gorthad

noun. wraith, spirit of Dead

A word for “wraith, spirit of Dead” in the name Tyrn Gorthad “Barrow-downs”, more literally “✱mounds of wraith/spirit of the dead” (LotR/1040; PE17/116). The initial element of this word is clearly gorth “dead” and its second element might just be the abstract noun ending -ad; hat-tip to Vyacheslav Stepanov for this suggestion. Hammond and Scull suggested it might instead be gorth “dread” + sad “place”, or “dread place = barrow” (RC/691), but they did not cite a source for this etymology.

gorthad

noun. wraith

n. wraith, spirit of Dead. >> Tyrn Gorthad

gorthad

noun. barrow

Tyrn Gorthad

place name. Tyrn Gorthad

topon. >> gorthad, torn

tyrn gorthad

place name. Barrow-downs

Sindarin name of the Barrow-downs (LotR/1040), a combination of the plural of torn “burial mound” and gorthad “wraith, spirit of Dead” (PE17/116), also appearing in the (archaic?) form Tyrn Goerthaid in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices (PM/194).

Tyrn Gorthad

noun. Barrow Downs

tyrn (n. pl. “downs” [His.]) + gorth (“dead”) + sad (“place”)

gorthad

barrow

1) gorthad (i ngorthad = i ñorthad, o n**gorthad = o ñgorthad), pl. gerthaid (in gerthaid = i ñgerthaid). The literal meaning may be ”place of the dead”: gorth ”dead” + sâd, -had ”place”. Archaic pl. ”goerthaid” = görthaid (PM:194), 2) haudh (i chaudh, o chaudh) (burial mound, grave, tomb), pl. hoedh (i choedh), coll. pl. hodhath**

gorthad

barrow

(i ngorthad = i ñorthad, o n’gorthad = o ñgorthad), pl. gerthaid (in gerthaid = i ñgerthaid). The literal meaning may be ”place of the dead”: gorth ”dead” + sâd, -had ”place”. Archaic pl. ”goerthaid” = görthaid (PM:194)

haudh

barrow

(i chaudh, o chaudh) (burial mound, grave, tomb), pl. hoedh (i choedh), coll. pl. hodhath