Quenya 

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.

morqua

black

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

Sindarin 

morn-

black

_pref. _black. >> Moria, mor-

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:31:35] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

mor-

black

_ pref. _black. >> Moria, morn-

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:35] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

morn

adjective. black, dark

Sindarin [Ety/373, Letters/382, Letters/427, WJ/368, WR/11] Group: SINDICT. Published by

morn

adjective. black

adj. black. >> mor, Morgai

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:101] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

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

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
mornā > morn[mornā] > [morna] > [morn]✧ Let/382
mornā > morn-[mornā] > [morna] > [morn]✧ WJ/362

Variations

  • morn- ✧ WJ/362
Sindarin [Let/382; Let/427; PE17/031; PE17/035; PE17/037; PE17/101; PE17/125; RC/lxv; UT/065; VT42/09; WJ/362] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mor

black

_adj. _black.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:31] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

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.

Nandorin 

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 . However, other Nandorin words seem to have lost their final '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 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 is actually preserved as -a following double consonants (as opposed to clusters of different consonants) in Nandorin.

Nandorin [H. Fauskanger (LR:355)] < DUN. Published by

Khuzdûl

narâg

adjective. black

Derivatives

  • S. Narog ✧ PE17/037; PE17/047

Element in

Variations

  • Narâg ✧ PE17/037
  • naruka ✧ PE17/047 (naruka)
Khuzdûl [PE17/037; PE17/047; RS/466] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Primitive elvish

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

Variations

  • morĭ ✧ PE19/081
Primitive elvish [Let/382; NM/279; PE19/081] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

morn

adjective. black, dark

Noldorin [Ety/373, Letters/382, Letters/427, WJ/368, WR/11] Group: SINDICT. Published by

morn

adjective. black

Cognates

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

Derivations

  • ᴹ√MOR “*black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√MOR > morn[morna] > [morn]✧ Ety/MOR

Variations

  • moru ✧ EtyAC/MOR
  • Morn ✧ WR/113; WR/122 (Morn)
Noldorin [Ety/MOR; EtyAC/LIS; EtyAC/MAT; EtyAC/MOR; EtyAC/ÑGOL; PE22/033; TI/124; WR/113; WR/122] Group: Eldamo. Published by

môr

adjective. black

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. more “black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Derivations

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

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶mori > môr[mori] > [more] > [mor] > [mōr]✧ Ety/MOR
Noldorin [Ety/MOR; EtyAC/LOƷ] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Doriathrin

dunn

adjective. black

A Doriathrin adjective meaning “black” (Ety/DUN). Its Noldorin and Danian cognates imply development from a primitive form ✱✶dunnā. Since the primitive form ended in [a], the Ilkorin a-affection would ordinarily have produced ✱✱donn. However, it seems that a-affection was prevented or reversed before [nn], as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (AL-Doriathrin/dunn).

Cognates

  • N. donn “swart, swarthy; shady, shadowy” ✧ Ety/DUN

Derivations

  • ᴹ√DUN “dark (of colour)” ✧ Ety/DUN; Ety/ÑGOROTH

Element in

  • Ilk. Nan Dungorthin “Vale of Black Horror” ✧ Ety/DUN; Ety/ÑGOROTH

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√DUN > dunn[dunnā] > [dunna] > [donna] > [dunna] > [dunn]✧ Ety/DUN
Doriathrin [Ety/DUN; Ety/ÑGOROTH] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Ossriandric

dunna

adjective. black

An adjective for “black” developed from the root ᴹ√DUN (Ety/DUN). It most likely developed from primitive ✱✶dunnā given its cognates, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (AL-Nandorin/dunna). It is a counter-example to Danian a-affection, perhaps indicating that this change was prevented or reverted before nasal clusters as was the case in Ilkorin.

Cognates

  • N. donn “swart, swarthy; shady, shadowy” ✧ Ety/DUN

Derivations

  • ᴹ√DUN “dark (of colour)” ✧ Ety/DUN

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√DUN > dunna[dunnā] > [dunna]✧ Ety/DUN
Ossriandric [Ety/DUN] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

mori

adjective. black

Derivations

  • ᴹ√MOR “*black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. more “black, dark” ✧ Ety/MOR
  • N. môr “black” ✧ Ety/MOR

Element in

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/MOR] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

colw

adjective. black

Changes

  • colbcolw ✧ GL/26

Variations

  • colb ✧ GL/26 (colb)

Early Quenya

morna

adjective. black

Changes

  • morwamorna ✧ QL/062

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MORO “*black, dark” ✧ LT1A/Mornië; QL/062

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√MORO > morna[mornā] > [morna]✧ QL/062

Variations

  • morqa ✧ LT1A/Mornië; QL/062
  • morwa ✧ QL/063 (morwa)
Early Quenya [LT1A/Mornië; QL/062; QL/063] Group: Eldamo. Published by

morqa

adjective. black