ungoliant

feminine name. Ungoliant

Sindarin name of the great spider-demon (LotR/723, S/73). The initial element of her name is probably ungol “spider” but the meaning of the second element is unclear. It may simply be an adaptation of her Quenya name Q. Ungoliantë (Ety/UÑG).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, this name first appeared as G. Gungliont “The Spider of Night” (GL/43), but this was rejected and replaced by Ungweliont or Ungoliont (GL/75), a change that was also made in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/156). At this stage, the initial element ungwi meant “spider” (GL/75). In the Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s and Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name was changed to Ungoliant (LB/132; SM/16, 91), though later in the drafts her name was generally replaced with its Quenya equivalent ᴹQ. Ungoliante (LR/230, 299).

At this stage, the name was frequently translated “Gloomweaver” (SM/16, 91), and in The Etymologies, N. Ungoliant was an adaption of her Quenya name with the same meaning, as noted above (Ety/UÑG). Here, the initial element Ungo- was related the root ᴹ√UÑG having to do with darkness and the final element -liant was related the root ᴹ√SLIG from which ᴹQ. liante “spider” was derived (Ety/SLIG). In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, Ungoliant was also briefly considered as a name for Shelob (WR/196).

Given Tolkien’s later use of S. ungol as the Sindarin word for “spider”, it seems that he reversed the meaning of the two elements of this name again, but there is no indication of what the second element of the Sindarin name might mean in any of the published materials.

Ungoliant

Ungoliant

The name is pronounced [uŋˈɡoljant]. In the form Ungoliant the name is technically Sindarin, but is a direct loan from Quenya Ungweliantë (ungwë + liantë: "dark spider"; pron. [uŋʷˌɡʷeliˈante]); the strictly Sindarin form being Delduthling "dark terror spider." She is also called "gloomweaver," Virilomë [ˌviriˈlome]) (Wirilomë in Vanyarin) which becomes Gwerlum ([ɡʷerlum]) in Sindarin.

ungoliant

feminine name. Gloomweaver

delduthling

feminine name. Ungoliant, *(lit.) Horror Night Spider

Another name for Ungoliant appearing on in The Etymologies from the 1930s, a combination of del “horror”, dû “night” and thling “spider” (Ety/DYEL, DOƷ, SLIG).

Ungoliantë

ungoliant

Ungoliantë fem. name "Ungoliant" (the Spider, ally of Morgoth); also Ungweliantë (UÑG, DYEL, SLIG)

ungoliantë

feminine name. Gloomweaver, *Shadow Spider

Quenya form of the name of Ungoliant (WJ/14), a compound of [ᴹQ.] ungo “cloud, dark shadow” and [ᴹQ.] liante “spider” (Ety/UÑG, SLIG). Christopher Tolkien confessed that the Quenya form Ungoliantë was used in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s forward, but he changed it to Ungoliant in the published version of The Silmarillion for compatibility with The Lord of the Rings (LR/299).

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales her name was ᴱQ. Ungwe Lianti or Ungweliante, translated “great spider who enmeshes” (LT1/152). At this stage, this name was likely a combination of ᴱQ. ungwe “spider” and a derivative of the root ᴱ√LIYA, perhaps ᴱQ. liante “tendril” (LT1A/Ungwë Lianti). Her Gnomish name G. Gwerlum “Gloomweaver” (ᴱQ. Wirilóme) was of a different origin (LT1A/Gwerlum).

The name ᴹQ. Ungweliante appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/UÑG), but at this stage Tolkien reversed the meaning of its elements, with its initial element ᴹQ. ungwe “gloom” and the final element ᴹQ. liante “spider” (Ety/UÑG). Furthermore, in the contemporaneous narratives the earlier name was replaced by ᴹQ. Ungoliante, which appeared in The Etymologies beside Ungweliante, but with an initial element of ᴹQ. ungo “cloud, dark shadow” (Ety/UÑG, SLIG).

Tolkien used Ungoliantë for her Quenya name in all later writings, but he did not revisit its etymology. In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, Ungoliantë was glossed “Gloomweaver” (LR/230), but Tolkien did not translate the name in later works. The later words Q. ungwë “spider’s web” (LotR/1122) and S. ungol “spider” (Let/180) indicates that Tolkien reversed himself again and decided that the initial element Ungo- meant “spider”: the root √ungu- for “spider words” appears in later writings (PE22/160). This entry uses “Gloomweaver” as the best available translation, but it is most likely a holdover from earlier G. Gwerlum. Using the derivation from The Etymologies, a more literal translation would be “✱Shadow Spider”, but even that is questionable given Tolkien’s later rearrangement of the roots.