sad
root. strip, flay, peel off
dim Reconstructed
root. sad, gloomy
sad
noun. limited area naturally or artificially defined, a place, spot
sad
noun. place, spot
A word meaning “place, spot” appearing in The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from 1967-69, more precisely “a limited area naturally or artificially defined” (VT42/19-20). It was derived from √SAT “divide, mark off”.
nûr
adjective. sad
For an earlier discussion, see Klockzo, 4th volume, p. 160 §147: The meaning of Núrnen long remained highly hypothetical. The current definition is based on Christopher Tolkien's index to UT and on the unfinished index of names published in RC. The Gnomish Lexicon listed nur- (nauri) "growl, grumble", nurn "plaint, lament, a complaint" and nurna- "bewail, lament, complain of" (PE/11:61). Likewise, the Qenyaqetsa included a root NURU- with several derivatives with similar meanings (PE/12:68). See also Q. nurrula "mumbling" (from nurru- "murmur, grumble") in the final version of the poem The Last Ark (MC/222-23). Patrick Wynne therefore noted: S. *nûr in Núrnen "Sad Water" is apparently "sad" in the sense "bewailing, lamenting, complaining, grumbling", no doubt a reference to the general mood of the hapless laborers in "the great slave-worked fields" beside the lake. (See Lambengolmor/856-860)
dimbar
place name. *Sad Home
An empty land south of Gondolin (S/121), apparently meaning “✱Sad Home”, a combination of dem “sad(ness)” (stem form dimb-) and bâr “home” (SA/bar).
Conceptual Development: The name Dimbar first appeared Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/261), and was given in The Etymologies as an Ilkorin name with the derivation described above (Ety/DEM), though the exact language of word dem is unclear; see that entry for further discussion.
Tolkien continued to used Dimbar in his Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/57), so he may have intended this Ilkorin name to become Sindarin, though it is also possible he would have eventually would have revised the name to something else.
Dimbar
noun. sad land
dimb (Ilk. “sad, gloomy” [Etym. DEM-]) + (m-)bar (“land, dwelling”)
Núrnen
noun. sad water
#nûr (“sad”) + nen (“water”) #[His.]- the meaning of the first element is “highly hypothetical”.
núrnen
place name. Sad Water, Dead Water
The inland sea in the middle of Mordor. Its final element is clearly nen “water, lake” (SA/nen). The meaning of its initial element is less clear, though it may simply incorporate the name of the region containing the sea: Nurn.
Possible Etymology: In The Lord of the Rings, this sea was described as “the dark sad waters” (LotR/923) and its name was glossed “Sad Water” in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings (RC/457). However, there is no attested Sindarin word nûr with a meaning similar to “sad”.
In Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien translated the name as “Death/dead water” (PE17/87), with its first element derived from √ÑGUR “death”. Elsewhere the Sindarin word for “death” is guru, so maybe Tolkien intended the first element to be from its Quenya cognate [ᴹQ.] nuru. Perhaps the poisoned waters of Mordor made life within Núrnen difficult, like the Dead Sea of Earth.
Hammond and Scull suggested the two concepts could be related, with “sad” being used in the sense “bitter” or “unpalatable”, referring to its poisoned waters (RC/457).
Conceptual Development: This name first appeared on the first draft map of The Lord of the Rings as N. Nurnen with a short u (TI/309). It later appeared with a long u, as N. Nûrnen (WR/127) and N/S. Núrnen (SD/56).
sâd
place
sâd (-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (spot, limited area naturally or artificially defined), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
sâd
place
(-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (spot, limited area naturally or artificially defined), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
sâd
spot
sâd (-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (place, limited area naturally or artificially defined), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
sâd
spot
(-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (place, limited area naturally or artificially defined), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
sâd
area
(limited area naturally or artificially defined) sâd (-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (place, spot), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
sâd
area
(-had; i hâd, o sâd, construct sad) (place, spot), pl. said (i said) (UT:314, VT42:20)
naer
adjective. sad, lamentable
naer
adjective. dreadful, horrible, unendurable, dreadful, horrible, unendurable; [N.] lamentable, sad
dem
sad
- dem (gloomy), lenited dhem, pl. dhim; 2) naer (dreadful, lamentable, woeful); no distinct pl. form. 3) nûr (pl. nuir). Note: homophones mean ”deep” and ”race”.
dem
sad
(gloomy), lenited dhem, pl. dhim
naer
sad
(dreadful, lamentable, woeful); no distinct pl. form.
nûr
sad
(pl. nuir). Note: homophones mean ”deep” and ”race”.
dem
adjective. sad, gloomy
nírol
adjective. sad, sorrowing, *sorrowful
gaer
dreadful
- gaer (awful, fearful; holy); lenited aear; no distinct pl. form. Note: homophones mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "sea". 2) naer (lamentable, woeful, sad); no distinct pl. form.
naer
dreadful
(lamentable, woeful, sad); no distinct pl. form.
daer
adjective. dreadful
_ adj. _dreadful, horrible, ghastly.
goeol
adjective. dreadful, terrifying
naer
adjective. dreadful
_ adj. _dreadful, horrible, unendurable. Q. naira.
caew
resting place
(i gaew, o chaew) (lair). No distinct pl. form except with article (i chaew).
gaer
dreadful
(awful, fearful; holy); lenited ’aear; no distinct pl. form. Note: homophones mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "sea".
gardh
bounded or defined place
(i ’ardh) (region), pl. gerdh (i ngerdh = i ñerdh);
heltha
strip
(verb) heltha- (i cheltha, i chelthar). (VT46:14; in LR:386 s.v. SKEL the erroneous reading ”helta” appears.)
heltha
strip
(i cheltha, i chelthar). (VT46:14; in LR:386 s.v. SKEL the erroneous reading ”helta” appears.)
land
open space
(construct lan, pl. laind) (level), also used as adjective ”wide, plain”.
pathu
level place
(i bathu) (sward), analogical pl. pethy (i phethy). Cited in archaic form pathw in the source (LR:380 s.v. PATH); hence the coll. pl. is likely pathwath. In the Etymologies as printed in
pêg
small spot
(i bêg, construct peg) (dot), pl. pîg (i phîg)
sant
privately owned place
(i hant, o sant) (field, garden, yard), pl. saint (i saint) (VT42:20)
sad Reconstructed
noun. *place
dem
adjective. sad, gloomy
No language indication in the Etymologies, but Noldorin from context and phonological evidence
dem
adjective. sad, gloomy
noer
adjective. sad, lamentable
noer
adjective. sad, lamentable
gaer
adjective. dreadful
gaer
adjective. dreadful
gorgor
adjective. dreadful
men
noun. *place
peg
noun. small spot, dot
lue
it is heavy, sad
lemba
adjective. sad
luitë
adjective. melancholic, (lit.) habitually being sad
@@@ Discord 2023-01-11
colonda
adjective. burdened, weighed down, sad
naira
adjective. dreadful, horrible, unendurable, dreadful, horrible, unendurable, [ᴱQ.] dire, grievous
Naira
dreadful, horrible, unendurable
naira (3) adj. "dreadful, horrible, unendurable" (PE17:151)
lumna-
be heavy
lumna- stativevb. "be heavy" (LR:47, SD:310; cf. lumna_- "to lie heavy" in the Etymologies, stemDUB-)_. A form lúvë was mentioned in connection with this verb, possibly a strong past tense form directly derived from the root DUB- (primitive *dūbē), but Tolkien struck it out (VT45:11).
nairea
adjective. sorrowful
nómë
place
#nómë noun "place", isolated from Nómesseron, q.v. Cf. also sinomë.
nómë
noun. place
A word for “place” appearing as an element in names like Ondonórë Nómesseron Minasurië “Enquiry into the Place-names of Gondor” (VT42/17) and Quentalë Ardanómion “✱History of the Places of Arda” (WJ/206). It is also an element in correlative combinations like sinomë “here, in this place” (LotR/967; PE17/67, 103), where it has a short o as the second element in a compound; compare lúmë “time” vs. silumë “now, at this time”.
Conceptual Development: ᴹQ. nome (or ✱nóme) first appeared in correlative combinations in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 as a derivative of ᴹ√NOM “spot, place” (PE23/112), this root replacing ᴹ√MEN of the same meaning (PE23/112 note #141). The rejected root refers back to ᴹQ. men “place, spot” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/MEN), which in turn had replaced ᴹQ. esse “place” under the root ᴹ√ES when that root was revised to have derivatives like esse “name” instead (EtyAC/ES). The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. lar “region, place” under the early root ᴱ√LAŘA [LAÐA] (QL/51).
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
sad-
verb. to reck, care, value, esteem, show respect for, consider
glum
adjective. (over) burdened; dull, heavy, sad
nîriol
adjective. sad, sorrowing
lu-
verb. to be heavy, be sad, to be heavy, be sad; *to weigh, have a certain weight (intr.)
A verb appearing in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948, given as an example of a basic verb from a root ending in G, in this case ᴹ√LUG “be heavy” (PE22/102). Tolkien indicated it primarily functioned as an impersonal verb meaning “be heavy [on] = be sad”, where the person being sad was the object of the verb, e.g. lue ni “it is heavy on me = I am sad” [In QVS, verbal pronominal suffix were used only as objects and were attached to the verb, so the actual form in QVS was luin, which in Tolkien’s later conception would probably be lui ni.]
It had past and perfect forms lunge “was sad” and ulungie “has been sad”, the later reformed from archaic perfect †uluiye. Compare these to the similarly formed past and perfect of ëa-: enge and reformed engie vs. archaic †éye (VT49/29).
Neo-Quenya: In a post on 2025-12-08 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested it might also be used intransitively to mean “to weigh, have a certain weight” with the actual weight in the instrumental, as in i mastacorne lue lungwínen nelde “the loaf weighs (= is heavy by) three pounds”.
nairea
adjective. sorrowful, sorrowful, *sad
esse
noun. place
men
noun. place, spot
nome
noun. place
dem
adjective. sad, gloomy
An adjective meaning “sad, gloomy” from the primitive form ᴹ✶dimbā (Ety/DEM). A related form dimb “sad” appears as an element in the Ilkorin name Dimbar. This form dimb is likely either a stem form or a more primitive form.
Possible Etymology: There is no language marker for the word dem in The Etymologies (Ety/DEM). David Salo (GS/248) and Didier Willis (HSD/dem) both suggested that it is Noldorin, based on (1) the fact that the element dimb is explicitly marked as an Ilkorin word for “sad” and (2) the phonological evidence, in that primitive ᴹ✶dimbā would develop into Noldorin dem.
However, the key phonological changes producing dem from primitive ✶dimbā also occurred in Ilkorin: [[ilk|short [i], [u] became [e], [o] preceding final [a]]] and [[ilk|final [mb] became [m]]]. I believe that dem is in fact an Ilkorin word, and that the element Ilk. dimb “sad” appearing earlier in the entry is a stem form, as noted above.
Conceptual Development: The root form of this word in The Etymologies was first written ᴹ√DIM, rejected and replaced by ᴹ√DEM (EtyAC/DEM). As pointed out by Helge Fauskanger, the primitive forms could only be derived from the root ᴹ√DIM (AL-Ilkorin/dem), so it seems that Tolkien reverted the change of ᴹ√DIM >> ᴹ√DEM. An earlier form demb “gloomy, sad” of this adjective (EtyAC/DEM) likely reflects this vacillation.
dimbar
place name. *Sad Home
dem
root. sad, gloomy
An Ilkorin-only root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “sad, gloomy” (Ety/DEM). It was first given as √DIM, which Tolkien rejected and replaced by √DEM (EtyAC/DEM), but given the Ilkorin name Dimbar in both The Etymologies and contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts (LR/261), Tolkien likely reversed himself and restored √DIM. In later iterations of The Silmarillion, it is likely that S. Dimbar became a Sindarin name.
dimbā
adjective. sad, gloomy
es
root. *place
A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with Quenya derivatives having to do with “place” (EtyAC/ES). In later writings, Q. nómë was the word for “place”.
gaisrā
adjective. dreadful
lug
root. be heavy
A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “be heavy”, with the derived adjectives ᴹQ. lunga and N. lhong of the same meaning (Ety/LUG¹). Given the appearance of G. lung “heavy; grave, serious” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, I think the idea for this root dates back to this period, though the related verb G. luntha- “balance, weigh” indicates the Early-period root may have been ✱ᴱ√LUŊU instead (GL/55). Tolkien’s continued used of Q. lungu- and S. -lung for “heavy” in his later writings indicates its ongoing validity (S/185; PE17/162; VT47/19).
talanda
adjective. burdened, weighed down, sad
talanya
adjective. burdened, weighed down, sad
arda
noun. place, spot
@@@ probably from [ɣarðā] since cognate G. gar(th) ends in [θ] which only develops from [ð] when final after a consonant
varkima
adjective. dreadful
garth
noun. place, place, [G.] district
fulu
root. strip
hulu
root. strip
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “strip”, with derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish such as ᴱQ. hulqa/G. hulc “naked” (QL/41; GL/49). It had a variant ᴱ√FULU which seems to have no derivatives (QL/38). There are quite a few later roots of similar meaning, so likely the root was abandoned.
gērrha
adjective. dreadful
A root glossed “strip, flay, peel off” in notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from 1967-69 given to explain the second element of S. Calenhad as S. sâdh, with Tolkien stating that “dh” is generally represented as “d” in his maps (VT42/20). The root is mentioned nowhere else.