dûr

adjective. dark, sombre

dûr

dark

_ adj. _dark, gloomy, 'hellish'.

dûr

dark (with evil implications

_adj. _dark (with evil implications, e.g. Barad-dûr). >> Barad-dûr

dûr

adjective. dark (with evil implications), gloomy, hellish

The basic Sindarin adjective for “dark” derived from primitive ✶(n)dūrā from the root √NDU “under, down” (PE17/152), but it acquired an “evil” sense by association with names like Barad-dûr and words like guldur “sorcery” (PE17/31), hence also “gloomy, hellish”. A more neutral word is morn, but strictly speaking that is the colour “black” rather than “dark”.

Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor of this word seems to be ᴱN. drú “dark” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/142). N. dûr appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but as a derivative of ᴹ√DOƷ “night” rather than ᴹ√NDŪ “go down” (Ety/DOƷ). Later on, S. dûr was only influenced by dû “night” rather than being directly related to it (PE17/152).

Cognates

• Q. lúna “*dark” ✧ PE17/022

Derivations

• ✶(n)dūrā ✧ PE17/152
  • √NDU “down, under, below; sink, descend, go down, down, under, below; sink, descend, go down, [ᴹ√] set (of Sun)” ✧ PE17/152

Element in

• S. Barad-dûr “Dark Tower” ✧ PE17/022; PE17/031; PE17/085; RC/274; SA/dûr
• S. Mengas Dûr “?Dark Gap in the Way”
• S. Caragdûr “*Dark-spike” ✧ SA/dûr
• S. Dol Guldur “Hill of Sorcery” ✧ SA/dûr
• S. Durthang “Dark Oppression” ✧ SA/dûr
• S. Emyn Duir “Dark Mountains” ✧ UT/280
• S. Glindûr “*Dark Glance”
• S. guldur “black arts, sorcery” ✧ PE17/125

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶(n)dūrā > Dûr	[ndūrā] > [ndūra] > [dūra] > [dūr]	✧ PE17/152

Variations

• Dûr ✧ PE17/152

dúath

adjective. dark

_ adj. _dark, black shadow.

dûr

dark

dûr (sombre), lenited dhûr, pl. duir

dûr

sombre

dûr (dark), lenited dhûr, pl. duir

doll

dark

doll (dusky, misty, obscure), lenited noll, pl. dyll. Note: In ”Noldorin”, this word appeared as dolt as well as doll, but the latter seems the best form in S.

graw

dark

graw (swart), lenited raw, pl. groe. (VT45:16)

morn

dark

morn (black), pl. myrn, lenited vorn. Note: the latter word is also used as a noun ”darkness, night”. (Letters:386)

môr

dark

môr (black), lenited vôr, pl. mŷr (Letters:382), also