Ai! Lá polin saca i quettar!
Parf Edhellen: an elvish dictionary requires JavaScript to function properly. We use JavaScript to load content relevant to you, and to display the information you request. Please enable JavaScript if you are interested in using this service.
How do I enable JavaScript? (on google.com).
A root Tolkien used to explain S. gûl “black arts, sorcery” (PE17/31), in one place describing it as a “darker” variant of √ÑGOL “dark-hued, dark-brown” in notes where Tolkien declared the name of the Noldor was not connected to wisdom (PE17/125). In the sense “dark with sinister connotations” the root √ÑGUL was also the basis for a couple Quenya words: Q. ñúla “dark, occult, mysterious” and Q. ñúlë “black arts, sorcery”. Elsewhere, though, S. gûl was derived from √ÑGOL “knowledge, wisdom” (Ety/ÑGOL; PE17/79; WJ/383), originally with the same neutral meaning as its Quenya equivalents, but:
> In S[indarin] the word gûl (equivalent of Q ñóle) had less laudatory associations, being used mostly of secret knowledge, especially such as possessed by artificers who made wonderful things; and the word became further darkened by its frequent use in the compound morgul “black arts”, applied to the delusory or perilous arts and knowledge derived from Morgoth (WJ/383).
Neo-Eldarin: I personally find this derivation of S. gûl from √ÑGOL “wisdom” to be more interesting etymologically, and prefer it over the root √ÑGUL. However, I think the Quenya words ñúla and ñúlë might be retained as loan words from Sindarin after the Noldor directly encountered the dark magic of Morgoth in Beleriand.