gwanw

noun. death (act of dying)

gwanw

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

gwann

adjective. departed, dead

alf

noun. swan

alf

noun. swan

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.

guruth

noun. death

guruth

noun. death

gwanath

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

gûr

noun. death

penedh

noun. Elf

penn

noun. Elf