Adûnaic

nai

adverb. 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.

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 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.

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).

Adûnaic [LotR/1114; PE17/120; SD/426] Group: Eldamo. Published by