carab

noun. hat

A word for “hat” appearing in 1930s revisions to the map for The Silmarillion as an element in the name Amon Carab “Hill of the Hat” (WJ/187); hat tip to Lokyt for helping date this item. By the 1950s-60s the hill was renamed to Amon Rûdh “Bald Hill” (S/204). There is no clear derivation for the word carab, but ᴱQ. karape and G. garob “cloak, outer garment” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s may be related since they have a similar form and are also words for garments (GL/37). The unglossed 1930s root ᴹ√KARPA might also be related (PE18/66).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s instead had G. tôd “hat” with Qenya cognate ᴱQ. tâta (GL/71). Underneath this was G. togli “cap”, probably the result tôd + -li with the Gnomish sound change of dl to gl.

amon carab

place name. Hill of the Hat

An earlier name of Amon Rûdh that appeared in various forms in drafts to the Silmarillion map, one of which (Amon Carab) was translated “Hill of the Hat” (WJ/187). It seems to be a combination of amon “hill” and carab “hat”, the second of which is not otherwise attested. The variant Amon Garabel which shows Noldorin-style lenition of the 2nd element is strong evidence that this name is from the 1930s (or possibly 40s).