saura

foul, evil-smelling, putrid

saura (þ) adj. "foul, evil-smelling, putrid" (THUS), "foul, vile" (PE17:183). This adjective underlies the name Sauro, Sauron (q.v.) Alternatively explained to mean "cruel" (PE17:184); a deleted gloss defined the word as "bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched" (PE17:172). Tolkien did not consistently hold that the initial s represents older þ; sometimes he derived saura (and so implicitly Sauron) from stems with original s-.

saura

adjective. cruel, evil, vile; stinking, foul; bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched, stinking, foul, [ᴹQ.] evil-smelling, putrid; [Q.] cruel, evil, vile; [Q.] bad, unhealthy, ill, wretched