-yī

noun. plural inflection

The likely primitive form of the Classical Adûnaic plural inflection -î- (SD/429), appearing in a few examples of primitive plurals in the form -yi: manaw+yi, izray+yi (SD/424). Tolkien gave no indication of whether the primitive inflection was also used as an infix, as was the case for Classical Adûnaic plurals of strong-nouns.

nakh

root. come, approach

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “come, approach” (SD/416), no doubt the basis for the verb nakh- “to come”.

-th

suffix. feminine suffix

A (primitive?) feminine suffix used in the formation of mîth “baby girl” from the root ✶Ad. √MIYI (SD/427). Tolkien stated that that th was one of the “favoured” feminine consonants (SD/427).

-k

suffix. masculine suffix

A (primitive?) masculine suffix used in the formation of (male) mîk “baby” from the root ✶Ad. √MIYI (SD/427). Tolkien stated that that k was one of the “favoured” masculine consonants (SD/427).

karab

root. horse

An unglossed root (SD/415), likely the basis for the noun karab “horse” (SD/434).

ruth

root. scar, score, furrow

This root, glossed “scar, score, furrow”, appeared as part of a discussion of the origin of the Sindarin word S. ross¹ “foam” appearing in the name Elros “Star-foam” (PM/368-371). Tolkien was uncertain whether this Sindarin word could coexist with its homophone S. ross² “copper-coloured”, and investigated the possibility that Elros was instead derived from a Beorian word rôs “foam”. According to Christopher Tolkien, his father was forced to abandon this line of reasoning when he remembered that the unrelated name S. Cair Andros also contained this element, forcing it to be of Sindarin rather than Beorian origin (SD/371).

Despite all this, the related Adûnaic word Ad. roth “foam” survived in The Silmarillion in the Adûnaic name Rothinzil “Foam-flower” of Earendil’s ship. Therefore, perhaps this root remains valid. According to Tolkien, this root originally had to do with ploughs and ploughing, and was later used for the white crest of waves by analogy with the churning dirt of a furrow (PM/376).

manaw

noun. spirit

The primitive form of manô “spirit” (SD/424). Its plural form manaw+yi is also attested.

bel

root. befriend, love

This unglossed root appears only as an element in the name Azrubêl “Friend of the Sea, Sea-lover” (SD/305). It has a sense similar to that of ✶Ad. √ZIR “love, desire”. Perhap it is distinct from ✶Ad. √ZIR in that it has more to do with friendship than desire. It could be distantly related to the elvish root √MEL, perhaps ✶mel- > ✶mbel- > ✶bel- in the Avari tongue that influenced Primitive Adûnaic, but this is purely speculative.

This root also contradicts statements by Tolkien elsewhere that Primitive Adûnaic only had the vowels a, i and u. Perhaps it should be *BIL, as with ✶Ad. √BITH “say” the primitive root of Ad. bêth “expression, saying, word”.

izray

noun. sweetheart, beloved

The primitive form of izrê “sweetheart, beloved” (SD/424), probably derived from the root ✶Ad. √ZIR. The actual primitive word was more likely izrai, produced via a-fortification from the biconsonantal vowel-suppression form izri. Its plural form izray+yi is also attested.

minil

root. heaven, sky

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “heaven, sky” that Tolkien used as an example of an “early borrowing” from Primitive Elvish: the ancient Elvish root √MENEL became ✶Ad. √MINIL from whatever Avari language influenced Primitive Adûnaic (SD/414).

zir

root. love, desire

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “love, desire”, the basis for the verbal element zîr- of similar meaning and the noun zâir “yearning” (SD/423). It is likely also the basis for the noun izrê “sweetheart, beloved” (SD/424).

dāw’r

noun. gloom

A Primitive Adûnaic word glossed “gloom” (SD/423), the only attested example of a single-vowel-form for a triconsonantal-root. Ordinarily such a form would not be possible, since final consonant clusters did not appear in Primitive Adûnaic (SD/418, 426). It is possible that such forms were valid in the case of medial semi-vowels [w] and [j], however, since [w] and [j] became [u] and [i] before consonants and finally, thereby preventing a cluster from forming.

ir

root. love

A rejected Adûnaic root attested as iri- and having to do with love (SD/305), perhaps related to the Primitive Elvish root ᴹ√IR “desirable, beautiful”.

khaw

noun. crow

A Primitive Adûnaic word glossed “crow” (SD/426). Tolkien gave two primitive forms of this word, khāw and khăw, which could just be variant forms of the same root *KHAW. A more intriguing possibility is that khāw is actually the subjective form of khăw, since this would indicate that this subjective formation dates back to the primitive stages of the language. As evidence of this, the derived plural khāwī(m) (SD/426) does resemble the Classical Adûnaic subjective plural.

Contradicting this conjecture is the fact that khaw, as an animal name, should be declined as a common-noun, using the common subjective suffix -an. Elsewhere, though, Tolkien declined some animal names as if they were neuter nouns, for example narîka as the subjective plural of #narak (SD/251). Perhaps not all animals were common nouns, or perhaps Tolkien’s ideas for the subjective tense were not fully formed when these examples were written.

amān

masculine name. Manwë

The primitive form of Amân, the Adûnaic name of Manwë, written in allcaps as AMĀN (SD/420). Usually Tolkien used capitalization for primitive roots, but in this case it is more like to be a form derived from an unattested Primitive Adûnaic root *√MAN, probably related to the Primitive Elvish root ᴹ√MAN.

dawar

root. gloom

The root from which dâur “gloom” is derived (SD/423), perhaps with a similar meaning.

gimil

root. star

One of the roots Tolkien used to illustrate various processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-5). It also seems to be the basis of words related to stars, such as gimli.

nimir

root. shine

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “shine” (SD/416), apparently the basis for Nimir “Elf”.

thāni

noun. realm

The primitive form of thâni “land”, written in allcaps as THĀNI (SD/420). Usually Tolkien used capitalization for primitive roots, but in this case it is more like to be a form derived from an unattested Primitive Adûnaic root *√THAN.

saphdān

noun. wise man, wizard

The primitive form of sapthân “wise man, wizard”, derived from the root ✶Ad. √SAPHAD (SD/421). Its final element -ān may be a primitive form of the agental suffix -ân².

ʔir

root. one, alone

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “one, alone” (SD/432), likely the basis for Êru “God” (the One) and probably related to the Primitive Elvish root √ER of the same meaning.

kulub

root. root (as kind of plant)

One of the Primitive Adûnaic roots Tolkien used to illustrate the processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-5). It also seems to be the root of words such as kulbu and kulub “root (as a kind of plant)” (SD/431), perhaps an deliberate pun by Tolkien.

miy

root. small

A root glossed “small” that Tolkien wrote in its full-form ✶Ad. √MIYI (SD/427). For consistency this entry has normalized it to the basic form of biconsonantal roots. Although glossed as “small”, all of its attested derivatives have to do with babies.

nak

root.

An otherwise unexplained root that Tolkien used to illustrate the processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-3). It may have no real meaning. Even if it were, certainly only a few of its derivatives could be real words in Classical Adûnaic.

bith

root. say

A root glossed “say” (SD/416), from which bêth “expression, saying, word” is most likely derived. It may be related to the Primitive Elvish root √KWET; see the entry on bêth for further discussion.

kalab

root. fall

A Primitive Adûnaic root gloss “fall” (SD/416) appearing as an element in the name Akallabêth (PM/158) and also most likely the basis for the verb kalab- “to fall (down)”.

paʒ

root. hand

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “hand”, the basis for the noun pâ of the same meaning (SD/416).

paʒa

noun. hand

The Primitive Adûnaic form of the noun pâ “hand” (SD/426).

sapad

root.

An otherwise unexplained root Tolkien gave to illustrate a pronunciation example. It may not be a real root.

saphad

root. understand

A Primitive Adûnaic root glossed “understand” (SD/416), the basis for the verb saphad- “to understand” and the noun sapthân “wise man” (SD/421).

asad

root.

An otherwise unexplained root Tolkien gave to illustrate a pronunciation example (SD/421). It may not be a real root. If it is real, it is either a biconsonantal-root with vowel-prefixion or a triconsonantal-root with a lost initial consonant such as [ɣ] or [ʔ].

* -ān

suffix. agental suffix

An apparent primitive form of the Classical Adûnaic agental suffix -ân², attested in the Primitive Adûnaic word saphdān = SAPHAD + -ān (SD/421).

* hi

root. she

A Primitive Adûnaic form attested as i “she” (SD/435), but given the later feminine pronoun Ad. hi, the actual primitive pronoun must have been *HI [xi]. The suffix -i was also a common feature of Classical Adûnaic feminine-nouns.

* ʒu

root. he

A Primitive Adûnaic form attested as u “he” (SD/435), but given the later Adûnaic pronoun Ad. u or hu “he”, the actual primitive pronoun may have been ƷU [ɣu], ʔU or *HU [xu], as Tolkien indicated in a footnote (SD/433, note #7). The suffix -u was also a common feature of Classical Adûnaic masculine-nouns.