númenórë

place name. Westernesse, (lit.) West-land

The island-continent where the Edain settled after the fall of Beleriand (LotR/1035, S/261), often appearing in its shorter form Númenor. It is generally translated as “Westernesse” (LotR/194, S/261) but more literally means “West-land” (Let/224, RC/778). It is a compound of númen “west” and nórë “land” (Let/361).

Conceptual Development: In the very first draft of the Fall of Númenor, this name was given as ᴹQ. Númar or ᴹQ. Númenos (LR/11), but in the next draft these became the name its capital city, and the name Númenor emerged as the name of the land (LR/14). The full form ᴹQ. Númenóre appeared in The Etymologies, already with the derivation discussed above (Ety/NDŪ). It also appeared in an adjectival form Númenórea in linguistic notes from the 1930s (PE22/19).

Númen(n)órë

people of the west

Númen(n)órë noun "people of the west", confused with Númendor "land of the west" (SA:dôr); hence Númenor as the name of the great isle given to the Edain by the Valar (FS, LR:56); full form Númenórë (LR:47, SD:247, NDŪ); allative númenórenna "to Númenor" (LR:56)

númenor

Númenor

Númenor is a shortened form of the name Númenórë. The name is a compound of nūme-n "going down" (from the root √ndū, nū), sunset, West, and nōre "land, country".

Mairon

the admirable

Mairon, masc. name "the Admirable" (cf. adj. maira), said to be the original name of Sauron, changed when he was suborned by Melkor, "but he continued to call himself Mairon the Admirable, or Tar-mairon King Excellent, until after the downfall of Númenor" (PE17:183). Since Sauron had joined Melkor before the Elves came to Valinor and developed the Quenya language, we are perhaps to understand that Mairon is a translation by sense of Saurons original Valarin name, though Sauron himself may seem to have used the Elvish form in Middle-earth and on Númenor.

Núaran

west-king

Núaran noun "West-king"; Núaran Númenoren "West-king of Númenor"; changed (according to LR:71) to Núraran Númenen, *"West-king of the West" (all of this is "Qenya" with genitive in -n instead of -o, as in Tolkien's later Quenya) (LR:60)

Tarcil

high-man

Tarcil ("k") (#Tarcild-, as in pl. Tarcildi) masc. name, "high-Man", also used as a term for Númenórean (Appendix A, TUR, KHIL, VT46:17, PE17:101; the latter source provides the gloss "Great Man of Numenor"; tarcil(di) = "high-men = Elf-friends of Númenor"). Cf. the variant tarhildi, q.v.

atalantë

downfall, overthrow, especially as name [atalantë] of the [downfallen] land of númenor

atalantë noun "downfall, overthrow, especially as name [Atalantë] of the [downfallen] land of Númenor" (DAT/DANT, TALÁT, Akallabêth, SD:247, 310; also LR:47, VT45:26). Variant atalantië "Downfall", said to be a normal noun-formation in Quenya (Letters:347, footnote). From the common noun atalantë "collapse, downfall" is derived the adj. atalantëa "ruinous, downfallen", pl. atalantië in Markirya (changed to sg. atalantëa this change does not make immediate sense, since the adjective undoubtedly modifies a plural noun, but Tolkien does not always let adjectives agree in number).

nessamelda

noun. species of tree in Númenor, (lit.) beloved of Nessa

Name of a species of tree in Númenor (UT/167), a combination of Nessa and melda “beloved”.

adûnayân

noun. language of Númenor

The language of Númenor, appearing in a 1965 document first published in Nature of Middle-earth in 2021 (NM/323). Prior to that point, various hypothetical words have been proposed for this language’s name, such as ✱Adûnaiyê (Andreas Moehn, EotAL), ✱Adûnâyê (Thorsten Renk, NBA/1), and Adûnâiyê (my own invention), modelled after Nimriyê “Elvish”.

anadûnê

place name. Westernesse

The Adûnaic name for Númenor (Q. Númenórë), with the same meaning as its Quenya name: “Westernesse” (S/261). In The Silmarillion appendix, Christopher Tolkien stated that is it a loan word from Elvish (SA/andúnë). According to J.R.R. Tolkien’s own writing (SD/426), this is true, albeit not directly. Anadûnê is a feminized form of the adjective anadûni “western, of the west”, which is itself related to S. dûn “west”.

anadûnê zîrân hikalba

Númenor the beloved she fell (down)

The 6th phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). Its subject Anadûnê “Númenor” is in the normal-case rather than the subjective. This is consistent with the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, which allowed a normal subject if the verb has a pronominal inflection (SD/429), in this case the prefix hi- “she” of the verb hikalba (place names in Adûnaic are often feminine-nouns).

The placement of the adjective zîrân “beloved” after the noun is curious, since according to Tolkien adjectives normally precede the nouns they modify (SD/428). Perhaps in this instance the adjective is used as a noun. Its manuscript gloss “the beloved” instead of simply “beloved” (as in the typescript) supports this possibility. Alternately, it could be in an abnormal position because it is a participle (verbal adjective).

The verbs in the typescript and manuscript versions are slightly different: kallaba “fell down” (SD/247) and kalba “fell” (VT24/12), the past and aorist tenses of the verb kalab- “to fall (down)”. Tolkien also vacillated between these two forms in the second draft version of the sentence before settling on the aorist. Since the fall of Númenor had already come to pass in the fictional context of the Lament, the past tense here could be functioning here as a pluperfect (SD/439), but the aorist tense would also work if the sentence describes the fall of Númenor at that point in the narrative. Tolkien’s vacillation is therefore understandable: either verb form could work albeit with slightly different meanings. The Quenya translation of this sentence, ᴹQ. Númenóre ataltane (SD/247), uses the simple past instead of the perfect, matching the Adûnaic manuscript version rather than typescript.

othrond

noun. fortress or city in underground caves, underground stronghold

othrond

noun. fortress or city in underground caves, underground stronghold

othronn

noun. fortress or city in underground caves, underground stronghold

gathol Reconstructed

noun. fortress