Morthond

place name. Black Root

topon. Black Root. >> mor, thond

Morthond

noun. black root

morn (“dark, black”) + thond (“root”) Nd doesn’t become nn > n at the end of fully accented monosyllables, such as thond.

morthond

place name. Blackroot

Name of a river in Gondor translated “Blackroot” (LotR/770), a combination of morn “black” and thond “root” (LotR/1115, PE17/96).

Conceptual Development: This river was already named N. Morthond “Blackroot” when it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (TI/167).

Elements

Word	Gloss
morn	“black, dark; night”
thond	“root, root, [N.] base; root-word”

Variations

• Mor-thond ✧ Let/178