urdu

death

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

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.

urtu

noun. death

Cognates

• S. gurth “death”

Element in

• Q. násië “now and at the hour of our death: Amen” ✧ VT43/34

effírië

death

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

effírië

noun. death

qual-

verb. to die

A verb for “to die” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/152), clearly based on the root √KWAL having to do with pain and death (PE18/91, 103; Ety/KWAL). As such, I would use this verb for undesirable or painful death, as opposed to fir- “to die (a natural or peaceful death)”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. qal- meant “die” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/134), and the root √KWAL had a long history of connection to death and pain in Tolkien’s writings.

Derivations

• √KWAL “die, pain, die, pain, [ᴹ√] die in pain”

Variations

• kwal- ✧ PE22/152

gurth

noun. death

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”.

Cognates

• Q. urtu “death”

Derivations

• √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Element in

• S. Belegurth “Great Death”
• S. Gurthang “Iron of Death” ✧ SA/gurth
• S. gurth an Glamhoth “Death to the din-horde” ✧ UT/039

Variations

• Gurth ✧ UT/039

guru

noun. death

_ n. _death. guru << gûru.

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.

Changes

• gûru → guru ✧ PE17/087

Cognates

• ᴹQ. nuru “death, death [abstract]”

Derivations

• ✶ñgurū “death” ✧ PE17/087
  • √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Element in

• S. guruthos “dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, [N.] fear of death” ✧ PE17/087

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶ngurū > guru	[ŋgurū] > [ŋguru] > [guru] > [guru] > [guru]	✧ PE17/087

Variations

• gûru ✧ PE17/087 (gûru)

Nûrnen

place name. Death

_ topon. _Death, dead water. >> guru

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying, not 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)

gûr

death

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

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)

gwanath

death

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

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):

agan

noun. death

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

Element in

• Ad. Agân “Death” ✧ SD/426
• Ad. agannâlô burôda nênud “[the] death-shadow [is] heavy on us” ✧ SD/247; SD/247
• Ad. agannūlo burudan nēnum “death-shade heavy-is on-us” ✧ SD/312

Variations

• Agan ✧ SD/247

agân

masculine name. Death

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

Variations

• Agān ✧ SD/426

ñgurū

noun. death

Derivations

• √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Derivatives

• S. guru “death, death (abstract)” ✧ PE17/087

Element in

• S. Núrnen “Sad Water, Dead Water” ✧ PE17/087

Variations

• ngurū ✧ PE17/087

guruth

noun. death

guruth

noun. death

Derivations

• On. ngurtu “death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
  • ᴹ√ÑGUR “*death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Element in

• N. Gurtholf “Wand of Death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
• N. gurth i Morthu “*death (of) ?Sauron” ✧ RS/186
• N. guruthos “fear of death”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. ngurtu > guruth	[ŋgurtu] > [ŋgurtʰu] > [ŋgurθu] > [gurθu] > [gurθu] > [gurθu] > [guruθ]	✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Variations

• Gurth ✧ RS/186

gûr

noun. death

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)