má

noun. hand

an-

prefix. intensitive prefix, intensive, intensive prefix, plu-, plus, intensive, superlative, intensive

o

preposition. from

né

adverb. ago, behind (earlier time), yes (it was so)

-n

suffix. dative

-u

suffix. dual ending

ye

pronoun. who

yú-

prefix. both

dalath

noun. plain, plain, low lying/flat ground

i

pronoun. that, who, who, that

ci

pronoun. thou

caun

noun. outcry, clamour

urug

noun. bogey

brith

noun. gravel

-en

suffix. 1st person singular possessive, my, 1st sg. poss. suffix, possessive suffix of 1st person sg.

* dim

noun. stair

* an-

prefix. intensive prefix

* tuil

noun. spring

má

noun. hand

má

preposition. by (hand of), of agent

-s

suffix. definite article

er

cardinal. 1, one

-o

suffix. of

* aba-

verb. to refuse, will not

-a

suffix. genitive singular

búrz

adjective. dark

nazg

noun. (finger-)ring, magic ring, ring

gimb-

verb. seek out, discover, to seek out, to discover

krimp-

verb. tie, bind, to tie, to bind

bagronk

preposition. cesspool, dungeon, torture chamber

burzum

noun. darkness

ash nazg gimbatul

one ring to find them

-um

article. particularizing suffix

agh

conjunction. and

ash

cardinal. one

sha

preposition. with

ishi

preposition. in (the), in, inside

skai

interjection. interject[ion] of contempt

ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

búbhosh

noun/adjective. great, dung-heap, muck heap

durb-

verb. constrain, force, dominate

glob

noun. filth, fool, foul

olog

noun. Troll

pushdug

noun/adjective. dungfilth, filthy, squalid, stinking

thrak-

verb. bring by force, hale, drag, to bring by force, to hale, to drag

-ul

suffix. 3rd-person-pl-object, them, them, plural object

gûldur

noun. sorcery

-ûk

suffix. the whole, all

ring inscription

one ring to rule them all

lûg

noun. fortress, lock-up, prison

u

preposition. to

dâur

noun. gloom

A noun translated as “gloom” derived from the root √DAWAR (SD/423). It is an example of how primitive [w] and [j] became [u] and [i] before consonants and finally, thereby producing diphthongs.

zâir

noun. longing, yearning

A noun with alternate forms zaira and zâir, glossed “yearning” and derived from the Primitive Adûnaic root √ZIR (SD/423). It also appears in the subjective form zâira “longing (is)” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247), as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/25).

This words seems to be a violation of the rules for root-modifications, under which a root never undergoes two changes from the same kind of process (SD/424). This word seems to have both kinds of vowel modification, vowel-lengthening and a-fortification, from its root √ZIR.

dâira

noun. Earth

A noun translated as “Earth” in the final version of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It may be related to S. dôr “land”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/13).

Conceptual Development: In the Lament of Akallabêth (first draft), this noun appeared as kamāt (SD/311).

târik

noun. pillar, that which supports

The Adûnaic word for “pillar” (SD/241). Tolkien explained that this word is perceived as having a verbal function: “that which supports” (SD/429). As such, it can be used with an objective form in the name Minul-târik “That Which Supports the Heavens”.

Conceptual Development: In earlier drafts of “The Notion Club Papers” stories, this word appeared tûbal (SD/363), tūbil (SD/305) and (Quenya?) tyūlā (SD/346).

azar

noun. star, star (draft)

Christopher Tolkien mentions this as a noun meaning “star” from early and unpublished materials related to “The Notion Club Papers” stories (PM/372). It may be an element in the early Adûnaic name Indilzar for Elros. As Indilzar was replaced by Gimilzôr, it is likely that azar was replaced by gimli and gimil, which are well attested in later writings.

pâ

noun. hand

A noun translated “hand”, given as an example of an apparent Adûnaic uniconsonantal noun, which had a biconsonantal-root but lost one of its consonants from its ancient form ✶Ad. paʒa (SD/416, 426).

nuphâr

noun. parent

A noun translated “parent” (SD/434). It also appears in the dual form nuphrât “father and mother”, but this dual form is peculiar. As a weak II noun, the dual form ought to be *nuphârat, as for example batân “road” → batânat “pair of roads” (SD/431). Its dual form seems instead to undergo the Adûnaic syncope (vowel loss), which happens nowhere else with a long vowel. There is no obvious explanation for this irregular formation.

anâ

noun. human being

A noun translated “human being” (SD/426) given as an example of a noun ending in a long vowel that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the extremely rare class of Strong-IIb nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead. It also had masculine and feminine variants anû “(human) man” and anî “(human) woman” (SD/434) but in ordinary speech it seems likely that more specific words would be used: narû “man, male”, zinî “female”, kali “woman”.

kadar

noun. city

A noun appearing only as an element in kadar-lâi “city folk” (SD/435).

lâi

collective noun. folk

A noun appearing only as an element in kadar-lâi “city folk” (SD/435). It may be related to Q. lië “people”, as suggested by various authors (AAD/18, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/LAI). In at least one Avari dialect, this word was lai (WJ/410).

zidar

noun. poise

A word attested only in the compound Minal-zidar “Poise in Heaven” (SD/200). Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/ZID) it may be related to izindi “straight”.

zîrân

adjective. beloved

An adjective translated “(the) beloved” (SD/247), apparently formed from the verb zîr- “to love, desire” with the participle suffix -ân¹. Its placement in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor beloved fell (down)” is unusual, since according to Tolkien adjectives normally precede the nouns they modify (SD/428). It is possible that the adjective here is being used as a noun “the beloved”, an idea supported by the translation of this sentence in the final manuscript: “Anadune the beloved she fell” (VT24/12). See the entry for the Adûnaic participle for further discussion.

minal-târik

heavenly pillar

A non-objective that contrasts with the name Minul-târik “Pillar of Heaven” (SD/429). Since the phrase is not objective, it must be a genitive relationship, who meaning according to Tolkien was something like “a pillar in the sky, or made of cloud”.

zigûr

noun. wizard

A noun translated “wizard” and given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead. As the proper name Zigûr, it was the Adûnaic name for Sauron.

batân

noun. road, path, way

A noun variously translated as “road”, “path” or “way” (SD/247, 431; VT24/12) and fully declined on SD/431. This noun also appears in the variant strong-plural form batîn that was sometimes used with Weak I nouns in older and poetic writing (SD/247, 435). Its ordinary weak plural form batânî appears in the declension chart on SD/431. Several authors have suggested (AAD/13, EotAL/BAT) that this noun may be a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT). If so, its final element may be the agental suffix -ân², and its initial element may be a verb bat- “walk”, so that the literal sense of the word might be “walkway”.

thâni

noun. land

A noun translated “land” (SD/435) appearing in the Adûnaic names for the Blessed Realm: Amatthâni and thâni’nAmân. Its Primitive Adûnaic form was also ✶thāni, though its primitive was glossed “realm" (SD/420).

zâyan

noun. land

An Adûnaic word for “land” (SD/423). It has an irregular plural form zâin which is the result of the phonetic change (SD/423): medial [w] and [j] vanished before [u] and [i]. Thus, the archaic plural changed from †zâyîn > zâîn > zâin.

Conceptual Development: In earlier names this word appeared as zen (SD/378, 385).

sapthân

noun. wise man, wizard

A noun translated “wise man, wizard” given as an example of the phonetic development of primitive aspirates in contact with stops (SD/421). According to Tolkien, it was pronounced [safθān], indicating that the combination pth would be pronounced as a voiceless labial fricative [f] followed by a voiceless dental fricative [θ]. Given the phonetic rules of Adûnaic, most voiceless stops would be pronounced as fricatives before another fricative in Classical Adûnaic.

-im

suffix. gendered plural subjective suffix

A suffix used in plural subjective inflections of gendered-nouns, in most cases blending with the plural ending -î to become -îm (SD/430).

-ma

suffix. instrumental (draft), with

The suffix used for the draft-instrumental case, translated “with” (SD/438). In a later conceptual stage, it became the ordinary prepositional suffix -mâ. Carl Hostetter and Partick Wynne suggested (VSH/33, AAD/19) that the deleted form -men on SD/311 is a separate prepositional suffix “on” related to ᴹQ. men “place”, but I believe it is a variant of the plural instrumental form -main.

huzun

noun. ear

A noun translated as “ear” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).

banâth

noun. wife

The noun for “wife”, given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun (SD/437), an example of the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns. By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead.

phazân

noun. prince, king’s son

A noun translated as “prince, king’s son”, given as an example of a noun with a long vowel in its final syllable that (archaically) uses the declension for a strong-noun, the rare class of Strong-Ib nouns (SD/436-7). By the time of Classical Adûnaic, it could be declined as an ordinary weak-noun instead.

-ada

preposition. into, to, toward, into, against, -ward, -ward

A prepositional suffix variously translated as “(in)to” or “(to)ward”, and in one place “against” (SD/247, SD/429). It can appears as either -ada or -ad (SD/429), but in most examples it is -ada, the one exception being Gimlad “Starwards”.

azra

noun. sea

The Adûnaic word for “sea” (SD/429), appearing as azar in some early texts (SD/305). It is fully declined on SD/431.

bâr ukallaba

the lord fell

An example sentence showing how the normal-case can sometimes be used for the subject of a sentence (SD/429). The subject is bâr “lord” while the verb has the masculine singular pronoun prefix u- “he”. Such a prefix is required when the subject is in the normal case (SD/429). The verb form kallaba is the past tense of kalab- “to fall”. This sentence is contrasted with bârun (u)kallaba in which the subject is in the subjective case.

gimli

noun. star, star (in the sky)

A noun translated “star” (SD/431) or “star (in the sky)” (SD/427), and fully declined on SD/431 as an example of a Strong II noun.

narû

noun. man, male

A noun translated “soldier” and fully declined as an example of an (archaic) masculine Strong II noun (SD/437). The archaic form of this word is †naru which is a Strong II noun since it ends in a single short vowel. Its non-archaic form is narû, which is presumably declined as a Weak II noun; most masculine and feminine nouns became weak in Classical Adûnaic (SD/436). It may be related to the Primitive Elvish root √N(D)ER, as suggested by several authors (AAD/20, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/NERE).

nithil

noun. girl

A noun translated “girl” and fully declined as an example of a feminine Strong I noun (SD/430). It is also used as an example of feminine nouns that use the suffix -i in their objective inflection as opposed to the usual -u: nithli (SD/431). Though not explicitly stated, nithli is also an example of the variant objective-with-syncope syntax discussed on SD/435. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/21) it may be related to the Elvish root √NETH “young”.

tâidô

adverb. once, then

An adverb glossed as both “once” and “then” (SD/247, VT24/12). Several authors have suggested (AAD/23, EotAL/TA3) that the final element may be îdô “now”. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/TA3) the initial element tâ is a marker that puts it into the past: îdô = “now”, tâ-îdô = “previous time” = “then”. It seems likelier to me that the prefix is related to the Eldarin demonstrative root √TA “that, there, then”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/23): tâ-îdô = “that time” = “then”.

Conceptual Development: In the second draft of the Lament of Akallabêth, this word was ēluk (SD/312).

ugrudâ-

verb. to overshadow

A verb translated “overshadow”, given as an example of a derived-verb (SD/439). It appears to contain the element ugru “shadow”, so perhaps the final element -dâ- is a causative verbal suffix.

urug

noun. bear

A noun translated “bear” (SD/426), also given by Tolkien as an example of how common-nouns can be altered into masculine and feminine forms using the suffixes -û and -î: urgī “female bear, she-bear” (SD/435).

zâira nênud

longing (is) on us

The 10th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). The first word zâira “longing (is)” is the subjective form of zâir “longing, yearning” as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/20). Like in the 9th sentence, the phrase nênud is a combination of the pronoun nê “us” and the prepositional suffix -nud “on”. There is no verb, so the subjective here functions as the verb “to be” (SD/429): “longing (is) on us”.

This sentence did not appear at all in the first draft of the Lament.

dalad

preposition. beneath, under, under, beneath

A preposition translated as “under” (SD/247, 311) or “beneath” (VT24/12). It appeared in the usual suffixal position in the final version of the Lament of Akallabêth, but appeared before the noun it modified in the first draft version.

gimil

collective noun. (all) stars, silver, stars, the stars, all the stars

A collective-noun meaning “all the stars of the heavens”, as opposed to gimli which was used for an individual star (SD/427). The element gimil appears in many names, including several later names in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/15) that it may be related to the Elvish root √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white)”.

Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/KH-B-L) that if the later name Gimilzôr means “Silver-fire”, its initial element gimil could instead mean “silver”, perhaps as a cognate of Dwarvish kibil. If so, this alternate meaning could either be a homonym of gimil “stars”, or a new meaning for gimil in Tolkien’s later works.

hazad

noun. seven

A number translated as “seven”, appearing in the form hazad in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247), but in the form hazid in Lowdham’s Report (SD/427-8). Helge Fauskanger suggested (AL/Adûnaic) it may be related to the dwarvish word Khazâd “Dwarves”, who were divided into seven houses.

igmil

noun. star-shaped figure

This noun is another singular variation of the collective-noun gimil “(all) stars”, used for a “star-shaped figure” (SD/427) instead of an actual star which is gimli.

kali

noun. woman

A noun translated “woman” (SD/434).

kamāt

noun. earth, earth (draft)

The noun for “Earth” in the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311), later replaced by dâira (SD/247). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/17) that it may be related to the Elvish root ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth”.

karab

noun. horse

A noun translated “horse”, given by Tolkien as an example of how common-nouns can be altered into masculine and feminine forms using the suffixes -û and -î: karbî “mare” and karbû “stallion” (SD/434).

katha

adjective. all

A word translated “all” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/288, VT24/12). This word appeared in the form kâtha in the final typescript version of the Lament (SD/247), but in all other instances appeared as katha. If the final typescript is later than the final manuscript, kâtha may be its final form, but I believe that the manuscript was later, and katha better matches its appearance as an element in kathuphazgân “conqueror” (SD/429). This last example is interesting in that it is an example of an adjective declined into the objective case.

satta

noun. two

The Adûnaic number “two” (SD/428). It seems likely that it is related to Q. atta “two”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (AAD/22), though it is unclear how the initial s- might have developed in the Adûnaic. It may also be related to the Adûnaic dual suffix -at, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/SAT).

zadan

noun. house

A noun translated “house” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).

azra-zâin

noun. sea-lands, maritime regions

A noun given as an example of a genitive compound (SD/429), translated “sea-lands, maritime regions” (SD/435) but literally meaning “*lands of the sea”.

kadar-lâi

noun. city folk

A compound noun translated “city folk” given as an example of an adjectival-genitive relationship between nouns (SD/435).

sâibêth

noun. assent

A noun translated “assent” (SD/247). The second element of this word is probably bêth “word” as suggested by several authors (AAD/22, EotAL/BITH). It isn’t clear what the first element means.

Conceptual Development: In the draft versions of the Lament of Akallabêth, the form of this word was sōbēth (SD/311).

ammê

noun. mother

A noun for “mother” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, ammî and ammê, with no indication as to which would be preferred. However, ammî resembles a plural word, and Tolkien elsewhere stated that such forms tended to change their final vowel to -ê (SD/438), so my guess is that ammî is an archaic form. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AM¹ “mother”. Some authors have suggested it is directly related to ᴹQ. amme (AAD/10, AL/Adûnaic), but as Andreas Moehn points out (EotAL/MAM) such basic words are rarely borrowed from other languages, so the relationship is more likely from the Primitive Elvish root.

attô

noun. father

A noun for “father” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, attû and attô, with no indication as to which would be preferred. For reasons similar to those given in the entry for ammê “mother”, my guess is that attû is an archaic form, and attô was preferred by the time of Classical Adûnaic. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AT(AR) “father”, perhaps from Primitive Elvish ᴹ✶atū.

bârun (u)kallaba

the lord fell, it was the lord who fell

An example sentence showing how the subjective case is used for the subject of sentences (SD/429). The subject bârun “lord” is the subjective form of bâr. The verb form kallaba is the past tense of kalab- “to fall”. The masculine singular pronoun prefix u- “he” is optional, but when present makes the sentence emphatic: “it was the lord who fell” (SD/429). This sentence is contrasted with bâr ukallaba in which the subject is instead in the normal-case, which makes the pronoun u- required rather than optional (but not emphatic).

izrê

noun. sweetheart, beloved

A noun translated “sweetheart, beloved” and fully declined as an example of a weak II feminine-noun (SD/438).

pharaz

noun. gold

A noun meaning “gold”, the only Adûnaic word defined in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1114).

Conceptual Development: This noun also appears in “Lowdham’s Report on the Adunaic Language” from the 1940s (SD/426).

pharaz

noun. sea

A draft word for “sea”, deleted and replaced with azar (SD/305), which later become azra. This word reappeared later with a different meaning: pharaz “gold”.

zinî

noun. female

A noun translated “female” and fully declined as an example of an (archaic) feminine Strong II noun (SD/437). The archaic form of this word is †zini which is a Strong II noun since it ends in a single short vowel. Its non-archaic form is zinî, which is presumably declined as a Weak II noun; most masculine and feminine nouns became weak in Classical Adûnaic (SD/436).

zîr-

verb. to love, desire

An Adûnaic verb appearing as an element in various compounds as -zîr or zîr- (SD/389, 423). The verb was not translated, but its primitive root form ZIR is glossed “love, desire”, so this verb probably has a similar meaning.

Several authors have suggested (EotAL/ZIR, NBA/20) that the verb stem is zir- with a short vowel. However, the vowel is long in the participle form zîrân “beloved”, and there are tentative examples where a verb with a short vowel would retain that short vowel in the agental/participle form: magân “*builder”. I therefore think that the verb stem is likelier to be zîr-.

Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/25) that it may be related to the Middle-Period Elvish root ᴹ√SER.

gimlu-nitîr

kindler of a (particular) star

An example illustrating the difference between the singular noun gimli “star” and the collective-noun gimil “(all) stars” as used in the name Gimilnitîr “Star-kindler, kindler of all the stars” (SD/428).

gimlî hazid

seven (of) stars, seven stars

An example phrase indicating how Adûnaic numbers follow plural nouns and are in a genitive relations with them: “seven of stars” (SD/427-8).

īdō kathī batānī rōkhī-nam

lo! now all ways bent-are

The first draft of the 12th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). Although all of its word are similar to the final version, each has differences in grammar or spelling from the later versions of the text.

• The first word īdō is the same as in the final version, but is glossed “lo! now” instead of simply “now”.
• The adjective kathī “all” is the plural form of __, not singular as it is in the final text, perhaps indicating a shift in the rules for adjective-noun agreement.
• The subject batānī “ways” is the normal plural form of __, not inflected to the case as it is in the final text.
• The final word rōkhī-nam “(are) bent” has the plural adjective rōkhī instead of later form lōkhī. It also use the suffix -nam “are”, likely the plural of the predicate suffix __ “is”. This probably serves the same function as the inflection of the final version: to represent the “to be” verb “are”.

avalô

noun. Power, God

An Adûnaic noun translated as “God” or “Power” (SD/247, 305), the equivalent of (and possibly derived from) Q. Vala. It is probably pronounced [awalō], since the sound [w] in Adûnaic was sometime written “v” (SD/434). It frequently appeared in its plural or subjective plural forms Avalôi(m) “Powers, Gods”.

Conceptual Development: In early drafts of Adûnaic its plural was Avalâi with a long â instead of ô, perhaps indicating an earlier singular form Avalâ closer to Vala. Earlier still this word was given as plural Balāi, a more direct derivative of the Elvish root form ᴹ√BAL.

nadroth

noun. hind-track

An Adûnaic noun translated “hind-track”, referring to the wake behind a boat (PM/376). It appeared more than two decades (1968) after Tolkien’s Adûnaic Grammar in Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s (SD/413-440). This noun is inconsistent with the earlier grammar in two respects. First, the prepositional element nad- appears as a prefix, not as a suffix as prepositions did in the earlier grammar (SD/435). Second, it includes a short o, whereas in the earlier phonetic rules of Adûnaic, only a long [ō] is allowed (SD/423). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

nardû

noun. soldier

A noun translated “soldier” and fully declined as an example of a masculine Weak II noun (SD/438). Several authors have suggested (AAD/20, EotAL/NERE) that it may be related to narû “man”.

ēruhīn udūbanim dalad ugrus

‽ fell under ‽horror‽shadow

The first draft of the 2nd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version only in grammar. The subject of the sentence seems to be a simple plural of #Êruhin, not in the subjective case. The verb might be inflected with the 3rd-person singular masculine suffix u- “he”, but this contradicts the plurality of the subject. Another explanation is that the verb is in the draft-perfect tense and the initial u- is an augment vowel. Either way, it is difficult to explain why it has the verbal suffix -nim instead of the usual plural suffix -m.

The word dalad “under” comes before the noun rather than as a suffix as is usual of later Adûnaic prepositions. The word it modifies seems to be the draft-dative case of the word ugru “shadow”, indicating that the objects of prepositions could be declined into various cases in the draft grammar.

kathuphazgân

noun. conqueror

A noun translated “conqueror” (SD/429), apparently a compound whose first element seems to be the objective form of katha “all”. The final element is likely the agental suffix -ân² also attested in magân and sapthân. If so, the middle element is probably a verb, perhaps a triconsonantal verb phazag-, though it could be a derived verb phazgâ-.

a

pronoun. it

A pronominal prefix, most likely the neuter singular pronoun “it”, appearing in the word ayadda “[it] went” in the sentence adûn izindi batân tâidô ayadda “the road west [it] once went straight” (SD/247). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.

îdô katha batîna lôkhî

now all ways (are) bent

The 12th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (VT24/12). The first word is the adverb îdô “now” and the second is the adjective katha “all”. Curiously, the adjective katha is not pluralized to agree with the noun as is the case with adjectives elsewhere in the text, including the pluralized lôkhî at the end of this very sentence.

The subject batîna “roads” is the subjective plural form of the noun batân “road, path, way”. There is no verb, so the subjective form functions as the “to be” verb (SD/429). The final word lôkhî seems to be a pluralized adjective, perhaps #lôkho.

The typescipt version has kātha instead of katha, but is otherwise identical to the manuscript except some minor differences in translation (SD/247).

anadūni akallabi

Westernesse fell in ruin

The first draft of the 6th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version in its grammar and in the omission of the word zîrân “beloved”. The subject anadūni seems to be an earlier version of Anadûnê “Númenor”. The verb akallabi “fell in ruin” is an early form of kalab- “to fall (down)”, perhaps in the draft-perfect tense.

arpharazōn azgaranādu avalōi-{men >>}si

‽ was waging war‽ Powers on

The first draft of the 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version primarily in grammar. It has a difficult-to-interpret form azgaranādu of the verb azgarâ-. See the entry to that verb for possible interpretations. The last word avalōi-si seems to be the draft-dative plural form of Avalô “Power, God”, changed from the draft-instrumental plural form avalōi-men.

-zê

preposition. at

A prepositional suffix translated “at” (SD/429), but not appearing in any example sentences. It is perhaps a later repurposing of the draft-dative case suffix -s, since the other draft-cases became prepositional suffixes in later versions of the Adûnaic grammar: draft genitive -ō versus later preposition -ô “from”, draft instrumental -ma versus later preposition -mâ “with”.

ki

pronoun. you

A pronominal prefix, most likely the second person pronoun “you”, appearing in the verb kitabdahê “[you] touch me” in the sentence bâ kitabdahê (SD/250). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.

-a-

suffix. subjective inflection

The inflection used to put neuter nouns into the subjective case (SD/430), used either as a suffix (for weak-nouns) or augmenting the last vowel (for strong-nouns). See the entry on the subjective case for further details.

-at

suffix. dual suffix

The suffix for dual-nouns in Adûnaic, with the a lengthened to â in subjective duals (SD/428-430). In later (Exhilic?) Adûnaic, the â was long in all cases (SD/431). See the entry on dual-nouns for further details. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/11) that -at is derived from the same Primitive Elvish form ✶ata as the Quenya dual.

-in

suffix. feminine subjective suffix

The subjective suffix for singular feminine-nouns, reduced to -n when the noun ends in a vowel (SD/430, 436).

an-

prefix. genitive prefix, genitive/adjectival prefix, of

A prefix translated as “of” (SD/247) and one of the ways that genitive relationships are expressed in Adûnaic (SD/429). According to Tolkien, “it is not a preposition ... it is the equivalent of an inflexion or suffix” (SD/435). As such, it is used to form adjectives from nouns, as anadûni “western, *of the West” from adûni “the West”. When following another noun, it is often elided so that the a is lost, as in Ârû ’nAdûnâi “King of the Númenóreans” (SD/429) and Bâr ’nAnadûnê “Lord of Númenor” (SD/428). This elision occurs in most examples, but seems not to happen in some cases:

• When the an- is separated from the modified noun: balîk hazad an-Nimruzîr “ships seven of-Nimruzîr” (SD/247).
• When the modified nouns is declined into the subjective case: Bârim an-Adûn “Lords of the West” (SD/247).
• However, when the subjective noun ends in a vowel, elision still occurs: narîka ’nBâri ’nAdûn “Eagles of the Lords of the West” (SD/251).

Tolkien used a dash to separate an- from the noun to which it is prefixed but omitted the dash when the prefix was elided. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/10) that Ad. an- may be related to the Sindarin genitive marker S. na² “with, by”

nai

adverb. might, might (draft)

A verbal prefix in the first draft sentence azrē nai phurrusim akhās-ada (SD/311), expressing either the subjunctive or optative verbal mood. It almost certainly related to Q. nai “maybe, may it be that” used for the expression of a wish, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/20). In later versions of the Lament of Akallabêth, this word was changed to du.

êruhînim dubdam ugru-dalad

[the Children of Eru] fell under shadow

The 2nd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). Tolkien did not interpret the name Êruhînim in any version of the text, but elsewhere it is glossed “Children of God (Eru)” (SD/248). Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ fell ‽shadow under/beneath”, with the translation of the last word differing slightly in the typescript (SD/247) and manuscript (VT24/12). In ordinary English the phrase might be “the Children of Eru fell under shadow”.

The subject Êruhînim of the sentence is the subjective plural form of #Êruhin. The verb dubdam seems to be in the aorist form of #dubud- “to fall”, glossed in past tense because it is in a narrative occurring in the past. The verb has the plural marker -m in agreement with the number of the subject. The word dalad “under, beneath” is suffixed to the noun it modifies, as is usual of Adûnaic prepositions.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence (SD/312) differs only in its use of the verb form dubbudam (past tense) instead of the final version’s form dubdam (aorist). The first draft version used all the same words but differed in its grammar.

azrē nai {phurusam >>} phurrusim akhās-ada

seas might-flow Chasm-into

The first draft of the 5th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). Its has the same vocabulary as the final version except that it has nai “might” (an adverb?) instead of the prefix du. This nai is almost certainly a variant of Q. nai “maybe, be it that”.

The draft version has several other grammatical differences from later versions. The subject azrē “seas” seems to be a simple rather than subjective plural. Tolkien initially wrote phurusam for the verb and then changed to to phurrusim “flow”, perhaps aorist and past tenses of the verb phurus-, respectively. Both conjugations have the plural verb suffix -m. The last phrase akhās-ada “into Chasm” is essentially identical to the final version, however.

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).

ēphalek īdōn akallabēth

far away lo!now is She-that-is-fallen

The first draft of the 13th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). It differs from the final version mainly in its use of ēphalek “far away” for later êphalak and akallabēth instead of later Yôzâyan (Akallabêth appears instead in the last sentence of the final version). Like the final typescript version but unlike the final manuscript version, it uses īdōn “lo! now is” instead of īdō “now”. This is may be a combination of the adverb īdō “now” and the predicate suffix -n “is” used elsewhere in the draft version.

-s

suffix. dative (draft)

The suffix used for the draft-dative case (SD/438). It is attested in the Lament of Akallabêth (first draft) in a plural form: avalōi-si “Powers on” (SD/311). In a later conceptual stage, it may have become the ordinary prepositional suffix -zê “at”.

-î

suffix. feminine suffix

A suffix used to form feminine nouns from common or masculine nouns (SD/435). Another common variant was -ê (SD/438).

-ô

preposition. from

A prepositional suffix translated “from” (SD/429). In a few places, the suffix appears with the glide-consonant v (pronounced [w]) between it and a preceding u-vowel (SD/247, 249). It is likely related to the Quenya genitive inflection Q. -o.

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, this suffix was a grammatical inflection, the draft-genitive -ō (SD/438).

kan-

verb. to hold

A verb translated “hold”, given by Tolkien as an example of a biconsonantal-verb (SD/439). There is unfortunately no information on how it might be conjugated.

khô

noun. crow

A noun translated “crow” (SD/426). Tolkien listed this noun in two forms, khâu and khô, both as examples of seemingly uniconsonantal nouns that prehistorically were biconsonantal (from prehistoric ✶khaw). Most authors have suggested these are simply variations on the same noun illustrating different paths of phonetic development (AAD/18, AL/Adûnaic). Another interesting possibility is that khâu is an (archaic?) subjective form of khô, produced from the usual a-fortification of primitive ✶khaw → ✶khāw, which would develop phonetically in Classical Adûnaic to khâu and khô. As support for this idea, the plural form of khâu is given as khāwī(m), which appears to include the subjective plural suffix -im.

This line of reasoning is quite speculative. Nevertheless, it is probably easier to use the form khô over khâu, since the inflections of khô would be more regular: plural khôi, dual khôwat, objective khôwu, etc.

mîth

noun. baby girl, maid-child, little girl

An Adûnaic noun for “little or baby dirl” (SD/427, 437), fully declined on SD/437 as an example of a Weak I noun. It is also given as an example of a feminized noun form on SD/427.

raba

noun. dog

A noun translated “dog” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/437). It is also used as an example of a common-noun that can be altered to masculine and feminine forms rabô “male dog” and rabê “bitch” (SD/434).

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).

adūn batān akhaini ezendi

West road lay straight

The first draft of the 11th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). It resembles the final version, but is missing the adverb tâidô and has the verb khay- “to lie” instead of yad- “to go”.

The first two words adūn “west” and batān “road” are the same as in the final version. The verb form akhaini “lay” seems to be the draft-perfect tense of the verb #khay- “to lie”. The word ezendi “straight” (instead of later izindi) appears at the end, perhaps functioning as an adverb.

balîk hazad an-nimruzîr azûlada

seven ships of Elendil [went] eastward

The 8th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). As written, it seems to be an incomplete noun phrase rather then a full sentence. It contains neither a verb nor a noun in the subjective case that could represent a copula (“to be” statement).

The first word, balîk “ships” is the normal plural of #balak “ship”. It is in a genitive composition with the number hazad “seven”, a construction discussed on SD/428, literally meaning “*seven of ships”. This is modified by the phrase an-Nimruzîr “of Elendil” consisting of the genitive prefix an- “of” and the name Nimruzîr (Q. Elendil). The final word, azûlada “eastward(s)” is a composition of azûl “east” and the suffix -ada “(to)wards”.

The final typescript and manuscript versions differ only in that the manuscript is missing the dash “-” in the genitive an-Nimruzîr “of Elendil” (VT24/12). The previous (second draft) version of the phrase is missing the entire prefix an- (SD/312). The first draft had a rather different sentence.

-û

suffix. masculine suffix

A suffix used to form masculine nouns from common or neuter nouns (SD/435). Another common variant was -ô (SD/438).

-ō

suffix. genitive (draft)

The suffix used for the draft-genitive case, with a plural form -ōm (SD/438). In a later conceptual stage, it became the ordinary prepositional suffix -ô.

adûn izindi batân tâidô ayadda

[the] road west once went straight, (lit.) west straight road once went

The 11th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247), whose word order varied considerably in the different drafts of the text. The first two words are the adjectives adûn “west” and izindi “straight, right, true”. They modify the subject batân “road, path, way”, which is in the normal-case rather than the subjective. This is consistent with the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, since the verb ayadda has a pronominal suffix a- “*it” (SD/429).

The fourth word is an adverb tâidô “once, then”. The verb form yadda seems to be the past tense of #yad- “to go”, functioning here as a pluperfect (see SD/439). This makes sense in the narrative, since this sentence describes the previous state (the road west going straight to Valinor) while the next sentence uses the aorist tense to describe the current state (all roads being bent around the now-round world).

Tolkien’s glosses match the word order of the Adûnaic sentence: “west straight road once went”. This might be rendered in more ordinary English as “[the] road west once went straight”.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence had more differences from the final version than any other sentence in the second draft (SD/312). It had a different word order, with the adjective izindi “straight” appearing directly before the verb, perhaps functioning as an adverb. It has ēluk instead of tâidô and the verb form yadda is missing the pronominal prefix a-. Unfortunately, Christopher Tolkien did not publish the English glosses for this sentence, so it is hard to decipher the meaning (if any) of these differences.

bawîba dulgî

winds (were) black

The 7th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). The subject bawîba is the subjective plural of #bawab “wind”. There is no verb, so the subjective here functions as the to-be verb “were”, as discussed on SD/429. The adjective dulgî is the plural of dulgu “black”, agreeing in number with the subject.

This sentence did not appear at all in the first draft. In the second draft of the Lament, it was simply the noun phrase dulgu bawīb “*black wind” rather than a full sentence (SD/312). Curiously, the adjective in the second draft did not agree in number with the noun it modified.

du

prefix. should, so-as, 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.

menel

noun. the heavens, the heavens (draft)

A draft Adûnaic word for “the heavens”, later replaced by minal (SD/305).

mîk

noun. baby boy

An unglossed word that it is apparently the masculine equivalent of mîth “baby girl”, using the masculine suffix -k (SD/427).

sûla

noun. trump

A noun translated “trump” illustrating the development of Primitive Adûnaic palatals, or c-series (SD/419). Perhaps its meaning is the older sense of the English word: “trumpet”; it seems unlikely it would refer to a suit of cards .

yu

pronoun. they (masculine)

A pronominal prefix, most likely the masculine plural pronoun “they”, appearing in the verb yurahtam “[they] broke” in the sentence Bârim an-Adûn yurahtam dâira sâibêth-mâ Êruvô (SD/247). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.

zôrî

noun. nurse

A noun translated “nurse” and fully declined as an example of a feminine Weak II noun (SD/438). It has two attested objective forms, an archaic form †zôrîyu using the ordinary objective inflection -u- and non-archaic form zôrî, no doubt using the objective inflection -i- often used in feminine nouns (SD/432): zôrî + -i = zôrî.

ēphal ēphalek īdōn athanātē

far far away is now the Land of Gift

The first draft of the 14th (and final) phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). It differs from the final version mainly in its use of ēphalek “far away” for later êphalak and athanātē “Land of Gift” instead of later Akallabêth. In the final version of the Lament, another word for “Land of Gift” (Yôzâyan) appears in the second-to-last sentence instead. Like the final typescript version but unlike the final manuscript version, is uses īdōn “is now” instead of īdō “now”. This is likely a combination of the adverb īdō “now” and the predicate suffix -n “is” used elsewhere in the draft version.

kulub

collective noun. roots, edible vegetables that are roots not fruits

A collective-noun meaning “all edible root vegetables”, as opposed to kulbu used for an individual root (SD/431).

izindi

adjective. straight, straight (right‽), straight, right, true

An adjective glossed “straight” (SD/247), “right” (VT24/12) and “true” (SD/427), the last of these in the compound izindu-bêth “true-sayer”. This final example is interesting, because the adjective izindi is declined into the objective case.

Conceptual Development: In its first appearance (SD/312), the form of this adjective was ezendi, an impossible form in the later phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report, since Adûnaic only allowed the long vowel [ē] (SD/423).

khibil

noun. spring

A noun translated “spring” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).

obroth

noun. fore-cutting

An Adûnaic word translated “fore-cutting”, referring to the wake before a boat (PM/376). It appeared more than two decades (1968) after Tolkien’s Adûnaic Grammar in Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s (SD/413-440). It is inconsistent with the earlier grammar in two respects. First, the prepositional element ob- appears as a prefix, not as a suffix as prepositions did in the earlier grammar (SD/435). Second, it includes a short o, whereas in the earlier phonetic rules of Adûnaic, only a long [ō] is allowed (SD/423). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

rûkh

noun. shout

A word glossed “shout” (SD/426). Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/RUKH) that it may be a verb rûkh- “to shout”, but it appears in a list of nouns, so I think it likelier that it is noun form.

adûni

noun. the West

According to Tolkien, this is the proper noun form of the adjective adûn “west” (SD/435), though adûn is used as a noun in some examples as well.

phurus-

verb. to gush, flow

A verb translated “to-gush” or “flow” appearing in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247 SD/311), in later writings attested only in the form phursâ. This form superficially seems to be the aorist of the triconsonantal verb phurus-. Its two draft forms phurusam > phurrusim further support the idea that the verb stem is phurus-. However, ordinarily aorist forms end in a short -a, so perhaps there is something unusual about this formation. It also lacks the usual plural-verb suffix -m appearing in first-draft version of the Lament, which would ordinally be required to agree with the plural subject. Since phursâ appears with the subjunctive or optative prefix du-, perhaps it is a special (infinitive?) form of the verb.

Andreas Moehn instead suggested (EotAL/PHUR) the verb stem may be phursâ- instead of phurus, so that it is a derived-verb. This isn’t consistent with earlier forms, but it is possible that Tolkien changed his mind about the basic verb form.

îdô

adverb. now

A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.

Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.

I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.

The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:

• agannūlo buruda~n~ “death-shade heavy-~is~” >> agannâl~ô~ burôda “death-shadow ~[is]~ heavy”
• batānī rōkhī-~nam~ “ways bent-~are~” >> batîn~a~ lôkhî “ways ~(are)~ bent”

In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.

In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be *îdôwa, not îdôn.

It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.

burôda

adjective. (very) heavy

An adjective glossed “heavy” (SD/247) or “very heavy” (VT24/12).

Conceptual Development: It appeared as buruda in early Adûnaic writings (SD/312).

-un

suffix. masculine subjective suffix

The subjective suffix for singular masculine-nouns (SD/430, 436), reduced to -n when the noun ends in a vowel.

-ôn

suffix. adjective or agental suffix

A suffix appearing only in the name Pharazôn “Golden” and possibly also in Zimrathôn. Since the element pharaz is elsewhere defined as “gold” (LotR/1114, SD/426), perhaps this suffix can be used to form adjectives from nouns in Adûnaic. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/ZIM’R) it may instead be an agental suffix, a variant of -ân².

ûrinîluwat

Sun and Moon

A phrase demonstrating a dual compound with two different elements. It contains the related pair ûri “sun” and nîlu “moon (SD/428).

ûriyat nîlô

sun and moon

An example of a dual phrase with two different words. The first word of the pair is declined as a dual. It contains the related pair ûri “sun” and nîlu “moon” (SD/428).

izindu-bêth

noun. true-sayer, prophet

A noun for “prophet”, more literally “true-sayer”, given by Tolkien as an example of the objective case combined with a verb stem in an agental-formation (SD/427).

-êth

suffix. feminine suffix

A feminine suffix appearing in several names, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/11). On SD/427, Tolkien said that the affix -th was often found in feminine forms.

ar-pharazônun azaggara avalôiyada

[Ar-Pharazôn] was warring against [the] Powers

The 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It differed from its earlier drafts only in its use of grammar. Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ was warring against Powers”, omitting the name Ar-Pharazôn because Lowdham was unsure how to translate it. In more ordinary English might be “Ar-Pharazôn was warring against the Powers”.

The subject Ar-Pharazônun is the subjective form of the name Ar-Pharazôn. The verb azaggara “was warring” is a form of azgarâ- “to wage war”, either the past tense or continuative-past tense (see the entry for that continuative-past tense for further discussion). The last word Avalôiyada “against the Powers” is the plural form of Avalô “Power, God” with the prepositional suffix -ada “toward, against” separated from the i of the plural by the usual glide-consonant y.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence differs from the final version in two ways (SD/312). First, the subject is in the normal-case instead of the subjective case, perhaps because Tolkien had not finalized the rules for the subjective case. Second, its verb form was azagrāra, although the final verb form azaggara was written nearby as an alternative. See the verb azgarâ- for possible interpretations.

-u-

suffix. objective inflection

The inflection used to mark nouns in the objective case (SD/430), used either as a suffix (for weak-nouns) or replacing the last vowel (for strong-nouns). Feminine nouns sometimes use -i- instead for their objective forms (SD/432), owing to the association of the final vowel -u with masculinity.

bêth

noun. expression, saying, word

A noun translated as “expression, saying, word” (SD/427). It is likely derived from the Primitive Adûnaic root √BITH “say” (SD/416). This word is very similar to Sindarin peth “word”, especially in the Sindarin lenited form beth. The ancient development of the Adûnaic word may have been similar to Sindarin, with Primitive Elvish root ᴹ√KWET > *√PET > ✶Ad. √BITH, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (AL/Adûnaic).

* -nud

preposition. on

A preposition attested only in the phrase “on us” in the Lament of Akallabêth, changing through the drafts as nēnum >> nēnu >> nēnud (SD/247, 312). Most authors identify -nud as the prepositional element (AAD/20, LGtAG, NBA/14), perhaps related to Q. nu “under”. If so, it may be a derivative of the Elvish roots √NŪ/UNU “under” or √NDU “down”, with a semantic shift to the meaning “on”.

* u

pronoun. he

A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).

* magân

noun. wright, wright, *builder

A noun meaning “wright” attested only as an element in the name Balkumagân “Shipwright” (PM/151). It seems to be an agental-formation of a verb ?mag- “build” with the agental suffix -ân². Therefore, its literal sense might be “*builder”.

* -ân

suffix. agental suffix

A suffix that is used in some examples for agental-formation: creating nouns from verbs that indicate the agent who performs the verb’s action. The clearest example is sapthân “wise man” derived (after some ancient sound modifications) from saphad- “to understand”. This formation means “one who understands”. Less clear examples are magân “wright, builder”, perhaps from a verb mag- “to build”, and kathuphazgân “conquerer”, perhaps a combined of katha “all” and a verb ?phazag- “to take”, meaning “*one who takes all”.

It is not clear how this suffix related to the similar participle suffix -ân¹ used for form adjectives from verbs. See the entry on participle for further discussion. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/TAN) that -ân as an agental formation may be related to anâ “human being”.

* -ân

suffix. participle suffix

A suffix that appears in some adjectives, and may be used to form a participle in Adûnaic, that is an adjective formed from a verb. Helge Fauskanger suggested (AL/Adûnaic) that it may be a cognate of Q. -ina, derived from Primitive Elvish ✶-nā. There are two examples: zîrân “beloved” ← zîr- “to love” and zabathân “humbled” ← *zabath- “to humble”. Both cases seem to be passive participles (also called “past participles” in English grammar), describing a noun that is the object of the verbal action: that which is loved, that which is humbled.

Unlike other Adûnaic adjectives, these participle forms appear after the noun they modify instead of before. See the entry on the participle for further discussion.

* aglar

noun. glory

An element of the name Aglarrâma that might be a noun meaning “glory”; see the entry for that name for further discussion.

* zagar

noun. sword

An element appearing in the names Gimilzagar (UT/227) and Belzagar (UT/222). The Quenya name of Gimilzagar is Calmacil, the final element of which means “sword”, so perhaps this word means the same thing. Most authors have suggested this interpretation (AAD/24, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZAG’R, NBA/20) as well as its possible relationship to azgarâ- “wage war”.

* zimra

noun. jewel

An element appearing in the names Zimraphel (UT/224) and Zimrathôn (UT/222) and also the Hadorian name Zimrahin (WJ/234). The corresponding Quenya names Q. Míriel and Q. Hostamir both seem to contain mírë “jewel”, so this is the likely meaning of the Adûnaic word as well, as suggested by most authors (AAD/25, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZIM’R).

* -dâ-

suffix. verbal suffix

A possible causative verbal suffix in ugrudâ- “to overshadow”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/24). It may be related to Primitive Elvish causative suffix ✶-tā. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne instead suggested (VSH/24) it may be related to the Adûnaic prepositional suffix -ada “to, toward”.

* -râ-

suffix. causative suffix

A possible element in the verb azgarâ- “to wage war”, perhaps a causative suffix, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/24).

* aphana

noun. bliss

An element of the name Aphanuzîr (SD/389), possibly meaning “bliss”; see the entry for that name for further discussion.

* balâ

noun. Vala (draft)

An earlier version of the Adûnaic word for Q. Vala (SD/344), later replaced by Avalâi >> Avalôi. It is only attested in its plural form Balâi.

* 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”.

* azga

noun. war

A hypothetical noun for “war” appearing as an element in the verb azgarâ- “to wage war”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/24), though as others have suggested (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZAG’R) it could equally well be azgar.

* aban

noun. world

An element in the name Abattârik, whose Quenya equivalent Ardamin seems to mean “World Tower” (UT/222). Since the last element of this name is târik “pillar”, it is possible that the first element means “world”. This first element could be abat, but it could also be *aban with the last n becoming t according to the Adûnaic rules for assimilation, as suggested before by several authors (AAD/9, EotAL/BAN¹). Andreas Moehn further suggested (LGtAG) it may have replaced earlier dâira “Earth”, though the two words could also co-exist with slightly different meanings.

* adûnâ

noun. Númenórean, (lit.) Westerner

The Adûnaic word for the Númenóreans themselves, clearly related to adûn “west” (PE17/18, SD/240). It is attested only in plural forms Adûnâi (normal plural) and Adûnâim (subjective plural). The final vowel of its singular form must be a long â; if it were short, its plural form would be **Adûnî instead of the attested Adûnâi.

* mag-

verb. to build

A hypothetical verb from which the agental-formation magân “wright, *builder” is derived, itself attested only as an element in the name Balkumagân “Shipwright”. It may be related to the Elvish root ᴹ√MAG “use, handle”, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/MAG).

* miya

noun. infant

A noun attested only in its dual form miyât “(infant) twins” (SD/427). Its masculine and feminine equivalents are mîk and mîth.

* nimruzîr

noun. Elf-friend

A noun meaning “Elf-friend”, attested only in the (subjective) plural form Nimruzîrim (PM/151). It is identical to the Adûnaic name Nimruzîr of Q. Elendil, which had the same meaning.

Conceptual Development: An earlier name for the faithful Númenóreans was Avaltiri (SD/347).

* balak

noun. ship

The noun for “ship”, attested only in the plural (balîk) and objective (balku) forms (SD/247, PM/151). Its plural form indicates that it is a strong-noun (Strong I), so its final vowel must be short. In theory its final vowel could be any of a, i or u, each of which would be replaced by long î in plural-nouns. However, its attested objective form uses the variant objective-with-syncope form balku instead of ordinary *baluk. Since the Adûnaic syncope seems only to occur for nouns with two identical short vowels, this indicates the singular form of this word is balak.

* bawab

noun. wind

The noun for “wind”, attested only in the plural (bawîb) and subjective plural (bawîba) forms (SD/247, SD/312). Its plural form indicates that it is a strong-noun (Strong I), so its final vowel must be short, but in theory it could be any of a, i or u, each of which would be replaced by long î in plural-nouns. Nouns with identical vowels are more common, however, so bawab is the most likely singular form, though as Helge Fauskanger points out (AL/Adûnaic) the normal form could also be the weak noun bawâb with a poetic strong plural (SD/435).

* narak

noun. eagle

A noun attested only in the plural subjective form Narīka “eagles” (SD/251). This formation is peculiar, because it seems to be a neuter subjective form, but the names of animals are generally common-nouns, as pointed out by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/NAR’K). If it were declined as a common noun, the subjective plural should be *narkim: compare Nimir “Elf” whose subjective plural form is nimrim (SD/436). Perhaps when Narīka was written, Tolkien had not finished working out the Adûnaic gender and case system.

* sakal

noun. shore

This word is attested only in Sakalthôr, whose Quenya name is Falassion (UT/223). The first element of the Quenya name seems to be falassë “shore”, so the first element of his Adûnaic name probably has the same meaning, as suggested by several authors (AAD/22, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/SAK’L).

* nitir-

verb. to kindle

A verb attested only as an agental-formation in the names Gimilnitîr “Star-kindler” and gimlu-nitîr “kindler of a (particular) star” (SD/428). Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/32) the base verb is nitir-, and this seems to me to be the likeliest possibility. Andreas Moehn instead suggested (EotAL/NIT’Y) that the verb stem may be nit-, and that the -îr is some kind of feminine agental suffix.

* tabad-

verb. to touch

A verb translated “touch”, attested only in the phrase bâ ki~tabda~hê “Don’t touch me!” (SD/250). The initial element ki is perhaps the 2nd person pronoun “you”, and the final element hê is perhaps the object pronoun “me”. This leaves the middle element tabda “touch”, which looks like the aorist tense of a triconsonantal verb tabad-. Most authors agree with this decomposition of the verb (EotAL/TAB’D, NBA/18, AL/Adûnaic), though Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/18) the final element is a marker of the imperative.

* phazag-

verb. to rule, conquer

A hypothetical verbal element in the noun kathuphazgân “conqueror” (SD/429), whose literally meaning might be “*all-ruler” (kathu-phazg-ân). Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/PHAZ) that it may be related to phazân “prince” and have the meaning “to rule”, whereas Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/27) that it might mean “to conquer”.

* saphad-

verb. to understand

A verb attested only in the form usaphda “he understood”, an aorist inflection with the 3rd person masculine pronominal prefix u- (SD/421). Archaically its aorist form underwent phonetic changes to become †saptha, but it was later reformed to be consistent with other inflections of the verb (such as the past tense *sapphada).

* zabath-

verb. to (be) humble

A hypothetical verbal element in the participle adjective zabathân “humbled” (SD/247). According to Andreas Moehn (EotAL/ZAB’TH), Aleš Bičan suggested that the initial element za- is some kind of verbal prefix, similar in function to nu- in ᴹQ. nukumna “humbled”, which would help explain why it does not undergo the Adûnaic syncope in its participle form.

* adûnâiyê

noun. Adûnaic

A hypothetical word for the Adûnaic language, modeled after Nimriyê “Elvish”. Other authors have suggested similar words: Adûnaiyê (Andreas Moehn, EotAL) and Adûnâyê (Thorsten Renk, NBA/1). As further evidence for this or a similar name, Westron speakers called their language Adûni (PM/316).

* urud

noun. mountain

A noun attested only in its plural form urîd “mountains” (SD/251). Several authors have suggested it is related to S. orod “mountain”, either borrowed directly or derived from the same Elvish root ᴹ√OROT (AAD/24, EotAL/ÓROT).

* -hin

suffix. child, patronymic

A patronymic suffix appearing in Êruhîn “Children of God” (SD/247) and in the early phrase Indilzar Azrabêlôhin “*Line of Elros [son] of Earendil” (SD/382). It apparently means “child”. A possible feminine variant -hil appears in the early name Zimrahil (SD/373), later changed to Zimraphel.

Andreas Moehn suggested (LGtAG) that -hin might have been replaced by the suffix -thôr appearing in the later name Sakalthôr “?Shore-son”. However, the suffixes -hin and -thôr (along with -phel “daughter”) could have co-existed in the same way that Quenya suffixes Q. -ion “-son” and Q. -iel “-daughter” co-existed with the use of Q. hína “child” as a patronymic in names like Q. Eruhin.

As suggested by several authors (AAD/15, EotAL/KHÍN), -hin is almost certainly related to Q. hína, S. hên “child”, either a direct loan or derived from the same root √KHIN. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/16) that the variant -hil in Zimrahil actually means “heir”, related to S. hîl, Q. hildë, and that this element also appears in Ad. Imrahil.

* hi

pronoun. she

A pronominal prefix, the feminine singular pronoun “she” (SD/247). It appears in the pseudo-phrase hi-Akallabêth “She-that-hath-fallen” in the sentence êphal êphalak îdô hi-Akallabêth and in the verb form hikalba “[she] fell” in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor beloved fell (down)”. See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.

* hê

pronoun. me

This element appears to be the object pronoun “me” in the phrase bâ kitabdahê “don’t touch me” (SD/250). It is not clear whether it could also serve as a subject pronoun “I”. Thorsten Renk instead suggested (NBA/18) that -hê may be a marker for the imperative, and proposed the invented word Ad. !ni for “I, me”, a hypothetical cognate of Q. ni.

* ya

noun. they (neuter)

A pronominal prefix, most likely the neuter/common plural pronoun “they”. It appears in the verb yanâkhim “[they] are at hand” in the sentence narîka ’nBâri ’nAdûn yanâkhim and in the verb yakalubim “[they] lean over” in the sentence urîd yakalubim (SD/251), both sentences having plural subjects. See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.

* nad

preposition. hind, *behind

A prepositional element only attested in the late (1968) word nadroth “hind-track”, referring to the wake behind a boat, so perhaps meaning “*behind” (PM/376). It appears only as a prefix, but in the earlier Adûnaic grammar of Lowdham’s Report (1946), Adûnaic prepositions are used as suffixes (SD/435).

* zen

noun. land (draft)

An earlier version of zâyan “land” attested in a few early compounds (SD/378, 385), as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/25).

* bat-

verb. to walk

A hypothetical verb, perhaps meaning “walk”, that may appear as an element in the noun batân “road, path, way”.

* khôr

noun. lord

An element meaning “lord” appearing only in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”, though a similar form appears in the earlier names Kherû “Lord” and Mulkhêr “Lord of Darkness”. It isn’t clear whether this element is akhôr or khôr, but khôr resembles the Primitive Elvish root √KHER “rule, govern, possess”, to which it may be related.

This possible relationship has been suggested by various authors (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/KHUR). Andreas Moehn rejected the relationship, pointing out that Primitive Elvish ✶khēru “lord” would have developed phonetically into Ad. **khîru (EotAL). However, khôr may be derived from some more ancient Avari loan word, which underwent different phonetic developments than those of the Eldarin languages, perhaps ✶kher- > khar > khaur > Ad. khôr.

* kulbu

noun. root

A noun appearing only in its plural form kulbî “roots”, corresponding to the collective-noun kulub “roots, edible vegetables that are roots not fruits” (SD/431). As such, it most likely refers to root vegetables only, rather than other senses of the English word “root”.

* yô

noun. gift

An element in the name Yôzâyan “Land of Gift” (UT/184, SD/241). The final element of this name is zâyan “land”, so its initial element yô most likely means “gift”, as suggested by several authors (AAD/24, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/YAW), though Andreas Moehn points out this word could have the form yôz instead (EotAL/YAW).

* -iyê

suffix. language suffix

A suffix used for the names of languages, appearing only in Nimriyê, the languages of the Nimir (SD/414). My best guess for the form of this suffix is -iyê with Nimir reduced to Nimr- by the Adûnaic syncope. If the first element is instead Nimri (perhaps an adjective meaning “Elvish”), the suffix could be -yê or even *-ê, with the y inserted as the usual glide-consonant after the final -i.

* bith-

verb. to say

A verbal form of Ad. bêth “expression, saying, word” attested only as an agental-formation as part of the noun izindu-bêth “true-sayer” (SD/427); see that entry for further discussion of its phonetic development. As suggested by Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/24, 26), the verb stem is probably bith-, consistent with its primitive root ✶Ad. √BITH. Since agental forms generally have a lengthened or fortified vowel, the verb stem bith- could have the fortified agental form -bêth.

* khay-

verb. to lie (down)

A verb appearing only as akhaini “lay” in the first draft of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/312). In later versions of the Lament it was change to the verb yad- “to go”, but since this replacement has a different sense, perhaps khay- remains valid.

This verb is only attested in the form akhaina “lay” and like all the draft verbs is difficult to analyze. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne analyze its initial element as the 3rd-singular pronominal suffix a- and its final element -ni as a past tense marker (VSH/34, 37), also suggesting it may be derived from the Elvish root √KAY “lie (down)” (AAD/10). This Elvish derivation seems likely to me, but I think the form of the verb may instead be the draft-perfect.

Thorsten Renk suggested (NBA/35) the verb stem may instead be khain-. While he could be right about its use in the draft Adûnaic language, this doesn’t fit the later phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report, which allow only long diphthongs in Classical Adûnaic (SD/423).

* -thôr

suffix. -son

An element appearing only in the name Sakalthôr (UT/223). Though unglossed, his Quenya name Falassion seems to be falassë “shore” + -ion “son”, so perhaps -thôr is a patronymic meaning “son”, the masculine equivalent of -phel “daughter” appearing in Zimraphel “*Jewel-daughter”, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/THUR).

* lôkho

adjective. bent, crooked

An adjective variously glossed as “bent” or “crooked”, attested only in its plural form lôkhî (SD/247, VT24/12). Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/LUKH) it may be related to the Elvish root √LOK “bend, loop”.

Conceptual Development: In its first appearance, this adjective had the plural form rōkhī, suggesting an earlier singular form *rôkho (SD/312).

* bên

noun. servant, ?person

A noun attested only in its plural form bênî “servants” as an element in the term Êru-bênî “Servants of God” (SD/341, 357). This noun resembles the Sindarin word pen² “person”, especially in the Sindarin lenited form -ben. The Adûnaic noun may be related, having undergone phonetic development similar to that discussed for Ad. bêth “word”, so that bên is ultimately derived from Primitive Elvish ✶kwēn “person”, which could be its archaic meaning. Andreas Moehn instead suggested (EotAL/BIN) that it is derived from a root *BIN, possibly related to Ed. Bëor “Vassal, Servant”.

* bêl-

verb. to befriend, love

A verb stem bel- attested only in the explanations for the agental-formation -bêl in the name Azrubêl “Friend of the Sea, Sea-lover” (SD/305, PM/373). The form bel- violates Adûnaic phonetic rules given in Lowdham’s Report, which state that [ē] can only be a long vowel in Adûnaic (SD/423). See the discussion of its root form ✶Ad. √BEL for possible explanations. The Classical Adûnaic verb form might be bêl-, while bel- may instead be its most primitive (early Elvish?) form.

This verb seems to have a sense similar to that of zîr- “to love, desire”. Perhap it is distinct from zîr- in that it has more to do with friendship than desire, so that the verb means “to befriend” or “to love (as a friend)”.

-u

suffix. of, of, in

-ul

suffix. genitive ending, of

gundu

noun. underground hall

* -n

suffix. -one

aglar

noun. glory, glory, splendour, splendour, glory

ar-

prefix. outside, beside, outside, beside; without, without

naru

adjective. red

caun

noun. valour

basgorn

noun. loaf

tûr

noun. mastery, victory

an-

prefix. with, by

duin

noun. water, river

caun

noun. empty, void

hal-

verb. to lift

bereth

noun. feast, festival

brith

noun. gravel

eredh

noun. seed, germ

bereth

noun. queen

penn

noun. Elf

* er

adjective. one, one, alone