nú-

prefix. going down, setting (of sun), west

A prefix having to do with going down, setting (of sun) and the west (PE17/18) based on √NDU “descend”. See, for example, Hyarnustar “Southwestlands” (UT/165).

nu

under

nu prep. "under" _(LR:56, Markirya, Nam, RGEO:66, MC:214; the _Etymologies alone gives no [q.v.] instead). In Mar-nu-Falmar, nuhuinenna, q.v. Prefix nú- in nútil, q.v.

nu

preposition. under, beneath

The usual Quenya word for “under, beneath”, derived from the root √NŪ (LotR/377; MC/222; PE17/64, 66).

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in drafts of the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930. In the initial drafts, it had the form no (PE16/62, 72, 76), but in the version presented in the “A Secret Vice” essay it was nu “under” (MC/214).

ᴹQ. no “under” was restored in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NŪ̆ (Ety/NU), followed by a parenthetical word nau perhaps indicating its primitive form (EtyAC/NU). However, au > o is pretty implausible as a Quenya phonetic development, and elsewhere Tolkien stuck to nu in his writings from the 1930s forward (LR/56; SD/246).

Mar-nu-Falmar

home under waves

Mar-nu-Falmar noun "Home under Waves", name of the sunken Númenor (Silm). See mar, már.

mar-nu-falmar

place name. Land under the Waves

A name for Númenor after it was drowned beneath the sea (S/281). It is a compound of már “home” (often used of lands), nu “under” and the plural of falma “wave” (SA/bar, falas).

-on

suffix. masculine suffix

andú-

prefix. going down, setting (of sun), west

A prefix having to do with going down, setting (of sun) and the west (PE17/18) based on √NDU “descend”. See, for example, Andúril “Flame of the West” (LotR/277; PE17/34) or Andustar “Westlands” (UT/165).

andúnë pella vardo nu luini tellumar

West beyond [the borders of] Varda’s under blue domes

The 5th phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> Andúnë pella Vardo tellumar nu luini >> Andúnë pella Vardo nu luini tellumar

Tolkien moved the preposition and adjective nu luini “under blue” to be in front of the plural noun tellumar “domes” that it modifies. However, this separates the genitive modifier Vardo “Varda’s” from its noun, which is hard to explain. It might make more sense to place Vardo after the preposition nu “under” to give the complete noun phrase Vardo luini tellumar “Varda’s blue domes”, or perhaps moving it to the end as in luini tellumar Vardo “blue vaults of Varda” (which is the poetic translation):

> Andúnë pella Vardo nu luini tellumar »»» ✱Andúnë pella nu luini tellumar Vardo

The preposition pella “beyond” also presents some problems of interpretion, given that it follows the noun that it modifies. See the entry for Q. pella for further discussion.

andúnë pella vardo tellumar nu luini

beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda

Fifth and the beginning of the sixth lines @@@

no

under

no prep. "under" (NŪ; all other sources give nu instead. In early "Qenya", no meant "upon"; MC:214)

nu fanyarë rúcina

under ruined skies

The thirty-fourth line of the Markirya poem (MC/222). The first word is the preposition nu “under” followed by the noun fanyarë “skies” and the adjective rúcina, itself the passive participle of the verb ruc-.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> nu fanyarë rúcina = “✱under skies ruined”