A descendant of Castamir who led the forces of Umbar against Gondor (LotR/1048). His name is a compound of sanga “throng” and hyando “cleaver” (Let/425, PE17/116).
Conceptual Development: In the early Qenya Lexicon, ᴱQ. Sangahyando “cleaver of throngs” was given as a name for Túrin Turambar’s sword (QL/81), and the name ᴹQ. Sangahyando appeared in The Etymologies as the name of a sword (Ety/STAG, SYAN). Its use for a man of Umbar did not emerge until The Lord of the Rings appendices, where it appeared as Sangahyanda in the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings, changed in the 2nd edition to Sangahyando (PM/215).
For the most part, Tolkien gave the meaning “throng” to the initial element and “cleaver” to the final element, but in his phonetic notes from the Tengwesta Qenderinwa and the Outline of Phonology from the 1950s, he seems to have considered assigning the meaning “throng” to the second element (PE18/101, PE19/92).
A short form Sangian “throng-hewer” appeared in linguistic notes from the early 1930s (PE21/32).
sanga (þ) noun "crowd, press, throng" (STAG, SA:thang, LT2:342; pl. sangar (?) twice in Narqelion). In Sangahyando (þ) masc. name "Throng-cleaver", name of a man in Gondor _(SA:thang; a footnote in Letters:425 explains that "throng" here means a closely formed body of enemy soldiers. In the Etymologies, stems STAG, SYAD, _sangahyando is said to be a swordname, and LT2:342 likewise defines the word as a name of Turambar's sword: "cleaver of throngs, Throng-cleaver".)