amben

adjective. uphill, uphill; [ᴱN.] arduous, difficult, tiresome

An adjective (and adverb?) for “uphill” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, a combination of am “up” and N. penn “declivity, ✱slope” (Ety/PEN). It was contrasted with N. dadben “downhill, inclined, prone” (Ety/AM², PEN).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies it first appeared as N. amdenn, a derivative of ᴹ√DEN “hillside, slope”, but the meaning of this root was change to ᴹ√DEN “hole; gap, passage” (Ety/DEN), after which the form amben < ᴹ√PEN(ED) was introduced (see above). The earliest appearance of this word was in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s where it was ᴱN. amvenn “uphill; arduous, difficult, tiresome”, marked as both an adjective and adverb, along with a noun variant ᴱN. amvinn “slope, incline, hillside” (PE13/139, 159-160). This early Noldorin form was a combination of ᴱN. am “up” and ᴱN. benn “sloping”.

The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had adverb G. amon “uphill, against stream” based on G. am “up, upwards, towards head of” and possibly generalized from the noun G. amon “hill” (GL/19).

Neo-Sindarin: Given its Early Noldorin use for “arduous, difficult, tiresome”, amben might be used colloquially in Neo-Sindarin with a similar sense for a thing that is difficult, analogous to English usages like an “uphill battle”: dagor amben.

amben

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambend

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambend

adverb. uphill

ambenn

adverb. uphill, sloping upwards

ambenn

adverb. uphill