rôth

noun. foam, white crest of waves

An element appearing in the name Rothinzil “Foam-flower”, attested in later writings (1968) as roth (PM/369, 376). This later form is incompatible with the earlier phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s, which allowed only long [ō] in Adûnaic words. If this word were used in the phonetic context of Lowdham’s Report (Middle Adûnaic), it should be rôth, and in these earlier texts, the Adûnaic name of Eärendi’s ship was Rôthinzil with a long ô (SD/360). Even in later writings, Tolkien lists róþ ([rōθ] = rôth) as one of its possible forms (PM/369). See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.

rothinzil

proper name. Foam-flower

The Adûnaic name of Eärendil’s ship Vingilótë “Foam-flower”, of the same meaning (S/249). This name appears in earlier writings as Rôthinzil with a long ô (SD/360). Its later form is a violation of the phonetic rules laid out by Tolkien in Lowdham’s Report, which said that the vowels [ē] and [ō] could only be long in Adûnaic (SD/423). The later form could be an Anglicanized or a Westronized form (where a short [o] could appear), or it could indicate that Tolkien changed his mind about Adûnaic phonetic rules. Some linguistic notes from the 1930s suggest Tolkien at one point considered making the name Quenya (P19/49).