A prepositional suffix translated “at” (SD/429), but not appearing in any example sentences. It is perhaps a later repurposing of the draft-dative case suffix -s, since the other draft-cases became prepositional suffixes in later versions of the Adûnaic grammar: draft genitive -ō versus later preposition -ô “from”, draft instrumental -ma versus later preposition -mâ “with”.
Adûnaic
-at
suffix. dual suffix
-zê
preposition. at
satta
noun. two
The Adûnaic number “two” (SD/428). It seems likely that it is related to Q. atta “two”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (AAD/22), though it is unclear how the initial s- might have developed in the Adûnaic. It may also be related to the Adûnaic dual suffix -at, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/SAT).
u
pronoun. he
A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).
-mâ
preposition. with
A prepositional suffix translated “with” (SD/247, 429).
Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, it was the grammatical inflection -ma used for the draft-instrumental (SD/438).
attô
noun. father
A noun for “father” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, attû and attô, with no indication as to which would be preferred. For reasons similar to those given in the entry for ammê “mother”, my guess is that attû is an archaic form, and attô was preferred by the time of Classical Adûnaic. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AT(AR) “father”, perhaps from Primitive Elvish ᴹ✶atū.
karab
noun. horse
A noun translated “horse”, given by Tolkien as an example of how common-nouns can be altered into masculine and feminine forms using the suffixes -û and -î: karbî “mare” and karbû “stallion” (SD/434).
nakh-
verb. to come
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-.
narîka ’nbâri ’nadûn yanâkhim
The Eagles of the Lords of the West are at hand
An isolated Adûnaic sentence in “The Notion Club Papers” story (SD/251). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/26) that this same sentence is mentioned previously on SD/231 where Lowdham speaks in “an unknown tongue”, and then cries out in English “Behold the Eagles of the Lords of the West! They are coming over Nūmenōr!”. If so, this provides another translation of the phrase.
The first word, Narîka “Eagles” seems to be the subjective plural of #narak “eagle”, but is unusual in that it is declined as if it were a neuter noun. The names of animals are generally common-nouns (SD/426). Perhaps when this sentence was written, Tolkien had not yet fleshed out the Adûnaic gender rules.
Narîka is modified by the noun phrase ’nBâri “of the Lords”, which is a combination of the genitive prefix an- “of” (elided) and the plural of the noun bâr “lord”. This is also unusual in that it uses the short i rather than the long î for the plural, another sign that this may be an early sentence (the Adûnaic draft-plural often used a short i).
The phrase is further modified by ’nAdûn “of the West”, another instance of an elided genitive an- prefixed to the noun adûn “west”.
The verb yanâkhim is glossed “are at hand”. Its initial element ya- is likely the third neuter person plural pronominal suffix “they” and it ends with the normal plural verb suffix -m. This leaves the verb form nâkhi, which seems to be an inflection of the verb nakh- “come”. A literal interpretation might be “✱The Eagles of the Lords of the West are coming”, as supported by the second translation mentioned above, so that this is an example of the Adûnaic continuative-present tense. This analysis of yanâkhim was suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/27).
nîlu
noun. moon
A noun translated as “moon” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/431). It appears with both a short and long final -u, but Tolkien indicated that the form with long û is actually the personified form Nîlû “Man in the Moon” (SD/426), perhaps the Adûnaic name of Tilion. Tolkien also listed the “later forms Nil, Njūl” (SD/306), one of which may be the Westron word for “moon”, most likely Wes. nil. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/NUL) that this noun may be related to nûlo/nûlu/nâlu, but given the evil connotations of these words (SD/306) and the different stem vowels, this seems unlikely to me.
pharaz
noun. gold
A noun meaning “gold”, the only Adûnaic word defined in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1114).
Conceptual Development: This noun also appears in “Lowdham’s Report on the Adunaic Language” from the 1940s (SD/426).
yad-
verb. to go
A verb appearing in the Lament of Akallabêth in the form ayadda “(it) went” (SD/247, VT24/12). Its initial element is the 3rd persons neuter plural suffix a- “it”. This leaves the basic verb form yadda, which is the past tense according to the theories used here.
Conceptual Development: It appeared in the form yadda in the first draft version of the Lament, and this form was also briefly considered as a replacement for unakkha “he-came” in the first sentence of the Lament (SD/312).
îdô
adverb. now
A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.
Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.
I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.
The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:
agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”
batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”
In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.
In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.
It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.
ûrinîluwat
Sun and Moon
ûriyat nîlô
sun and moon
-nud Reconstructed
preposition. on
A preposition attested only in the phrase “on us” in the Lament of Akallabêth, changing through the drafts as nēnum >> nēnu >> nēnud (SD/247, 312). Most authors identify -nud as the prepositional element (AAD/20, LGtAG, NBA/14), perhaps related to Q. nu “under”. If so, it may be a derivative of the Elvish roots √NŪ/UNU “under” or √NDU “down”, with a semantic shift to the meaning “on”.
The suffix for dual nouns in Adûnaic, with the a lengthened to â in subjective duals (SD/428-430). In later (Exilic?) Adûnaic, the â was long in all cases (SD/431). See the entry on dual nouns for further details. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/11) that -at is derived from the same Primitive Elvish form ✶-ata as the Quenya dual.