morna adj. "dark, black" (Letters:282, LT1:261; also used of black hair, PE17:154), or "gloomy, sombre" (MOR). Used as noun in the phrase mi…morna of someone clad "in…black" (PE17:71). In tumbalemorna (Letters:282), q.v. Pl. mornë in Markirya**(the first version of this poem had "green rocks", MC:215, changed to ondolisse mornë** "upon dark rocks" in the final version; see MC:220, note 8).
Quenya
tumbalemorna
proper name. deepvalleyblack
Element in
- Q. Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor ✧ LotR/0467; LotR/1131
Elements
Word Gloss tumbalë “depth, deep valley” morna “black, dark; black of hair, black, dark; black of hair; [ᴹQ.] sombre, gloomy” Variations
- tumbalemorna ✧ LotR/0467; LotR/1131; SA/tum
morna
dark, black
tumba
deep valley
tumba noun "deep valley" (Letters:308; SA:tum and TUB gives tumbo "valley, deep valley"); apparently an extended form *tumbalë in tumbalemorna "deepvalleyblack" or (according to SA:tum) "black deep valley", also tumbaletaurëa "deepvalleyforested"; see Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna...
tumba
adjective. deep valley, [ᴹQ.] deep, lowlying; [Q.] deep valley
The adjective ᴹQ. tumba “deep, lowlying” appeared in rough (and ultimately rejected) notes on irregular verbs from the Quenya Verbal System of the late 1940s as a derivative of ᴹ√TUB “fall low, go down” (PE22/127). In a 1961 letter to Rhona Beare tumba was glossed “deep valley” as an element in the Entish phrase Q. Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor “Forestmanyshadowed-deepvalleyblack Deepvalleyforested Gloomyland” (Let/308; LotR/467), but I think this is only an approximate translation, and the word is better understood as adjectival in sense: “✱like a deep valley”. As further evidence of this, in notes from the late 1960s the form tumba was changed to a more typical noun form Q. tumbo in the name Q. i Tumbo Tarmacorto “the Vale of the High Mountain Circle” (NM/351).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d treat this word as an adjective only, and use Q. tumbo for the noun.
Changes
Tumba→ Tumbo ✧ NM/351Element in
- Q. tumbalë “depth, deep valley”
- Q. Tumbaletaurëa “Deepvalleyforested” ✧ Let/308
Variations
- Tumba ✧ NM/355 (
Tumba)
lóna
dark
?lóna (4) adj. "dark" (DO3/DŌ). If this is to be the cognate of "Noldorin"/Sindarin dûr, as the context seems to indicate, lóna is likely a misreading for *lóra in Tolkien's manuscript.
morĭ
adjective. dark
PQ. dark
ulca
adjective. dark
dark, gloomy, sinister
lúna
dark
lúna adj. *"dark" in Lúnaturco and Taras Lúna, Quenya names of Barad-dûr (Dark Tower). (PE17:22). In the Etymologies, lúnë "blue" was changed by Tolkien from lúna (VT45:29).
mori-
dark, black
mori- "dark, black" in a number of compounds (independent form morë, q.v.):Morimando "Dark Mando" = Mandos (MBAD, VT45:33), morimaitë "black-handed" (LotR3:VI ch. 6, VT49:42). Moriquendi "Dark Elves" (SA:mor, WJ:361, 373), Moringotto "Black Foe", Sindarin Morgoth, later name of Melkor. The oldest form is said to have been Moriñgotho (MR:194). In late material, Tolkien is seen to consider both Moringotto and Moricotto _("k") _as the Quenya form of the name Morgoth (VT49:24-25; Moricotto also appears in the ablative, Moricottollo). Morion "the dark one", a title of Morgoth (FS). Morifinwë "dark Finwë", masc. name; he was called Caranthir in Sindarin (short Quenya name Moryo). (PM:353) In the name Morinehtar, translated "Darkness-slayer", the initial element is defined would thus seem to signify "darkness" rather than "dark" as an adjective (see mórë). (PM:384, 385)
móri
dark
móri adj. "dark" (MC:221; this is "Qenya"; in Tolkien's later Quenya mórë, morë)
lúrëa
dark, overcast
lúrëa adj. "dark, overcast" (LT1:259)
nulla
dark, dusky, obscure
nulla adj. "dark, dusky, obscure" (NDUL), "secret" (DUL). See also VT45:11.
núla
dark, occult, mysterious
núla ("ñ")adj. "dark, occult, mysterious" (PE17:125)
hróva
dark, dark brown
hróva adj. "dark, dark brown", used to refer to hair (PE17:154)
A descriptive name of Fangorn appearing in the even longer Entish description of that land: Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna Tumbaletaurëa Lómëanor (LotR/467). The name is a combination of tumbalë “deep valley, depth” and morna “black” (LotR/1131, PE17/81).