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.

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

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

gwanu

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

gwanu

verb. pp

_ v. pp. _departed. >> gwawn. This gloss was rejected.

gwawn

verb. pp

_ v. pp. _departed. >> gwanu. This gloss was rejected.

gwae-

verb. to go, depart

This highly irregular verb appeared in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 as the Sindarin equivalent of Q. auta- “go (away), depart”, itself very irregular, both verbs derived from the invertible root √WĀ/AWA (PE17/148). The Sindarin verb has a present tense form gwaen “I go” and past forms 1st. sg. anwen “✱I went” and 3rd. sg. anu/awn “✱he/she went”, with these past forms apparently based on an ancient nasal-infixed strong past ✶anwē (from which the archaic Q. strong past †anwe “went” was derived). It has two more forms gwanu/gwawn. These seem to be the equivalent of Q. vanwa “lost” < ✶wanwā.

The present tense form gwaen “I go” is especially peculiar. Compare this to the more regular present tenses cewin “I taste” < kawin(e) (PE22/152) and galon “I grow” < galān(e) (PE17/131). I think the likeliest explanation is that gwaen is derived from an ancient aorist form wa-i-nĭ, with ai becoming ae as was usual of Sindarin’s phonetic developments. If so, the presents of this verb would be based on √WA and the pasts based on √AW.

A final twist is that in the note from DLN Tolkien mentions u-intrusion, a sound change parallel to the more common i-intrusion, whereby a final u moved before a preceding consonant. The forms awn and gwawn are thus the u-intruded results of anu and gwanu. This u-intrusion would not occur in forms with further suffixes, like anwen “I went”.

A probably related form gwanwen “departed” appears in the Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay from 1959-60 (WJ/378). This could be an independent adjective, but could also be a passive participle of gwae- (or some variant of it), possibly a strengthened or elaborated form of gwanu/gwawn. Note that Q&E also states that:

> The only normal derivative [of AWA] is the preposition o, the usual word for ‘from, of’. None of the forms of the element ✱awa are found as a prefix in S, probably because they became like or the same as the products of ✱wō, ✱wo (WJ/366).

Some people believe this indicates that Tolkien rejected other derivatives like gwae-, but since Q&E also contains gwanwen, I think this statement only applies to direct derivatives of AWA, as opposed to gwae- and gwanwen which are derived from the inverted root WĀ.

Neo-Sindarin: How to handle this verb in the context of Neo-Sindarin is unclear. Given the extreme irregularity of this verb, it is tempting to discard it. Unfortunately, we have no other attested Sindarin verbs for “to depart”. Furthermore, common verbs like “go” tend to be irregular in many languages (such as English as “go” vs. “went”), so it makes sense the same would be true of Sindarin. As such, I propose the following conjugation for this verb (hat tip to Gilruin for most of this paradigm; he suggested much better forms than my original ideas):

• Present tense ✱gwae “go” < primitive ✶gwa-ĭ, with inflections added to this form: gwaen “I go”, ✱gwael “you go”, etc.

• Past tense awn “went” < ✶anwē with u-intrusion. Inflected forms are based on non-intruded anw-: anwen “I went”, ✱anwel “you went”, etc.

• Past/passive participle gwanwen “departed”, an elaboration of the older (archaic?) perfective participle gwanu/gwawn.

• Future ✱gwatha “will go”, ✱gwathon “I will go”, < ✶wa-thā, wa-thā-nĭ.

• Gerund ✱gwaed (< ✶wa-itā) and active participle ✱gwaul (< ✶wa-ālā) “departing”.

• Imperative ✱gwaw “go!” < ✶wa-ā, as with baw “don’t!” < ✶bā (WJ/371-2).

Finally, this verb means “go” specifically in the sense “depart”, that is: “go away”. For “go (generally and in any direction)”, use the verb men-.

If you dislike this irregularity of gwae- or you believe that Tolkien’s note in Q&E (see above) indicates this verb was rejected along with (most) Sindarin derivatives of AWA, then the neologism haena- “to leave, depart” gives an alternative verb.

Cognates

• Q. auta- “to go (away), depart, leave; to disappear, be lost, pass away” ✧ PE17/148

Derivations

• √WĀ/AWA “away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago, away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago; [ᴹ√] forth, out” ✧ PE17/148

Element in

• S. gwanwen “departed, departed, *gone, lost [to time], past” ✧ WJ/378

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√AWA/WĀ > gwaen	[wain] > [gwain] > [gwaen]	✧ PE17/148
√AWA/WĀ > anwen	[anwen]	✧ PE17/148
√AWA/WĀ > anu	[anwe] > [anw] > [anu]	✧ PE17/148
√AWA/WĀ > awn	[anwe] > [anw] > [aun]	✧ PE17/148
√AWA/WĀ > gwanu	[wanwa] > [gwanwa] > [gwanw] > [gwanu]	✧ PE17/148
√AWA/WĀ > gwawn	[wanwa] > [gwanwa] > [gwanw] > [gwaun]	✧ PE17/148

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)

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

Nûrnen

place name. Death

_ topon. _Death, dead water. >> guru

covannen

verb. pp

v. pp. of covad- met, art brought together.Late S. for covan(n)  in mae-govannen 'well meet'.

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):

gwanu

noun. death (act of dying)

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)

gurth

death

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

gûr

death

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

guruth

death

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

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

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

gwanw

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

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

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

gûr

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