Elves of the Dark
Quenya
moriquendi
collective name. Elves of the Darkness, (lit.) Dark Elves
Cognates
Derivations
- ✶morikwende “*Dark-elf, [ᴹ✶] Dark-elf” ✧ WJ/373
Elements
Word Gloss morë “dark, black; darkness, night, dark, black; darkness, [ᴹQ.] blackness, [Q.] night” Quendë “Elf, (lit.) One That Speaks” Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶mori-kwendī > Moriquendi [morikwendī] > [morikwendi] ✧ WJ/373 Variations
- Moriqend ✧ PE17/141
Moriquendi
noun. Elves of the Dark
mori-
dark, black
mori- "dark, black" in a number of compounds (independent form morë, q.v.):Morimando "Dark Mando" = Mandos (MBAD, VT45:33), morimaitë "black-handed" (LotR3:VI ch. 6, VT49:42). Moriquendi "Dark Elves" (SA:mor, WJ:361, 373), Moringotto "Black Foe", Sindarin Morgoth, later name of Melkor. The oldest form is said to have been Moriñgotho (MR:194). In late material, Tolkien is seen to consider both Moringotto and Moricotto _("k") _as the Quenya form of the name Morgoth (VT49:24-25; Moricotto also appears in the ablative, Moricottollo). Morion "the dark one", a title of Morgoth (FS). Morifinwë "dark Finwë", masc. name; he was called Caranthir in Sindarin (short Quenya name Moryo). (PM:353) In the name Morinehtar, translated "Darkness-slayer", the initial element is defined would thus seem to signify "darkness" rather than "dark" as an adjective (see mórë). (PM:384, 385)
hróva
dark, dark brown
hróva adj. "dark, dark brown", used to refer to hair (PE17:154)
lóna
dark
?lóna (4) adj. "dark" (DO3/DŌ). If this is to be the cognate of "Noldorin"/Sindarin dûr, as the context seems to indicate, lóna is likely a misreading for *lóra in Tolkien's manuscript.
lúna
dark
lúna adj. *"dark" in Lúnaturco and Taras Lúna, Quenya names of Barad-dûr (Dark Tower). (PE17:22). In the Etymologies, lúnë "blue" was changed by Tolkien from lúna (VT45:29).
lúrëa
dark, overcast
lúrëa adj. "dark, overcast" (LT1:259)
morna
dark, black
morna adj. "dark, black" (Letters:282, LT1:261; also used of black hair, PE17:154), or "gloomy, sombre" (MOR). Used as noun in the phrase mi…morna of someone clad "in…black" (PE17:71). In tumbalemorna (Letters:282), q.v. Pl. mornë in Markirya**(the first version of this poem had "green rocks", MC:215, changed to ondolisse mornë** "upon dark rocks" in the final version; see MC:220, note 8).
móri
dark
móri adj. "dark" (MC:221; this is "Qenya"; in Tolkien's later Quenya mórë, morë)
nulla
dark, dusky, obscure
nulla adj. "dark, dusky, obscure" (NDUL), "secret" (DUL). See also VT45:11.
núla
dark, occult, mysterious
núla ("ñ")adj. "dark, occult, mysterious" (PE17:125)
morĭ
adjective. dark
PQ. dark
ulca
adjective. dark
dark, gloomy, sinister
Originally, this term was used for the Elves who never saw the light of the Two Trees of Valinor (S/51, WJ/361). Later, the meaning of this term was modified to exclude the Sindar, and so became more or less equivalent to Avari (WJ/373, SI/Moriquendi). It is a compound of morë (mori-) “darkness” and the plural of Quendë “Elf”.
Conceptual Development: One of the earliest name for the Dark Elves may have been ᴱQ. Hisildi “Twilight People” (LT1/232). The term ᴹQ. Moriqendi first appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/197). It also appeared in The Etymologies, with the same derivation as given above (Ety/MOR). In this earlier period, Tolkien also used the terms ᴹQ. Moreldar and ᴹQ. Morimor for “Dark-elves” (LR/197, 405; Ety/MOR).
A singular form, Moriq(u)en, appeared in linguistic notes from the 1930s and 1940s (PE19/59; PE21/69), as an illustration of the loss of short final vowels in trisyllabic or longer words. A longer singular form Moriquende, reformed from the independent word Quendë, also appeared (PE19/59).