An Adûnaic noun translated “hind-track”, referring to the wake behind a boat (PM/376). It appeared more than two decades (1968) after Tolkien’s Adûnaic Grammar in Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s (SD/413-440). This noun is inconsistent with the earlier grammar in two respects. First, the prepositional element nad- appears as a prefix, not as a suffix as prepositions did in the earlier grammar (SD/435). Second, it includes a short o, whereas in the earlier phonetic rules of Adûnaic, only a long [ō] is allowed (SD/423). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.
Adûnaic
hi
pronoun. she
nadroth
noun. hind-track
kalab-
verb. to fall (down)
A verb translated “fall down” (SD/439). This verb has more conjugations than any other attested Adûnaic verb, and is therefore useful for studying the Adûnaic verb system. Excluding the first draft of the Lament of Akallabêth, it appears in four forms: ukallaba “[he] fell” (SD/429), hikallaba “she fell (down)” (SD/427), hikalba “she fell” (VT24/12) and yakalubim “lean over” (SD/251). Andreas Moehn suggested (LGtAG, EotAL/KAL’B) the last of these could be a different verb kalub- “to lean”, but I think it is likelier to be a form of kalab-, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VSH/26-27).
Various verbal prefixes and suffixes can be extracted by comparison to other forms: the pronominal prefixes u- “he”, hi- “she” and ya- “they (neuter)”, as well as the plural verb suffix -m. Removing these elements, we have three distinct forms: kallaba “fell”, kalba “fell” and kalubi “lean over”. These likely represent distinct verb tenses. The question is: which ones?
Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/26-27) that kalubi is most likely the continuative-present with the literal sense “✱are falling over”, a conclusion with which most other authors agree (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/14). Andreas Moehn agreed on this verb tense (LGtAG, EotAL/KAL’B), but suggested that it is from the verb kalub- “to lean” instead.
The two remaining forms kalba and kallaba both have the gloss “fell”. This ambiguity is because the Adûnaic aorist tense could used to describe the past in a narrative (SD/439). Most authors agree that these forms are the Adûnaic aorist and past tenses respectively, though Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested that kallaba is the continuative-past instead (VSH/27-28). See the entry on the Adûnaic past tense for further discussion.
Finally, there is form appearing only in the draft versions of the Lament: akallabi “fell in ruin”. I believe this is an example of draft-perfect tense; see that entry for further discussion.
nad Reconstructed
preposition. hind, *behind
A prepositional element only attested in the late (1968) word nadroth “hind-track”, referring to the wake behind a boat, so perhaps meaning “✱behind” (PM/376). It appears only as a prefix, but in the earlier Adûnaic grammar of Lowdham’s Report (1946), Adûnaic prepositions are used as suffixes (SD/435).
îdô
adverb. now
A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.
Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.
I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.
The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:
agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”
batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”
In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.
In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.
It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.
-ô
preposition. from
A prepositional suffix translated “from” (SD/429). In a few places, the suffix appears with the glide-consonant v (pronounced [w]) between it and a preceding u-vowel (SD/247, 249). It is likely related to the Quenya genitive inflection Q. -o.
Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, this suffix was a grammatical inflection, the draft-genitive -ō (SD/438).
bâr
noun. lord
A noun translated as “lord” (SD/311, 428). This nouns wins the prize for “most inflected Adûnaic noun”, since we have declensions for this noun in both the draft Adûnaic grammar and the later grammar of Lowdham’s Report. As such, it is very helpful for comparing how the noun declensions changed as Tolkien developed Adûnaic grammar. For example, comparing its draft plurals bāri/bārim to its later plural bârî/bârîm indicate the draft plural was originally formed with a short rather than long i. There are a few lingering examples of this short-i plural in later writings (SD/247, 251).
Conceptual Development: In earlier writings the rejected name Kherû “Lord” (SD/376) indicates a possible earlier form of this noun; Kherû itself was changed to Arûn. A similar form reappears in later writings in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”: either akhôr or khôr “lord”. Whether or not this later word replaced bâr is unknown.
arûn
masculine name. Lord
An Adûnaic name for Morgoth, perhaps coined by Sauron when he introduced the worship of the dark god to the Númenóreans, translated as “Lord” (SD/376). It is derived from the word ârû “king” and was sometimes used in a compound together with Morgoth’s true Adûnaic name: Arûn-Mulkhêr (SD/367). In other writings (SD/357) it was the original Adûnaic name of Morgoth before he fell to evil, but that hardly makes sense in the conceptual scenario of the later Silmarillion, in which Morgoth had already become evil before men awoke.
attô
noun. father
A noun for “father” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, attû and attô, with no indication as to which would be preferred. For reasons similar to those given in the entry for ammê “mother”, my guess is that attû is an archaic form, and attô was preferred by the time of Classical Adûnaic. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AT(AR) “father”, perhaps from Primitive Elvish ᴹ✶atū.
dâira
noun. Earth
A noun translated as “Earth” in the final version of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It may be related to S. dôr “land”, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/13).
Conceptual Development: In the Lament of Akallabêth (first draft), this noun appeared as kamāt (SD/311).
kherû
masculine name. Lord
A rejected draft version of the Adûnaic name for Morgoth translated “Lord”, replaced by Arûn of the same meaning (SD/376). It is transparently a derivative of the Elvish root ᴹ√KHER, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynn (AAD/18). A later form of this word, ✱khôr “lord”, may appears as an element in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”.
pâ
noun. hand
A noun translated “hand”, given as an example of an apparent Adûnaic uniconsonantal noun, which had a biconsonantal-root but lost one of its consonants from its ancient form ✶Ad. paʒa (SD/416, 426).
u
pronoun. he
A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).
zimra Reconstructed
noun. jewel
An element appearing in the names Zimraphel (UT/224) and Zimrathôn (UT/222) and also the Hadorian name Zimrahin (WJ/234). The corresponding Quenya names Q. Míriel and Q. Hostamir both seem to contain mírë “jewel”, so this is the likely meaning of the Adûnaic word as well, as suggested by most authors (AAD/25, AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/ZIM’R).
khôr Reconstructed
noun. lord
An element meaning “lord” appearing only in the name Adûnakhôr “Lord of the West”, though a similar form appears in the earlier names Kherû “Lord” and Mulkhêr “Lord of Darkness”. It isn’t clear whether this element is ✱akhôr or ✱khôr, but khôr resembles the Primitive Elvish root √KHER “rule, govern, possess”, to which it may be related.
This possible relationship has been suggested by various authors (AL/Adûnaic, EotAL/KHUR). Andreas Moehn rejected the relationship, pointing out that Primitive Elvish ✶khēru “lord” would have developed phonetically into Ad. ✱✱khîru (EotAL). However, khôr may be derived from some more ancient Avari loan word, which underwent different phonetic developments than those of the Eldarin languages, perhaps ✶kher- > khar > khaur > Ad. khôr.
asdi
?. [unglossed]
A word Tolkien used to illustrate Adûnaic pronunciation (pronounced [azdi]) without giving its meaning (SD/421).
sapda
?. [unglossed]
A word Tolkien used to illustrate Adûnaic pronunciation without giving its meaning (SD/421).
zadan
noun. house
A noun translated “house” and fully declined as an example of a Strong I noun (SD/430).
A pronominal prefix, the feminine singular pronoun “she” (SD/247). It appears in the pseudo-phrase hi-Akallabêth “She-that-hath-fallen” in the sentence êphal êphalak îdô hi-Akallabêth and in the verb form hikalba “[she] fell” in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor beloved fell (down)”. See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion.