mor

darkness

mor noun "darkness" (Letters:308; probably just an Elvish "element" rather than a complete word; Namárië has mornië for "darkness")

morë

black

morë adj. "black" (MOR), "dark, darkness" (Letters:282). In compounds the stem-form mori- (q.v.) appears, since the primitive form was ¤mori.

mornië

darkness

mornië noun "darkness" (Nam, RGEO:67), "dark, blackness" (PE17:73). Early "Qenya" also has Mornië "Black Grief", "the black ship that plies between Mandos and Erumáni" (LT1:261). This is probably a compound of mor- "black" and nië "tear".

morqua

black

morqua adj. "black" (LT1:261; rather morna in LotR-style Quenya)

lúmë

darkness

lúmë (2) noun "darkness" (one wonders if Tolkien confused lúmë "time, hour" and lómë "night") (Markirya)

lúmë

noun. darkness

A noun in the 1960s versions of the Markirya glossed “darkness” (MC/222), perhaps derived from a root √DU as suggested by David Salo in a post to the Elfling mailing list in 2012 (Elfling/362.96).

Neo-Quenya: I’d generally use Q. huinë for “darkness” in Neo-Quenya, but that word is more for total darkness, whereas lúmë might be a less severe form of darkness, a variant of Q. lómë “night, dusk”.

Derivations

• √DU “dark”

Element in

• Q. enwina lúmë “the old darkness” ✧ MC/222

Variations

• lúme ✧ MC/222

mor-

black

_ pref. _black. >> Moria, morn-

morn-

black

_pref. _black. >> Moria, mor-

mor

black

_adj. _black.

morn

adjective. black, dark

morn

adjective. black

adj. black. >> mor, Morgai

morn

noun/adjective. black, dark; night

Cognates

• Q. morna “black, dark; black of hair, black, dark; black of hair; [ᴹQ.] sombre, gloomy” ✧ Let/382

Derivations

• ✶mornā “dark” ✧ Let/382; WJ/362
  • √MOR “black, dark, darkness” ✧ Let/382

Element in

• S. Aravorn
• S. Eryn Vorn “Dark Wood” ✧ RC/lxv
• S. galvorn “type of dark metal devised by Eöl, *(lit.) shining-black”
• S. Helevorn “Black Glass” ✧ PE17/037
• S. Lacho calad! Drego morn! “Flame light! Flee night!” ✧ UT/065
• S. Morben “*Dark-folk” ✧ WJ/362
• S. morchant “shadow cast by light, (lit.) dark shape” ✧ VT42/09
• S. Mordor “Black Land” ✧ Let/427
• S. Morgai “Black Fence” ✧ PE17/101
• S. morgul “black arts, sorcery, necromancy” ✧ PE17/031; PE17/125
• S. Moria “Black Chasm, Black Pit” ✧ PE17/035
• S. Mormegil “Black Sword”
• S. Mornan “Dark Valley”
• ᴺS. mornechui “coffee”
• S. Mornedhel “Dark-elf”
• S. Morthond “Blackroot”
• S. Ras Morthil “Andrast”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶mornā > morn	[mornā] > [morna] > [morn]	✧ Let/382
✶mornā > morn-	[mornā] > [morna] > [morn]	✧ WJ/362

Variations

• morn- ✧ WJ/362

môr

noun. darkness, dark, night

dúath

noun. darkness, shadow

dúath

noun. nightshade

môr

darkness

(i vôr, construct mor), pl. m**ŷr (i m**ŷr) if there is a pl. (Letters:382); 4 morn (i vorn) (night), pl. myrn (i myrn). Note: the word môr, morn is also used as an adjective ”dark, black”. (Letters:386)

môr

black

1) môr (dark), lenited vôr, pl. mŷr (Letters:382), also morn (dark), pl. myrn, lenited #vorn. Note: the word is also used as a noun ”darkness, night”. (Letters:386) The lenited form #vorn appears, compounded, in the name of the

môr

black

(dark), lenited vôr, pl. m**ŷr (Letters:382), also morn (dark), pl. **myrn, lenited #vorn. Note: the word is also used as a noun ”darkness, night”. (Letters:386) The lenited form #vorn appears, compounded, in the name of the

galvorn

black metal

(i ’alvorn), pl. gelvyrn (i ngelvyrn = i ñelvyrn) if there is a pl. (WJ:322). 2) donn (swart, swarty, shady, shadowy) (lenited dhonn, pl. dynn). (VT45:11). Also dunn- in compounds.

dû

darkness

1) dû (i dhû) (night, nightfall, late evening, dusk), pl. dui (i nui) (SD:302), 2) fuin (gloom, night, dead of night, nightshade). No distinct pl. form. 3) môr (i vôr, construct mor), pl. mŷr (i mŷr) if there is a pl. (Letters:382); 4 morn (i vorn) (night), pl. myrn (i myrn). Note: the word môr, morn is also used as an adjective ”dark, black”. (Letters:386)

dû

darkness

(i dhû) (night, nightfall, late evening, dusk), pl. dui (i nui) (SD:302)

fuin

darkness

(gloom, night, dead of night, nightshade). No distinct pl. form.

dunna

adjective. black

This might seem to be derived from dunnâ, sc. the stem DUN "dark (of colour)" (LR:355) either with the adjectival ending -nâ or with medial fortification n > nn and the simpler adjectival ending -â. However, other Nandorin words seem to have lost their final -â's, e.g. ealc "swan" from alk-wâ, and (to quote a wholly parallel example) cogn "bow" from ku3nâ. The descendant form is not cogna with the final vowel intact as the case would seem to be in dunna. However, primitive -ô does come out as -a in Nandorin, cf. golda "Noldo" from ñgolodô, so a form dunnô might be capable of yielding dunna, but this primitive form would rather be a noun "dark person/thing", since primitive -ô, -nô are nominal rather than adjectival endings. Of course, Nandorin may have turned an original noun into an adjective, or developed an adjectival ending -a afresh. But all things considered *dunnâ still appears to be the best reconstruction of the primitive form.

The words dunna and scella raise the question of whether original final -â is actually preserved as -a following double consonants (as opposed to clusters of different consonants) in Nandorin.

burzum

noun. darkness

Element in

• Bs. ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul “one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them” ✧ LotR/0254; PE17/011; PE17/012

Elements

Word	Gloss
búrz	“dark”
-um	“particularizing suffix”

burzum

noun. darkness

narâg

adjective. black

Derivatives

• S. Narog ✧ PE17/037; PE17/047

Element in

• Kh. Narag-zâram “*Black Lake” ✧ PE17/037; RS/466
• Kh. Nargûn “Mordor” ✧ PE17/037; RS/466
• Kh. Nar(u)kuthûn ✧ PE17/047

Variations

• Narâg ✧ PE17/037
• naruka ✧ PE17/047 (naruka)

mor

root. black, dark, darkness

This root was connected to “black” and “darkness” for all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√MORO in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. móre “night” and ᴱQ. morna “black” (QL/62). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. morn “dark, black” and G. morth “darkness” (GL/58). It appeared as ᴹ√MOR in The Etymologies of the 1930s with a similar set of derivatives (Ety/MOR) and √MOR was mentioned regularly in Tolkien’s later writings with glosses like “black, dark, darkness” (Let/308, 382; PE17/73).

Derivatives

• ✶mori “black” ✧ Let/382
  • Q. morë “dark, black; darkness, night, dark, black; darkness, [ᴹQ.] blackness, [Q.] night” ✧ Let/382
  • S. môr “dark(ness); †night, dark(ness); †night, [N.] †black” ✧ Let/382; NM/279
• ✶mornā “dark” ✧ Let/382
  • Q. morna “black, dark; black of hair, black, dark; black of hair; [ᴹQ.] sombre, gloomy” ✧ Let/382
  • S. morn “black, dark; night” ✧ Let/382; WJ/362
• Q. morna “black, dark; black of hair, black, dark; black of hair; [ᴹQ.] sombre, gloomy” ✧ PE17/073
• Q. mornië “darkness, blackness” ✧ PE17/073

Element in

• Q. Moriquendi “Elves of the Darkness, (lit.) Dark Elves” ✧ SA/mor
• Q. Mormacil “Black Sword”
• ᴺQ. mortavar “ebony, ivory”
• Q. Morwë
• S. Morannon “Black Gate” ✧ Let/382; PE17/073
• S. Moravar
• S. Morbenedh “*Dark-elf”
• S. Mordor “Black Land” ✧ Let/382; PE17/073; SA/mor
• S. Morgoth “Black Foe, Dark Foe, Black Enemy, Dark Tyrant” ✧ Let/382; PE17/073; SA/mor
• S. morgul “black arts, sorcery, necromancy” ✧ Let/382; PE17/036
• S. Moria “Black Chasm, Black Pit” ✧ Let/382; Let/384; SA/mor
• S. Mormegil “Black Sword” ✧ SA/mor
• S. Morwen “Dark Maiden” ✧ SA/mor

Variations

• mor ✧ Let/308; SA/mor
• mor- ✧ PE17/036

mori

adjective. black

Derivations

• √MOR “black, dark, darkness” ✧ Let/382

Derivatives

• Q. morë “dark, black; darkness, night, dark, black; darkness, [ᴹQ.] blackness, [Q.] night” ✧ Let/382
• S. môr “dark(ness); †night, dark(ness); †night, [N.] †black” ✧ Let/382; NM/279

Element in

• ✶morikwende “*Dark-elf, [ᴹ✶] Dark-elf”
• ✶Moriñgotho “Black Foe” ✧ PE19/081
• ᴺS. merifind “Black-haired”

Variations

• morĭ ✧ PE19/081

morn

adjective. black, dark

morn

adjective. black

Cognates

• ᴹQ. morna “gloomy, sombre” ✧ Ety/MOR

Derivations

• ᴹ√MOR “*black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Element in

• N. Eredvyrn “Black Mountains” ✧ TI/124
• N. Helevorn “Black Glass”
• N. Elivorn “Lake-Black” ✧ Ety/MOR
• N. i vegli vorn “the black bear” ✧ PE22/033
• N. Maglavorn “Black-sword” ✧ Ety/MOR (maglavorn)
• N. meglivorn “blackbear” ✧ Ety/MOR; EtyAC/LIS (morn) (mormagli); EtyAC/MAT (Mormagli); EtyAC/MAT (Meglivorn)
• N. Mornennyn “Gates of Mordor” ✧ WR/113
• N. Mordu “*Black Night”
• N. morgul “sorcery” ✧ EtyAC/ÑGOL
• N. Moria “Black Gulf”
• N. Mormegil “Black-sword”
• N. Mornvenniath “Black Mountains”
• N. Morthond “Blackroot”
• N. Morthu “*Black Stench”
• N. Morwen
• N. Nann Orothvor “Vale of Black Horror”
• N. Nelig Myrn “Teeth of Mordor” ✧ WR/113
• N. Naglath Morn “Teeth of Mordor” ✧ WR/122 (Naglath Morn)

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√MOR > morn	[morna] > [morn]	✧ Ety/MOR

Variations

• moru ✧ EtyAC/MOR
• Morn ✧ WR/113; WR/122 (Morn)

môr

noun. darkness, dark, night

môr

adjective. black

Cognates

• ᴹQ. more “black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Derivations

• ᴹ✶mori “black” ✧ Ety/MOR
  • ᴹ√MOR “*black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶mori > môr	[mori] > [more] > [mor] > [mōr]	✧ Ety/MOR

dúath

noun. darkness, shadow

dúwath

noun. darkness, shadow

dúath

noun. nightshade

dúwath

noun. nightshade