Adûnaic

obroth

noun. fore-cutting

An Adûnaic word translated “fore-cutting”, referring to the wake before a boat (PM/376). It appeared more than two decades (1968) after Tolkien’s Adûnaic Grammar in Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s (SD/413-440). It is inconsistent with the earlier grammar in two respects. First, the prepositional element ob- appears as a prefix, not as a suffix as prepositions did in the earlier grammar (SD/435). Second, it includes a short o, whereas in the earlier phonetic rules of Adûnaic, only a long ] is allowed (SD/423). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

Elements

WordGloss
ob“fore, *before”
rôth“foam, white crest of waves”