effírië

death

#effírië noun "death" (isolated from effíriemmo "of our death"). A verbal stem *effir- "expire, die" seems to be implied. (VT43:34)

effírië

noun. death

urdu

death

urdu noun "death" (LT2:342; rather nuru in Tolkien's later Quenya)

urtu

noun. death

Cognates

• S. gurth “death”

Element in

• Q. násië “now and at the hour of our death: Amen” ✧ VT43/34

unquale

noun. death agony

death agony

unqualë

noun. death agony, death agony, torment, [ᴹQ.] agony, death

Changes

• unquale → anquale ✧ PE19/078

Cognates

• Os. amphala “death agony” ✧ PE18/092

Derivations

• √KWAL “die, pain, die, pain, [ᴹ√] die in pain” ✧ PE18/092; PE19/078
• ✶ṇ̃kwalē “torment” ✧ PE19/078

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√KWAL > unquale	[ŋ̣kwale] > [uŋkwale]	✧ PE18/092
✶ṇ̃kwalē > unquale	[ŋ̣kwalē] > [uŋkwalē] > [uŋkwale]	✧ PE19/078

Variations

• unquale ✧ PE18/092; PE19/078 (unquale); PE19/078 (unquale)
• anquale ✧ PE19/078

anqualë

agony, death

anqualë noun "agony, death" (form Tolkien seems to have intended as a replacement for unqualë of similar meaning, VT45:24, 36)

firië

dying, death

firië noun "dying, death" (gerund of fir-) (VT43:34)

nuru

death, death

nuru, Nuru noun "death, Death" _(ÑGUR). This represents earlier ñuru (VT46:4) _and should be spelt accordingly in Tengwar writing. When personalized, Nuru refers to Mandos. Cf. Nurufantur.

qualmë

agony, death

qualmë ("q")noun "agony, death" (KWAL, LT1:264)

umaqualë

agony, death

[?umaqualë] ("q"), possibly a synonym of anqualë/unqualë, hence noun "agony, death" (VT45:24)

unqualë

agony, death

unqualë ("q")noun "agony, death" (KWAL, VT45:36). See anqualë. In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, unqualë was the name of letter #8 (VT45:18), which tengwa Tolkien would later call ungwë instead changing its Quenya value from nqu to ngw.

mordo

shadow, obscurity, stain

mordo (1) noun "shadow, obscurity, stain" (MOR)

quelmë

noun. ruin, utter end, perdition, end, death

Derivations

• √KWEL “fade, die away, grow faint, fade, die away, grow faint, [ᴹ√] fade away; wither, [ᴱ√] decay, perish, die”

Nûrnen

place name. Death

_ topon. _Death, dead water. >> guru

gurth

noun. death

gurth

noun. death

The usual Sindarin word for “death”, derived from the root √ÑGUR of similar meaning (UT/39; Ety/ÑGUR).

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/43), anchored by well established names like Gurthang or Gurtholf(in), the name of Túrin’s sword. Tolkien experimented with various alternate forms over the years, such as G. urthu (GG/14), G. gurthu (GL/43), ᴱN. gurdh (PE13/146) and N. guruth (Ety/ÑGUR), but kept coming back to gurth as the basic form.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word for death in general and especially violent death, as opposed to the more euphemistic [N.] gwanath or gwanu “death”, more literally “departure”.

Cognates

• Q. urtu “death”

Derivations

• √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Element in

• S. Belegurth “Great Death”
• S. Gurthang “Iron of Death” ✧ SA/gurth
• S. gurth an Glamhoth “Death to the din-horde” ✧ UT/039

Variations

• Gurth ✧ UT/039

guru

noun. death

_ n. _death. guru << gûru.

guru

noun. death, death (abstract)

A Sindarin word for “death” derived from primitive ✶ñgurū (PE17/87), unusual in that its primitive ancient vowel u did not vanish. In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had variant forms [N.] gûr and gurw “death” marked with a “?”, both derived from Old Noldorin nguru and indicating some uncertainty on the exact phonetic developments (EtyAC/ÑGUR). Elsewhere in The Etymologies Tolkien said that [N.] guru was “Death as state or abstract”, as opposed to [N.] gwanw or gwanath for the “act of dying” (Ety/GWAN).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume guru was for death as an abstraction or principle, and for the death of individuals I would use either gurth or gwanu/gwanath; see those entries for discussion.

Changes

• gûru → guru ✧ PE17/087

Cognates

• ᴹQ. nuru “death, death [abstract]”

Derivations

• ✶ñgurū “death” ✧ PE17/087
  • √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Element in

• S. guruthos “dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, [N.] fear of death” ✧ PE17/087

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶ngurū > guru	[ŋgurū] > [ŋguru] > [guru] > [guru] > [guru]	✧ PE17/087

Variations

• gûru ✧ PE17/087 (gûru)

dae

noun. shadow

dae

noun. shadow, shadow (cast by an object or form), [N.] shade

Element in

• S. Daeron ✧ SA/dae
• S. Dor Daedeloth “Land of Great Dread; Land of Shadow of Horror” ✧ SA/dae

guruthos

noun. the shadow of death, death-horror

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

morchant

noun. shadow (of objects, cast by light), dark shape

gurth

death

(i ngurth = i ñurth, o n’gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth)

guruth

death

(i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n’guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth = i ñgyryth)

gwanath

death

1) (act of dying) gwanath (i **wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith), 2) (act of dying, especially the ”death” of Elves by fading or weariness) gwanu (i **wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract): 3) gûr (i ngûr = i ñûr, o n**gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir), 4) gurth (i ngurth = i ñurth, o n**gurth = o ñgurth), pl. gyrth (in gyrth = i ñgyrth), 5) guruth (i nguruth = i ñuruth, o n**guruth = o ñguruth), pl. gyryth (in gyryth** = i ñgyryth)

gwanath

death

(i ’wanath), pl. gwenaith (in gwenaith)

gwanu

death

(i ’wanu), analogical pl. gweny (in gweny). Archaic gwanw (LR:397 s.v. WAN), hence coll. pl. ?gwanwath. Other words (rather referring to Death as a state or abstract):

gûr

death

(i ngûr = i ñûr, o n’gûr = o ñgûr, construct gur), pl. guir (in guir = i ñguir)

dúath

dark shadow

(i dhúath) (nightshade), pl. dúaith (i núaith). Compare the Ephel Dúath or ”Mountains of Shadow” forming th outer fence of Mordor, perhaps suggesting that Dúath is also the word used of Sauron as ”the Shadow”.

dae

shadow

(i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae).

gwâth

shadow

(i ’wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261)

daew

shadow

(i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8).

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying)

Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath

May they find peace after death.

This is a phrase that Legolas, Aragorn, And Gimli think that the hobbits are dead.

morchant

shadow

1) morchant (i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form. 2) dae (i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae). 3) daew (i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8). 4) gwâth (i **wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261) 5) muil (i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil**),

morchant

shadow

(i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form.

muil

shadow

(i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)

agan

noun. death

A noun for “death” attested both as an independent word (SD/426) and in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow” (SD/247).

Element in

• Ad. Agân “Death” ✧ SD/426
• Ad. agannâlô burôda nênud “[the] death-shadow [is] heavy on us” ✧ SD/247; SD/247
• Ad. agannūlo burudan nēnum “death-shade heavy-is on-us” ✧ SD/312

Variations

• Agan ✧ SD/247

agân

masculine name. Death

The masculine personification of agan “death” (SD/426). This could be the Adûnaic name for Mandos.

Variations

• Agān ✧ SD/426

nâlu

noun. shadow

A noun attested only in the compound agannâlô “death-shadow [is]” (SD/247, VT24/12). The first element of the compound, agan “death”, as identified elsewhere (SD/426), so the remaining element must mean “shadow”. The compound is the subject of the sentence agannâlô burôda nênud “death-shadow [is] heavy on us” and is therefore in the subjective case. According the grammatical rules of Lowdham’s Report, the only possibly normal form producing this subjective is nâlu: compare nîlu “moon” to its subjective form nîlô (SD/431).

Conceptual Development: In early writings, the compound was (non-subjective) agannūlo, so that the apparent draft form of this noun was nūlo. A similar form nūlu appears on SD/306, described only as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’”. It could be a separate word or another variation of this word, with the development nūlo >> nūlu >> nālu. Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/21) that the earlier forms may be related to ᴹQ. nulla “dark, dusky, obscure”.

Element in

• Ad. agannâlô burôda nênud “[the] death-shadow [is] heavy on us” ✧ SD/247; SD/247
• Ad. agannūlo burudan nēnum “death-shade heavy-is on-us” ✧ SD/312

Variations

• nūlu ✧ SD/306
• nūlo ✧ SD/312

ugru

noun. shadow

A noun translated “shadow” (SD/247), also described as “a word with the evil sense of ‘night’ or ‘dark’” (SD/306). It appears in the preprositional phrase ugru-dalad “under shadow” (SD/247) and in the draft-dative form ugrus “‽horror‽shadow” (SD/311).

Element in

• Ad. Êruhînim dubdam ugru-dalad “[the Children of Eru] fell under shadow” ✧ SD/247; SD/247
• Ad. ēruhīn udūbanim dalad ugrus “‽ fell under ‽horror‽shadow” ✧ SD/311
• Ad. ugrudâ- “to overshadow”

ñgurū

noun. death

Derivations

• √ÑGUR “death; to die”

Derivatives

• S. guru “death, death (abstract)” ✧ PE17/087

Element in

• S. Núrnen “Sad Water, Dead Water” ✧ PE17/087

Variations

• ngurū ✧ PE17/087

wath

noun. shadow

Derivations

• √WATH “*shade, [ᴹ√] shade”

Derivatives

• S. gwath “shadow, dim light, shadow, dim light, [N.] shade” ✧ PE17/041

ñgur

root. death; to die

This is a root for “death” words from Tolkien’s later writings, most notably S. gurth “death” as in S. Gurthang “Iron of Death”, the name of Túrin’s sword. The earliest precursor of this name was G. Gurtholfin “Wand of Death”, where the element G. gurth “death” was derived from gu̯rþū́ (✱gwṛþū) or ᴱ✶ngwṛþ- in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/43). This in turn was a clear variant of ᴱ√GWṚÐṚ “die” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon, with Qenya derivatives ᴱQ. urdu “death” and ᴱQ. warda, though originally this root was just a variant of ᴱ√VṚÐṚ “✱rule” (QL/104).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s this root became ᴹ√ÑGUR with derivatives like ᴹQ. ñuru/N. guru “death” (Ety/ÑGUR), apparently as a state or abstract concept (Ety/WAN). This new root √ÑGUR “death” or “to die” continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings as well (PE17/95, 154).

Derivatives

• ✶ñgurū “death”
  • S. guru “death, death (abstract)” ✧ PE17/087
• S. gorth “dead; dead (person)”
• S. gurth “death”

Element in

• S. guruthos “dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, dread of death, death-horror, shadow of death, [N.] fear of death” ✧ PE17/095

Variations

• NGUR ✧ PE17/095; PE17/168

gurth

noun. *death

guruth

noun. death

guruth

noun. death

Derivations

• On. ngurtu “death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
  • ᴹ√ÑGUR “*death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Element in

• N. Gurtholf “Wand of Death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
• N. gurth i Morthu “*death (of) ?Sauron” ✧ RS/186
• N. guruthos “fear of death”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. ngurtu > guruth	[ŋgurtu] > [ŋgurtʰu] > [ŋgurθu] > [gurθu] > [gurθu] > [gurθu] > [guruθ]	✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Variations

• Gurth ✧ RS/186

gûr

noun. death

amphala

noun. death agony

ON. death agony

dae

noun. shadow

gwanath

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)

gwanath

noun. death (act of dying)

There were a couple of words for “death” under the root ᴹ√WAN “depart” in The Etymologies of the 1930s: N. gwanath and gwanw, the latter from primitive ᴹ√wanwē (Ety/WAN). Tolkien specified that these words referred to the “act of dying”, as opposed to guru which was “Death as a state or abstract”. These death-words from ᴹ√WAN may originally have been euphemistic, or perhaps they refer to the departure of Elvish spirits to Valinor.

Neo-Sindarin: Most Neo-Sindarin writers adapted N. gwanw as ᴺS. gwanu to better fit Sindarin spelling conventions, as suggested in HSD (HSD). I would use the words gwanath and gwanu only for the death of individuals, and mainly for deaths that are natural or peaceful. For violent deaths I would use gurth instead, and for the state of death or Death as an abstraction I would use guru as noted above.

Derivations

• ᴹ√WAN “depart, go away, disappear, vanish” ✧ Ety/WAN

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√WAN > gwanath	[wanatta] > [wanattʰa] > [wanaθθa] > [gwanaθθa] > [gwanaθθ] > [gwanaθ]	✧ Ety/WAN

guru

noun. death (abstract)

Changes

• ngurw → gûr/gurw ✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Cognates

• ᴹQ. nuru “death, death [abstract]” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Derivations

• On. nguru “death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
  • ᴹ√ÑGUR “*death” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR
• ᴹ√ÑGUR “*death” ✧ Ety/WAN

Element in

• N. Gurfannor “Lord of Death-cloud” ✧ Ety/ÑGUR

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. nguru > gûr/gurw	[ŋguru] > [guru] > [guru] > [guru]	✧ Ety/ÑGUR
ᴹ√NGUR > Guru	[ŋguru] > [guru] > [guru] > [guru]	✧ Ety/WAN

Variations

• gûr/gurw ✧ Ety/ÑGUR (gûr/gurw)
• Guru ✧ Ety/WAN
• gûr ✧ EtyAC/ÑGUR
• ngurw ✧ EtyAC/ÑGUR (ngurw)

daew

noun. shadow

gwanw

noun. death (act of dying)

Derivations

• ᴹ✶wanwē “death” ✧ Ety/WAN
  • ᴹ√WAN “depart, go away, disappear, vanish” ✧ Ety/WAN

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶wanwē > gwanw	[wanwē] > [wanwe] > [gwanwe] > [gwanw] > [gwanu]	✧ Ety/WAN

palw

noun. agony

Cognates

• ᴹQ. qalme “(process of) death, (death) agony” ✧ Ety/KWAL

Derivations

• ᴹ√KWAL “die (in pain)” ✧ Ety/KWAL

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√KWAL > palw	[kwalme] > [palme] > [palm] > [palv] > [palu]	✧ Ety/KWAL

gwanw

noun. death (act of dying, not death as a state or abstract)