du

prefix. should, so-as

A verbal prefix in the sentence azrîya du-phursâ akhâsada and translated as either “so-as” (SD/247) or “should” (VT24/12). It almost certainly indicates some verb-mood. Most authors have suggested it indicates the subjunctive mood based on its glosses (VSH/25, LGtAG, AL/Adûnaic). I think it could also be the optative mood, since in the first draft versions of the sentence the word was nai, clearly related to Q. nai “maybe, may it be that” used for the expression of a wish. Since it appears in only a single example, we don’t have enough information to be sure.

dolgu

noun. dark, (evil) night

A noun attested as the isolated word dolgu, described as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’” (SD/306). It may be related to S. dû “night” and N. doll “obscure, hidden, dusky”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/13). It is similar to the word dulgu “black” appearing in the Lament of Akallabêth and the two may be variations of the same word, but most authors have suggested (AAD/13-14, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/DUL’G, NBA/11, 24) that they are distinct words. In the phonetic rules in Lowdham’s Report from this period, a short o cannot appear in an Adûnaic (SD/423), so perhaps the proper form of this noun should be *dôlgu.