nur-

verb. to grow/be dark

A verb for “grow, be dark” in the Quenya Verbal System for the 1940s from a root ᴹ√NDUR of the same meaning (PE22/103). In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root ᴹ√N(D)UR meant “bow down, serve”, but the sense “grow dark” may be related to ᴹ√NDŪ “go down, sink, set (of Sun)” (Ety/NDŪ), as with the etymology of later S. dûr “dark” (PE17/152). Alternately, the sense “be dark” may be tied to the later (hypothetical) root ✱√DU that is the possible basis for darkness words like Q. lúmë “darkness” (MC/222) or Q. lúna “dark” (PE17/22).

Conceptual Development: A possible precursor is the verb ᴱQ. lur-, appearing only in 3rd-sg masculine form lurdon in the phrase ᴱQ. surussin lurdon lausto from one of the early drafts of Oilima Markirya poem written around 1930 (PE16/60). The phrase is untranslated, but Gilson, Welden and Hostetter suggested the verb might mean “to be dark” (of the wind), related to words like ᴱQ. lúre “dark weather”.

Derivations

• ᴹ√N(D)UR “bow down, bend (low), obey, serve; grow/be dark” ✧ PE22/103

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√NDUR > nure	[ndur-] > [nur-]	✧ PE22/103