurth (i ngurth = i ñurth, o n**gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth), 5) guruth (i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n**guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth** = i ñgyryth)

gwanu

death

(i ’wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract):

gurth

death

(i ngurth = i ñurth, o n’gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth)

guruth

death

(i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n’guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth = i ñgyryth)

gwanath

death

(i ’wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith)

gûr

death

(i ngûr = i ñûr, o n’gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir)

guruthos

death-horror, dread of death

guruthos (i nguruthos, o n**guruthos), pl. (if there is a pl.) either guruthys (in guruthys = i ñguruthys) or gyrythys (in gyrythys = i ñgyrythys) with umlaut throughtout the word. Coll. pl. guruthossath**.

Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath

May they find peace after death.

This is a phrase that Legolas, Aragorn, And Gimli think that the hobbits are dead.

guruthos

death-horror, dread of death

(i nguruthos, o n’guruthos), pl. (if there is a pl.) either guruthys (in guruthys = i ñguruthys) or gyrythys (in gyrythys = i ñgyrythys) with umlaut throughtout the word. Coll. pl. guruthossath.

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying)

Gurthang

Gurthang

Gurthang is a Sindarin name, consisting of the elements gurth ("death") + ang ("iron").

dagor

battle

(noun) 1) dagor (i nagor, o ndagor), analogical pl. degyr (i ndegyr), coll. pl. dagorath. Archaic dagr, so we might have expected dagrath as the coll. pl.; dagorath would be an analogical formation. 2) (battle of two or a few, not a general host) maeth (i vaeth) (fight), no distinct pl. except with article (i maeth). 3) auth (war), pl. oeth, coll. pl. othath. Note: a homophone means "dim shape, apparition".

dagra

battle

(verb, "do battle, make war") dagra- (i nagra, i ndagrar), also dagrada- (i nagrada, i ndagradar)

delu

deadly

delu (hateful, fell), lenited dhelu; analogical pl. dely. Archaic delw (the only attested form);

morchant

shadow

1) morchant (i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form. 2) dae (i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae). 3) daew (i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8). 4) gwâth (i **wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261) 5) muil (i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil**),

dae

noun. shadow

dae

noun. shadow, shadow (cast by an object or form), [N.] shade

dagor

noun. battle

dagor

noun. battle

morchant

noun. shadow (of objects, cast by light), dark shape

auth

battle

(war), pl. oeth, coll. pl. othath. Note: a homophone means "dim shape, apparition".

dae

shadow

(i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae).

daew

shadow

(i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8).

dagor

battle

(i nagor, o ndagor), analogical pl. degyr (i ndegyr), coll. pl. dagorath. Archaic dagr, so we might have expected dagrath as the coll. pl.; dagorath would be an analogical formation.

dagra

battle

(i nagra, i ndagrar), also dagrada- (i nagrada, i ndagradar)

delu

deadly

(hateful, fell), lenited dhelu; analogical pl. dely. Archaic delw (the only attested form);

gorgor

deadly fear

(i ngorgor = i ñorgor, o n’gorgor = o ñgorgor) (extreme horror), pl. gergyr (in gergyr = i ñgergyr), coll. pl. *gorgorath*** (WJ:415). Archaic pl. görgyr. Also in longer form gorgoroth (i ngorgoroth = i ñorgoroth, o n’gorgoroth = o ñgorgoroth) (terror), pl. gergeryth (in gergeryth = i ñgergeryth). Archaic pl. ✱görgöryth**.

gwâth

shadow

(i ’wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261)

hûl

cry of encouragement in battle

(i chûl, o chûl, construct hul), pl. huil (i chuil)

maeth

battle

(i vaeth) (fight), no distinct pl. except with article (i maeth).

morchant

shadow

(i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form.

muil

shadow

(i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)

effírië

death

#effírië noun "death" (isolated from effíriemmo "of our death"). A verbal stem *effir- "expire, die" seems to be implied. (VT43:34)

urdu

death

urdu noun "death" (LT2:342; rather nuru in Tolkien's later Quenya)

urtu

noun. death

effírië

noun. death

fírië

noun. death (of Men), *natural death

A noun for a natural or peaceful death. This word originated with the death of Míriel, the first wife of Finwë, who choose to pass away after the difficult birth of their son Fëanor. As Tolkien described it:

> For before the passing of Míriel the Eldar of Valinor had no word for “dying” in this manner, though they had words for being destroyed (in body) or being slain. But fírë meant to “expire”, as of one sighing or releasing a deep breath; and at the passing of Míriel she had sighed a great sigh, and then lay still; and those who stood by said fírië “she hath breathed forth”. This word the Eldar afterwards used of the death of Men (MR/250).

As such, this word was based on the verb fir-, originally meaning “breath forth”, but later also being used mainly in the sense of “to die (a nature death)”. Tolkien also used fírië as a noun for “death” in early versions of his Aia María prayer from the 1950s (VT43/34).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien had ᴱQ. fé “last hour, death” based on the early root ᴱ√ǶEHE “breath; die, expire”, thus expressing a similar connection between the final breath and death (QL/41). In the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa, the word fē was in fact glossed “act of death, last breath” (PME/41). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had ᴹQ. faire “natural death (as act)” also based on the root ᴹ√PHIR (Ety/PHIR).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d stick with fírie for “(natural) death”, since in Tolkien’s later writing Q. fairë was used for a disembodied spirit. I would use fírie only for a peaceful death. For death by accident, murder or disease I’d use [ᴹQ.] qualme “death agony”.

anqualë

agony, death

anqualë noun "agony, death" (form Tolkien seems to have intended as a replacement for unqualë of similar meaning, VT45:24, 36)

firië

dying, death

firië noun "dying, death" (gerund of fir-) (VT43:34)

nuru

death, death

nuru, Nuru noun "death, Death" _(ÑGUR). This represents earlier ñuru (VT46:4) _and should be spelt accordingly in Tengwar writing. When personalized, Nuru refers to Mandos. Cf. Nurufantur.

nuruhuinë

death-shadow

nuruhuinë noun "death-shadow" (LR:47, 56, SD:310)

qualme

noun. death process

death process, death agony

qualmë

agony, death

qualmë ("q")noun "agony, death" (KWAL, LT1:264)

umaqualë

agony, death

[?umaqualë] ("q"), possibly a synonym of anqualë/unqualë, hence noun "agony, death" (VT45:24)

unquale

noun. death agony

death agony

unqualë

agony, death

unqualë ("q")noun "agony, death" (KWAL, VT45:36). See anqualë. In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, unqualë was the name of letter #8 (VT45:18), which tengwa Tolkien would later call ungwë instead changing its Quenya value from nqu to ngw.

unqualë

noun. death agony, death agony, torment, [ᴹQ.] agony, death

anqualë

noun. *death agony

quelmë

noun. ruin, utter end, perdition, end, death

qualmëa

adjective. deadly, deathly

mordo

shadow, obscurity, stain

mordo (1) noun "shadow, obscurity, stain" (MOR)

guruth

noun. death

guruth

noun. death

gûr

noun. death

gurth

noun. *death

amphala

noun. death agony

ON. death agony

gwanath

noun. death (act of dying)

There were a couple of words for “death” under the root ᴹ√WAN “depart” in The Etymologies of the 1930s: N. gwanath and gwanw, the latter from primitive ᴹ√wanwē (Ety/WAN). Tolkien specified that these words referred to the “act of dying”, as opposed to guru which was “Death as a state or abstract”. These death-words from ᴹ√WAN may originally have been euphemistic, or perhaps they refer to the departure of Elvish spirits to Valinor.

Neo-Sindarin: Most Neo-Sindarin writers adapted N. gwanw as ᴺS. gwanu to better fit Sindarin spelling conventions, as suggested in HSD (HSD). I would use the words gwanath and gwanu only for the death of individuals, and mainly for deaths that are natural or peaceful. For violent deaths I would use gurth instead, and for the state of death or Death as an abstraction I would use guru as noted above.

guru

noun. death (abstract)

gwanw

noun. death (act of dying)

gurth i morthu

*death (of) ?Sauron

gwanath

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

gwanw

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

palw

noun. agony

dae

noun. shadow

daew

noun. shadow

dagor

noun. battle

dagor

noun. battle

dagr

noun. battle

dagra-

verb. to battle

maeth

noun. battle, fight (not of general host but of two or a few)

maeth

noun. battle, fight, fight, battle

ñgurū

noun. death

ñgur

root. death; to die

This is a root for “death” words from Tolkien’s later writings, most notably S. gurth “death” as in S. Gurthang “Iron of Death”, the name of Túrin’s sword. The earliest precursor of this name was G. Gurtholfin “Wand of Death”, where the element G. gurth “death” was derived from gu̯rþū́ (✱gwṛþū) or ᴱ✶ngwṛþ- in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/43). This in turn was a clear variant of ᴱ√GWṚÐṚ “die” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon, with Qenya derivatives ᴱQ. urdu “death” and ᴱQ. warda, though originally this root was just a variant of ᴱ√VṚÐṚ “✱rule” (QL/104).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s this root became ᴹ√ÑGUR with derivatives like ᴹQ. ñuru/N. guru “death” (Ety/ÑGUR), apparently as a state or abstract concept (Ety/WAN). This new root √ÑGUR “death” or “to die” continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings as well (PE17/95, 154).

wath

noun. shadow