sauron

masculine name. Abhorred

The Dark Lord of the Second and Third Ages, originally a Maia corrupted by Morgoth (LotR/51, S/32). In The Silmarillion, he was given the epithet “the Cruel” (S/32), and Christopher Tolkien translated his name as “Abhorred” (SI/Sauron). In 1959 notes J.R.R. Tolkien said that this name was used in Sindarin, but was probably originally Quenya (PE17/183). In a 1967 letter Tolkien stated that this name was derived from primitive ✶Thaurond- containing the element ✶thaurā “detestable” (Let/380), and in 1967 notes it was associated with the adjective saura “stinking, foul, evil” of similar origin (PE17/68).

Conceptual Development: According to Christoper Tolkien, the earliest precursor of this character was Tevildo “Prince of Cats” from the Lost Tales (LT2/54), but this early appearance was radically different from Sauron’s later role in the tales. This character first emerged in his later form as the shape-shifting lord of werewolves in The Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s, where he was initially named ᴱN. Thû (LB/16, 227-8).

In the early Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, he kept the name N. Thû (or N. Gorthû), but Tolkien also coined his Quenya name: first ᴹQ. Sûr (LR/15) and then ᴹQ. Sauron (LR/30). The name ᴹQ. Sauron appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√THUS “✱smell, stench”, the same root from which Thû was derived (Ety/THUS). At this stage, his name was associated with the adjective ᴹQ. saura “foul, evil-smelling, putrid”.

This association with foul smells persisted into Tolkien’s notes from the 1959, where he initially derived Sauron from √SAW with senses similar to earlier ᴹ√THUS (PE17/183), but then said it was based on √THAW “cruel” (PE17/184). In the 1960s Tolkien vacillated between “stinking” (PE17/68) and “detestable” (Let/380) as the basis for this name.

Sauro

the abhorred

Sauro (þ) (1), usually in longer form Sauron (þ), masc. name "the Abhorred", name of a Maia, the second Dark Lord (said to be the name by which he was "afterwards called", MR:147; according to PE17:183, his original name was Mairon, q.v.). Earlier Thauron (SA:thaur, THUS), archaic *Θaurond- (Letters:380, where the initial Greek letter represents th). The stem of Sauron* would then be Saurond-. Another form of the name is Súro**.

Thauron

thauron

†Thauron (þauron) masc. name, earlier form of Sauron, before the change th > s (SA:thaur, cf. Letters:380, which suggests a stem _θ_aurond-; the initial Greek letter represents th). See Sauro, Sauron.

saura

foul, evil-smelling, putrid

saura (þ) adj. "foul, evil-smelling, putrid" (THUS), "foul, vile" (PE17:183). This adjective underlies the name Sauro, Sauron (q.v.) Alternatively explained to mean "cruel" (PE17:184); a deleted gloss defined the word as "bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched" (PE17:172). Tolkien did not consistently hold that the initial s represents older þ; sometimes he derived saura (and so implicitly Sauron) from stems with original s-.

fairë

phantom, disembodied spirit, when seen as a pale shape

fairë(1) noun "phantom, disembodied spirit, when seen as a pale shape" (pl. fairi in Markirya); compare ausa. The noun fairë was also used = "spirit (in general)", as a kind of being (MR:349, PE17:124). In VT43:37 and VT44:17, fairë refers to the Holy Spirit (fairë aista or Aina Fairë)

Sauron

noun. used in Third Age Sindarin

_prop. n. _used in Third Age Sindarin. It could be a genuine S. formation from saur, but was prob. from Quenya. Tolkien seems to have rejected the root SAWA, noting: "No. THAW-, cruel. saura, cruel. Gorthaur-." >> saur

thû

masculine name. Sauron; Manwë?

Another name for Sauron in notes from the 1960s, a derivative of the root √ÞOWO (√THOW) “stink” (PE17/68, 99).

Conceptual Development: The name ᴱN. Thû was the earliest name of Sauron after the character transitioned into his later conception as the Lord of Werewolves, first appearing in the Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s (LB/16, 146). The name N. Thû appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s and also in The Etymologies as a derivative of the root √THUS “stench” (LR/29, Ety/THUS) but it was gradually replaced by his Quenya name ᴹQ. Sauron (SM/120, LR/283). The notes mentioned above seems to be a late remnant of his earlier name; Thû did not appear in the Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s.

In Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957, Tolkien considered using Thû as a name of Manwë from the root √THŪ “blow” (PE17/124), but this seems to have been a transient idea.

thaur

foul

thaur (detestable, abhorrent, abominable), pl. thoer. Note: a homophone means ”fenced”.

thaur

foul

(detestable, abhorrent, abominable), pl. thoer. Note: a homophone means ”fenced”.

zigûr

masculine name. Sauron

The Adûnaic name (or title) for Sauron (SD/250). It simply the word zigûr “wizard” used as a name.

kadô zigûrun zabathân unakkha

and so [Sauron] he came humbled

The 1st phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It changed little from its original draft, with only the verb unekkū becoming unakkha. Tolkien did not interpret the name Zigûrun in any version of the text, but it can be equated to Sauron from information given elsewhere (SD/250). Tolkien’s gloss was “and so ‽ humbled he-came”, which in more ordinary English might be “and so Sauron he came humbled”.

The subject Zigûrun of the sentence is the subjective form of the name Zigûr. The verb unakkha has the 3rd-person singular masculine inflection u- “he”. In the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, the subject would be emphasized with this syntax (SD/429), so the sense might be more like “and it was Sauron who came humbled”. It could be that the “so” of the English gloss is a representation of this emphasis, and that the initial word kadô is simply the conjugation “and”.

The verb form nakkha is the past tense of nakh- “to come”. Since the majority of the text seems to be in the aorist, this use of the past tense would function as a pluperfect according to the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report (SD/439). If so, the sense would be more like “Sauron had come” rather than “Sauron came”. Finally, the position of the adjective zabathân “humbled” is difficult to explain, since Tolkien stated that “adjectives normally preceded nouns” (SD/428). Perhaps it follows because it is used as a predicate of the subjective subject Zigûrun (a construction discussed on SD/429), so that the literal interpretation of the full phrase would be “✱and so Sauron [was] humbled, he had come [to Númenor]”. Alternately, zabathân could appear in this abnormal position because it is a participle (verbal adjective).

gurth i morthu

*death (of) ?Sauron