nur-

verb. to grow/be dark

A verb for “grow, be dark” in the Quenya Verbal System for the 1940s from a root ᴹ√NDUR of the same meaning (PE22/103). In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root ᴹ√N(D)UR meant “bow down, serve”, but the sense “grow dark” may be related to ᴹ√NDŪ “go down, sink, set (of Sun, etc.)” (Ety/NDŪ), as with the etymology of later S. dûr “dark” (PE17/152). Alternately, the sense “be dark” may be tied to the later (hypothetical) root ✱√DU that is the possible basis for darkness words like Q. lúmë “darkness” (MC/222) or Q. lúna “dark” (PE17/22).

Conceptual Development: A possible precursor is the verb ᴱQ. lur-, appearing only in 3rd-sg masculine form lurdon in the phrase ᴱQ. surussin lurdon lausto from one of the early drafts of Oilima Markirya poem written around 1930 (PE16/60). The phrase is untranslated, but Gilson, Welden and Hostetter suggested the verb might mean “to be dark” (of the wind), related to words like ᴱQ. lúre “dark weather”.

núra

adjective. deep

núro

noun. servant