gordh

difficult

{ð}_ adj. _difficult, laborious. Q. urda hard, difficult, arduous. >> gornod

dîr

adjective. hard, difficult

gor-

prefix. hard, difficult

gordh

adjective. difficult, laborious

dirbedui

adjective. hard to utter, difficult to pronounce

dirbedui

adjective. hard to utter

_ adj. _hard to utter, difficult to pronounce. >> dír-, gor-, gorbedui

dîr

adjective. hard

_ adj. _hard, difficult. dērā << dīrā. >> dír-

tarias

difficulty

tarias (i darias, o tharias) (stiffness, toughness), pl. teriais (i theriais) if there is a plural form; coll. pl. tariassath

tarias

difficulty

(i darias, o tharias) (stiffness, toughness), pl. teriais (i theriais) if there is a plural form; coll. pl. tariassath

tarias

stiffness

tarias (i darias, o tharias) (toughness, difficulty), pl. teriais (i theriais) if there is a pl.

ambenn

uphill

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

arnediad

numberless

arnediad (unnumbered, without reckoning), pl. ?arnediaid. Since the word literally means ”without reckoning” (ar + nediad) it is unclear whether it would pluralize as a common adjective. Alternative form arneidiad (VT46:6).Ó

baw!

no

! (interjection expressing refusal or prohibition, not denying facts) baw! (dont!) Prefix

braig

fierce

braig (wild), lenited vraig. No distinct pl. form. (VT45:34)

dorn

tough

1) dorn (tough), lenited dhorn, pl. dyrn; 2) tara (also tar- as first element of compounds) (stiff), lenited dara. The historically correct pl. would be teiri; if analogy prevailed, it might be altered to terai.

norn

hard

norn (twisted, knotted, crabbed, contorted), pl. nyrn. Also used as noun = ”Dwarf”. (MR:93, WJ:205)

balch

adjective. fierce

_ adj. _fierce, ferocious. In S. gwal < bal which coalesced in form with BAL 'have power'.

baw

interjection. no, don't!

dern

hard

adj. hard, thrawn. Also used for Dwarves, esp. in pl2. dernlir. >> gorn

dern

tough

_ adj. _tough. >> dír-

dír-

prefix. tough

_ pref. _tough. >> dern, dirbedui

gorn

hard

adj. hard, thrawn. Also used for Dwarves, esp. in pl2. gornhoth (hostile implication). >> dern

gorn

hard

_ adj. _hard, stiff, thrawn. >> gornod, gordh

ú

prefix. no, not (negative prefix or particle)

û

interjection. no

adv. or interj. no, not (of fact).

arnediad

numberless

(unnumbered, without reckoning), pl. ?arnediaid. Since the word literally means ”without reckoning” (ar + nediad) it is unclear whether it would pluralize as a common adjective. – Alternative form arneidiad (VT46:6).

baw!

no

(don’t!) Prefix

braig

fierce

(wild), lenited vraig. No distinct pl. form. (VT45:34)

dorn

tough

(tough), lenited dhorn, pl. dyrn

gú

no, not

also ú

norn

hard

(twisted, knotted, crabbed, contorted), pl. nyrn. Also used as noun = ”Dwarf”. (MR:93, WJ:205)

tara

tough

(also tar- as first element of compounds) (stiff), lenited dara. The historically correct pl. would be teiri; if analogy prevailed, it might be altered to terai.

amben

adjective. uphill, uphill; [ᴱN.] arduous, difficult, tiresome

An adjective (and adverb?) for “uphill” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, a combination of am “up” and N. penn “declivity, ✱slope” (Ety/PEN). It was contrasted with N. dadben “downhill, inclined, prone” (Ety/AM², PEN).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies it first appeared as N. amdenn, a derivative of ᴹ√DEN “hillside, slope”, but the meaning of this root was change to ᴹ√DEN “hole; gap, passage” (Ety/DEN), after which the form amben < ᴹ√PEN(ED) was introduced (see above). The earliest appearance of this word was in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s where it was ᴱN. amvenn “uphill; arduous, difficult, tiresome”, marked as both an adjective and adverb, along with a noun variant ᴱN. amvinn “slope, incline, hillside” (PE13/139, 159-160). This early Noldorin form was a combination of ᴱN. am “up” and ᴱN. benn “sloping”.

Neo-Sindarin: Given its Early Noldorin use for “arduous, difficult, tiresome”, amben might be used colloquially in Neo-Sindarin with a similar sense for a thing that is difficult, analogous to English usages like an “uphill battle”: dagor amben.

tarias

noun. stiffness, toughness, difficulty

tarias

noun. stiffness, toughness, difficulty

al-

prefix. no, not

amben

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambend

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambend

adverb. uphill

ambenn

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambenn

adverb. uphill

mû

interjection. no

tar-

adjective. tough, stiff

tara

adjective. tough, stiff

der

root. hard, difficult

A root in linguistic notes from 1959 used for the sense “hard, difficult” in Sindarin because other roots like √GUR > S. gor- gained a very negative sense due to collision with the roots √ÑGOR “horror” and √ÑGUR “death” (PE17/154). Tolkien first gave this root as √DIR before switching it to √DER. There is no indication of its use in Quenya, so it is probably a Sindarin-only innovation.

gur

root. hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow

A root appearing in a set of documents referred to as Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) written around 1959, with the gloss “hard, difficult” (PE17/154). An apparent draft of this note had a longer gloss “hard, stiff, difficult, cumbrous, slow” for √GUR (PE17/172). In the more extensive notes, Tolkien gave a variety of Quenya (ur-) and Sindarin (gor-) derivatives of this root, but noted that “Sindarin owing to approach of √GUR- to other stems (as ÑGUR- “death”, ÑGOR- “terror, dread”) tends to use gor- in a very strong sense of things very painful and horrible to do; and uses dír- (tough) for lesser efforts” (PE17/154). As an example, Tolkien contrasted S. gorbedui “only to be said with horror or grief, lamentable to tell” versus S. dirbedui “hard to utter, difficult to pronounce”.

Thus it seems as a prefix, this root took on a distinctly negative tone in Sindarin, though some of its other derivatives were more neutral, as in S. gordh “difficult, laborious” and S. gorn “hard, stiff, thrawn”. The last of these was given as a word used for the Dwarves (PE17/46), although there were several other competing forms such as S. dern and S. dorn of similar meaning, all coined around 1959-60.

dērā

adjective. hard, difficult

srak

root. hard, difficult

dirnā

adjective. tough

hraia

awkward, difficult

hraia adj. "awkward, difficult" (PE17:154), ephemerally meant "easy" (PE17:172)

urda

hard, difficult, arduous

urda adj. "hard, difficult, arduous" (PE17:154)

urnótima

difficult to count

urnótima adj. Unglossed, apparently *"difficult to count" (PE17:172)

hrai(a)

adjective. awkward, difficult, stiff

hrai-

prefix. hard, *difficult

hranga

adjective. awkward, difficult, stiff, hard

ur(u)-

prefix. hard, difficult

urda

adjective. hard, difficult, arduous

urnótima

adjective. *difficult to count

ú-

prefix. no, not, un-, in-; hard, difficult, bad, uneasy; hardly, with difficulty, ‘badly’

úcárima

adjective. hard to do, difficult

únótima

adjective. numberless, innumerable, countless, difficult/impossible to count

hrai

adjective. awkward, difficult, stiff

urunóte

adjective. *difficult to count

úcárima

adjective. hard to do, difficult

auqua

adjective. awkward, clumsy (of things), difficult

hranga

awkward, hard

hranga (2) adj. "awkward, hard" (PE17:154), "stiff, awkward, difficult" (PE17:185)

ú-

verb. not-, un-, in-

ú- (2) prefix "not-, un-, in-", denying presence or possession of thing or quality (VT39:14, UGU/UMU/VT46:20, GŪ, LT1:272), or simply suggesting something bad or immoral (see #úcar-, Úmaiar). Tolkien at one point considered redefining ú- as an element signifying "bad, uneasy, hard"; the already-published form únótima would then mean "difficult/impossible to count" rather than simply "uncountable" (VT42:33). However, Tolkien's very last word on the matter seems to be that ú- was to remain a mere negative (VT44:4). Compare úa, q.v. According to the Etymologies, the prefix ú- usually has a "bad sense", whereas according to early material u- (uv-, um-, un-) is a "mere negation" (UGU/UMU vs. VT42:32) According to a later source, ú- could be used as an uninflected verbal prefix, mainly in verse, but in a normal style the prefix was "verbalized" as ua-, q.v. (PE17:144). The stem Ū, as a negation, was accompanied by "pursed lips and shaking of the head" (PE17:145).

hrangwë

noun. problem, difficulty

taryassë

noun. stiffness, toughness, difficulty

ambapenda

uphill

ambapenda adj. "uphill". Also ampenda. (AM2)

ampenda

uphill

ampenda adj. "uphill". Also ambapenda. (AM2)

il-

verb. no, *un-

il- (prefix) "no, *un-" (LA); cf. ilfirin "immortal" (vs. firin "dead"). This prefix "denotes the opposite, the reversal, i.e. more than the mere negation" (VT42:32). But il- can also mean "all, every"; see ilaurëa, ilqua, ilquen.

la

no, not

la negation "no, not" (see lá); also prefix la- as in lacarë, q.v. (VT45:25)

lá

no, not

lá (1) adv. "no, not" (LA, VT45:25) According to VT42:33, lá is the stressed form, alternating with la when the negation is unstressed. In another conceptual phase of Tolkien's, lá had the opposite meaning "yes" (VT42:32-33), but this idea is contradicted by both earlier and later material: usually lá is conceived as a negation. The negation can receive tense markers and be used as a negative verb "when [another] verb is not expressed" (VT49:13), apparently where the phrase "is not" is followed by a noun or an adjective as a predicate, or where some verb is understood, as in English "I do not" (i.e. "I do not do whatever the context indicates"). With pronominal endings la- in the aorist, e.g. lanyë "I do not, am not" (etc.) (Tolkien abandoned the form lamin.) Exemplified in the sentence melin sé apa lanyë hé *"I love him but I do not [love] him" (another person) (VT49:15). Present tense laia, past lánë, perfect alaië, future lauva.

sarda

hard

sarda adj. "hard" (VT39:17); pl. sardë "hards" may be used in the same sense as sarda tengwi, q.v. (As an independent form we would rather expect a nominal pl. sardar.)

tarya

tough, stiff

tarya adj. "tough, stiff" (TÁRAG)

torna

hard

#torna adj. "hard", as in tornanga (q.v.), seemingly -storna after prefixes ending in a vowel, as in the comparative forms aristorna, anastorna (PE17:56; the forms are untranslated and may not necessarily be the same adjective "hard".)

torna

adjective. hard

ui

no

ui interjection "no" (originally an endingless negative verb in the 3rd person aorist: "it is not [so]"; see #u-). Apparently this is the word for "no" used to deny that something is true (compare vá, which is rather used to reject orders, or to issue negative orders). (VT49:28) Compare uito.