Adûnaic
nakh-
verb. to come
Derivations
- √Ad. NAKH “come, approach”
Element in
- Ad. kadô Zigûrun zabathân unakkha “and so [Sauron] he came humbled” ✧ SD/247
- Ad. Kadō zigūrun zabathān {hunekkū >>} unekkū “and so ‽ humbled he-came” ✧ SD/311
- Ad. narîka ’nBâri ’nAdûn yanâkhim “The Eagles of the Lords of the West are at hand” ✧ SD/251
A verb translated in the past tense as “came” (SD/247, 311), so probably meaning “to come”. Like kalab-, this is one of the few Adûnaic verbs attested in more than one conjugation. As such, it is useful in the study of Adûnaic verbs, in this case biconsonantal-verbs as opposed to triconsonantal kalab-.
It is attested in two forms, unakkha “he-came” and yanākhim “are at hand”. The initial elements in these forms are the 3rd-sg masculine pronominal prefix u- and the 3rd-pl neuter pronominal prefix ya-, respectively, while the latter form has the plural verbal suffix -m. Removing these elements leaves the conjugated forms nakkha and nākhi, which are the past and continuative-present tenses according to the theories used here. If the second form is the continuative-present, its literal meaning may be “are coming”.
Conceptual Development: In the draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this verb stem was apparently nek-, with past forms hunekkū >> unekkū “he-came”, with Tolkien vacillating on the proper form of the 3rd-sg masculine pronominal prefix u-.