MOR
MOR is a Primitive Quendian root signifying "black, dark".[1][2][3]
Derivatives[edit]
Other versions[edit]
In the Etymologies appears the root MOR-, yielding Primitive Quendian mori ("black"). From this root derives such words as:[4]
- Ilkorin: môr ("night")
Examples[edit]
The element mor appears in a large number of compounds. Christopher Tolkien notes in the Etymologies that the entry MOR- is "extremely confused through changes and afterthought additions" and that it is not clear if "all the forms given were intended to stand".[4] It can therefore be hard to know if the element mor in a compound is supposed to consist of a certain derivative of MOR.
Inspiration[edit]
Based on manuscripts held at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives collection, Madeline J. Keyser has suggested that Tolkien was inspired by a real-world word mora, which "seems to be of North (Scandinavian) and West Germanic origin — the Latin root is found in Modern English words such as murky, and in other Germanic words associated with darkness". A manuscript note appears to consist of the glosses mora "dark", moranya "darker", and moranta "darkest".[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 297, (dated August 1967) (root appearing as "√MOR")
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), pp. 73, 81 , 165 (root appearing as "√MOR-")
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names" (element appearing as "mor", signifying "dark")
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", pp. 373-4
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part One" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 45, November 2003, p. 35
- ↑ Madeline J. Keyser, "Sixteen Philological Books and Notes from the Library of J.R.R. Tolkien" dated 30 December 2012, Tolkien Library (accessed 3 January 2013)
