n. going-down, esp. sunset, West. Q. Andúne, andū, Hadorian adûn. >> dûn, Henneth Annûn
Sindarin
annûn
noun. sunset, west; (lit.) going down
annûn
going-down
annûn
noun. west, sunset
annûn
west
1) annûn; 2) Dúven (na Núven, o Ndúven). Christopher Tolkien tentatively read the illegible gloss as ”southern” (LR:376 s.v. NDŪ), but the etymology seems to demand the meaning ”west”: dú-ven with the same ending as in Forven ”North” and Harven ”South”. The ending means ”way”, so Dúven may be ”west” considered as a direction. WEST-ELF (Elf of Beleriand, including Noldor and Sindar) Dúnedhel (i Núnedhel), pl. Dúnedhil (i Ndúnedhil). (WJ:378, 386)
annûn
sunset
annûn (west), pl. ennŷn
annûn
west
annûn
sunset
(west), pl. ennŷn
dûn
noun. west
_n. _west. Q. nū-. >> annûn
dûn
noun. west
dûn
noun. west
dúnedhel
west-elf
(i Núnedhel), pl. *Dúnedhil*** (i Ndúnedhil*). (WJ:378, 386)*
dúven
west
(na Núven, o Ndúven). Christopher Tolkien tentatively read the illegible gloss as ”southern” (LR:376 s.v. NDŪ), but the etymology seems to demand the meaning ”west”: dú-ven with the same ending as in Forven ”North” and Harven ”South”. The ending means ”way”, so Dúven may be ”west” considered as a direction.
The Sindarin word for “sunset”, more literally “going down”, also used to mean “West” (LotR/1116, 1123; PE17/64, 88, 121). It was based on the root √NDU “sink, go down” (PE17/64), derived from primitive ✶ṇdūnē like its Quenya counterpart Q. andúnë (Ety/NDŪ). The overlong vowel in the last syllable of annûn is unusual, and was due to the influence of related dûn “west” (LotR/1116 note #1). I believe annûn is most generally used for “sunset”, and when used for “West” it means “the West” as a location, as opposed to a direction which is dûn.
Conceptual Development: N. annûn first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, already with the derivation given above but only glossed “west” (Ety/NDU).
There was a similar word {nún >>} ᴱN. nuin in Early Noldorin Wordlists and the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s, a noun form of the verb ᴱN. nuv- “to sink, set” (PE13/151, 161, 164). Tolkien first gave it as nún “sinking, going down” as a derivative of primitive ᴱ✶numne (PE13/151), but later gave it as nuin “sinking down, going down” from primitive ᴱ✶nubhin (PE13/164). In the second instance he specified it was both “n[oun] & inf[initive]”. In the first instance Tolkien said that “Nún is used = West”.
Another likely precursor was G. nûmin “the west, sinking” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/61) which in turn was probably based on the early root ᴱ√NUHU “bow, bend down; stoop, sink” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (QL/68; LT1A/Númë).