fang
noun. beard, beard, [G.] long beard
fangorn
masculine name. Treebeard
Sindarin name of Treebeard (LotR/464), more literally translated “beard-(of)-tree” (LotR/1131, PE17/84). His name is a combination of fang “beard” and orn “tree” (SA/orn, PE17/84).
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, his name also appeared as N. Fangorn “Treebeard” (TI/412).
anfang
proper name. Longbeard
The Dwarvish tribe of northwestern Middle-earth, also known as Durin’s Folk (PM/321). The name translates as “Longbeard”, a compound of and “long” and fang “beard” (PM/321). The name also appears in its plural form Enfeng and its class-plural Anfangrim (PM/321, WJ/10).
Conceptual Development: In the Lost Tales and the earliest Silmarillion drafts this tribe was called the G. Indrafang (LT2/68, SM/104). In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, the variant form G. Surfang or Fangsur also appeared (GL/68). The name was later changed to N. Enfeng (plural) in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/274), and the singular form N. An(d)fang appeared in The Etymologies (Ety/ÁNAD, SPÁNAG).
The name S. Enfeng appeared in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/10, 75), but did not appear in the published version of The Silmarillion. The name was referenced in some notes to Tolkien’s essay “Of Dwarves and Men”, composed around 1969, along with Khuzdul and Quenya translations (PM/321).
An(d)fang
noun. long beard
and (“long”) + fang (“beard”)
fang
beard
fang (pl. feng)
fang
beard
(pl. feng)
carch
noun. fang, fang, [N.] tooth
The Sindarin word for “fang” (SA/carak), most notably appearing as an element in the names like S. Carchost “Fang Fort” (RC/601) and S. Carcharoth “Red Maw” (S/180), perhaps more literally “✱Great Red Fang”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. carch was glossed “tooth, fang” under the root ᴹ√KARAK “sharp fang, spike, tooth” (Ety/KARAK). For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use the word carch exclusively for the sharp teeth of animals (“fang”) and for “tooth” I’d use [N.] nêl or neleg.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the word G. carc “jag, point, fang” (GL/25), likely based on the earlier form of the root: ᴱ√KṚKṚ (QL/48). This early word reflects the different phonetic developments of Gnomish versus Sindarin/Noldorin: compare G. orc (GL/63) vs. S./N. orch.
Fang (dog)
Fang (dog)
Fang means "canine tooth" but was also an archaic English verb meaning "grip".
carcharoth
masculine name. Red Maw, ?(lit.) Great Red Fang
A great werewolf bred by Morgoth to be the bane of Huan, who later bit off the hand of Beren. His name was translated “Red Maw” (S/180).
Possible Etymology: As indicated by Christopher Tolkien, this name very likely contains carch “fang, tooth” (SA/carak, Ety/KARAK), perhaps as its first element. The name probably also contains caran “red” (SA/caran), which might be the basis of the middle element. Alternately, car(an) could be the initial element, with the nasal mutation char(ch) of carch as the middle element. The final element seems to be the augmentative suffix -oth. Perhaps a more literal translation of the name would be “✱Great Red Fang”. Alternately, perhaps carch + oth = caroth means “maw”, and “Red Maw” is an exact translation.
Conceptual Development: When this character first appeared in the earliest Lost Tales, he was given the (Early) Qenya name ᴱQ. Karkaras “Knife-fang” (LT2/21), soon replaced by its Gnomish equivalent G. Carcaras. The name G. Carcharoth emerged in The Lays of Beleriand, along with its translation “Red Maw” (LB/289). For some time, Tolkien vacillated between Carcaras “Knife-fang” and Carcharoth “Red Maw”, with minor variants on each form, such as Carcharas (SM/115) or Carcharolch (LB/119). The name N. Carcharoth appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KARAK (Ety/KARAK), and thereafter Tolkien used only this form.
orthanc
place name. Mount Fang, Forked Height
Saruman’s fortress, translated “Mount Fang” (LotR/555) or “Forked Height” (UT/400). This name appears to be a combination of a shorter form of orod “mountain” with thanc “cleft, split” (RC/625).
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this name was already N. Orthanc (TI/132), but its translation was revised “Stony Heart” >> “Stone Fang” >> “Mount Fang” (WR/35).
Carchost
noun. fang citadel
carch (“tooth, fang”) + ost (“fortress, stronghold”)
carchost
place name. Fang Fort
One of the Towers of the Teeth along with its companion Narchost (LotR/900), translated “Fang Fort” in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings (RC/601). This name is a combination of carch “fang” and ost “fort(ress)” (SA/carak).
Conceptual Development: When it was first named specifically in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this fort was already called N. Carchost (SD/23), though the earlier names N. Gorgos “Dire-castle” (TI/344) and N. Kirith Naglath “Cleft of the Teeth” (WR/137) may have been precursors to this name.
Carach Angren
noun. iron fang
carach (“spike, tooth or rock”) + angren (“iron”)
carch
noun. tooth, fang
anfang
longbeard
(a member of a certain tribe of Dwarves) Anfang, pl. Enfeng, coll. pl. Anfangrim (WJ:10, 108, 205)
carch
fang
carch (i garch, o charch) (tooth), pl. cerch (i cherch)
carch
fang
(i garch, o charch) (tooth), pl. cerch (i cherch)
Carcharoth
noun. red maw
carch (“tooth, fang”) + car (from caran “red”) + #(h-)oth (#collective plural suffix)
Carcharoth
Carcharoth
The name is translated as Red Maw; the recogniseable Sindarin elements are car(a)n "red" as well as carach "jaw" or carch "fang". Based on the above, perhaps the name can be analyzed into the unattested words carn (an alternate version of caran) and caroth "maw", the latter ending with the augmentative suffix -oth also seen in Nogoth "(Big) Dwarf" = naug + oth ("maw" = "big jaw"). Note that the final letter of car(a)n + the initial letter of carach/oth- produce the sound ch (IPA: x) with the phenomenon called nasal mutation.
Carchost
Carchost
The name Carchost is translated as "fang fort". It contains two Sindarin elements: carch, meaning "tooth, fang", and ost meaning "fortress".
nagol
tooth
1) *nagol (analogical pl. negyl, coll. pl. naglath*; possibly the analogical form nagolath would also be acceptable). Only the coll. pl. naglath is attested. 2) naes (no distinct pl. form) (VT45:36). 3) nêl (note: a homophone means ”three”), stem neleg-, whence pl. nelig. Also simply neleg (pl. nelig). 4) (fang) carch (i garch, o charch), pl. cerch (i cherch**).
Carach Angren
Carach Angren
Both Carach Angren and Isenmouthe mean "Iron-mouth": "It was so called because of the great fence of pointed iron posts that closed the gap leading into Udûn, like teeth in jaws." Isen is an old English variant form of iron; and mouthe represents Old English mūða < mūð "opening, mouth" especially used of the mouths of rivers, but also applied to other openings. Despite the Old English, the name is not to be understood as Rohirric, but rather as archaic Westron, translation of Sindarin Carach Angren.
carch
tooth
(i garch, o charch), pl. cerch (i cherch).
naes
tooth
(no distinct pl. form) (VT45:36).
nagol
tooth
(analogical pl. negyl, coll. pl. naglath; possibly the analogical form ✱nagolath would also be acceptable). Only the coll. pl. naglath is attested.
nêl
tooth
(note: a homophone means ”three”), stem neleg-, whence pl. nelig. Also simply neleg (pl. nelig).
The Sindarin word for “beard”, best known as an element in the name S. Fangorn “Treebeard, (lit.) beard of tree” (LotR/1131, PE17/84). The word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared as G. fang “a long beard” (GL/34), though in that document it had a rejected variant bang “beard” (GL/21). ᴱN. fang “beard” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/143), and N. fang “beard” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√SPANAG (Ety/SPÁNAG). Thus this word was well established in Tolkien’s mind.