A word variously glossed “void, abyss” (Let/383), “chasm, pit” (PE17/35), or “gulf” (Ety/YAG), it was the final element in the name S. Moria “Black Chasm, Black Pit”. It was a derivative of the root √YAG. In The Etymologies of the 1930s its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶yagu- (Ety/YAG), in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s its primitive form was ᴹ✶yagō (RS/437), while in a 1967 letter its primitive form was ✶yagā (Let/383).
Sindarin
iâ
noun. gulf
iâ
noun. abyss, void
iâ
chasm
iâ
noun. chasm, pit; void, abyss, chasm, pit; void, abyss; [N.] gulf
iâ
abyss
iâ (chasm, void, gulf), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
iâ
chasm
iâ (gulf, void, abyss), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
iâ
gulf
- iâ (chasm, void, abyss), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383), 2) iaw (cleft, ravine), pl. ioe. Note: a homophone means ”corn”.
iâ
abyss
(chasm, void, gulf), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
iâ
chasm
(gulf, void, abyss), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
iâ
gulf
(chasm, void, abyss), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
iâ
void
(chasm, gulf, abyss), pl. iai (LR:400, RS:437, Letters:383)
ia
iâ
The word is a descendant form of yagā, deriving from the root YAG.
_ n. _chasm, pit. >> Moria