| Adûnaic | |
|---|---|
| Created by | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Setting and usage | Fantasy world ofMiddle-earth |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | a priori language, but related to otherlanguages of Arda |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | art-x-adunaic |
Adûnaic (orNúmenórean) ("language of the West") is one ofthe fictional languages devised byJ. R. R. Tolkien for his fantasy works.
One of thelanguages of Arda in Tolkien'sMiddle-earthlegendarium, Adûnaic was spoken by theMen ofNúmenor during theSecond Age. By the time of theWar of the Ring at the end of theThird Age, it had developed into the common speech orWestron.
Adûnaic was invented by the first Men as they awoke in Hildórien. It was the language ofNúmenor,[1] and after its destruction in theAkallabêth, the "native speech" of the people ofElendil in the kingdoms of Arnor andGondor in the west of Middle-earth, though they usually spoke the Elvish languageSindarin. By the time of theWar of the Ring, it had developed into the common speech orWestron.[2] Tolkien called Adûnaic "the language of the culturally and politically influential Númenóreans."[3]
Although Tolkien created very few original words in Adûnaic, mostly names, the language serves his concept as the ancestor of alingua franca forMiddle-earth, Westron, a shared language formany different peoples.[3]
Tolkien devised Adûnaic (or Númenórean), the language spoken inNúmenor, shortly after World War II, and thus at about the time he completedThe Lord of the Rings, but before he wrote the linguistic background information of the Appendices. Adûnaic is intended as the language from whichWestron (also calledAdûni) is derived.This added a depth of historical development to the Mannish languages. Adûnaic was intended to have a "faintly Semitic flavour".[4] Its development began with his 1945 workThe Notion Club Papers. It is there that the most extensive sample of the language is found, revealed to one of the (modern-day) protagonists, Lowdham, in a visionary dream ofAtlantis. Its grammar is sketched in the unfinished "Lowdham's Report on the Adunaic Language", included inSauron Defeated.[4]
Tolkien remained undecided whether the language of the Men of Númenor should be derived from the original Mannish language (as in Adûnaic), or if it should be derived from "the Elvish Noldorin" (i.e.Quenya) instead.[5] InThe Lost Road and Other Writings it is implied that the Númenóreans spoke Quenya, and thatSauron, hating all things Elvish, taught the Númenóreans the old Mannish tongue they themselves had forgotten.[6]
The phonology is as follows:[4]
1Adûnaic is fundamentally a three-vowel language, with a length distinction; the longeː andoː are derived from diphthongsaj andaw, as is the case inHebrew and in mostArabic dialects, in line with the Semitic flavour that Tolkien intended for both Adûnaic and Khuzdul, which influenced it.
Most information about Adûnaic grammar comes from an incomplete typescriptLowdham's Report on the Adûnaic Language, written by Tolkien to accompanyThe Notion Club Papers.[4] The report discusses phonology and morphological processes in some detail, and starts to discuss nouns, but breaks off before saying much about verbs, other parts of speech or the grammar as a whole. It appears that Tolkien abandoned work on the language after writing this portion of the Report, and never returned to it.[4]
Most Adûnaic nouns are triconsonantal, but there are a number of biconsonantal nouns as well. Nouns can be divided into three declensions, called Strong I, Strong II and Weak. The two strong declensions form their various cases by modifying the last vowel, similarly to Englishman/men. The weak declension forms its cases by appending a suffix.[4]: 413–440
There are three numbers, singular, plural and dual. Dual is used mainly for "natural pairs", like eyes and shoes. There are three cases, Normal, Subjective and Objective. The Subjective case is used as the subject of a verb. The Objective case is used only in compound expressions and appears only in the singular. The Normal case is used in all other circumstances, such as the object of a verb.[4]
Example declensions:
| Strong I | Strong II | Weak | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meaning | house | sea | strength |
| Singular Normal | zadan | azra | abār |
| Singular Subjective | zadān | azrā | abārā |
| Singular Objective | zadun | azru | abāru |
| Dual Normal | zadnat | azrāt, azrat | abārat |
| Dual Subjective | zadnāt | azrāt | abārāt |
| Plural Normal | zadīn | azrī | abārī |
| Plural Subjective | zadīna | azrīya | abārīya |
This Adûnaic text, part of the tale of the Fall ofNúmenor, appears inThe Notion Club Papers. It is fragmentary because it appeared in a dream toTolkien's frame story character Lowdham, and is only partially translated by him because he did not know the language. Words in bold are not translated at the point in the text where the translation is first given, but their translation is given later in the story.[4]
Kadō
and so
zigūrun
zabathān
humbled
unakkha
he-came
...
...
ēruhīnim
Children of God
Kadō zigūrun zabathān unakkha ... ēruhīnim
{and so}Sauron humbled he-came ... {Children of God}
dubdam
fell
ugru-dalad
shadow-under
...
...
ar-pharazōnun
azaggara
was warring
dubdam ugru-dalad ... ar-pharazōnun azaggara
fell shadow-under ...Ar-Pharazon {was warring}
avalōiyada
against Powers
...
...
bārim
Lords
an-adūn
of-West
yurahtam
broke
dāira
Earth
avalōiyada ... bārim an-adūn yurahtam dāira
{against Powers} ... Lords of-West broke Earth
sāibēth-mā
assent-with
ēruvō
God-from
...
...
azrīya
seas
du-phursā
so-as-to-gush
akhāsada
into chasm
sāibēth-mā ēruvō ... azrīya du-phursā akhāsada
assent-withGod-from ... seas so-as-to-gush {into chasm}
...
...
anadūnē
Numenor
zīrān
beloved
hikallaba
she-fell down
...
...
bawība
winds
dulgī
black
... anadūnē zīrān hikallaba ... bawība dulgī
... Numenor beloved {she-fell down} ... winds black
...
...
balīk
ships
hazad
seven
an-nimruzīr
of-Elendil
azūlada
eastward
... balīk hazad an-nimruzīr azūlada
... ships seven of-Elendil eastward
Agannālō
Death-shadow
burōda
heavy
nēnud
on-us
...
...
zāira
longing
nēnud
on-us
Agannālō burōda nēnud ... zāira nēnud
Death-shadow heavy on-us ... longing on-us
...
...
adūn
west
izindi
batān
road
tāidō
once
ayadda:
went
īdō
now
kātha
all
batīna
roads
lōkhī
crooked
... adūn izindi batān tāidō ayadda: īdō kātha batīna lōkhī
... weststraight road once went now all roads crooked
Ēphalak
far away
īdō
now (is)
Yōzāyan
Land-of-Gift
Ēphalak īdō Yōzāyan
{far away} {now (is)} Land-of-Gift
Ēphal
far
ēphalak
far away
īdō
now (is)
hi-Akallabēth
She-that-hath-fallen
Ēphal ēphalak īdō hi-Akallabēth
far {far away} {now (is)} She-that-hath-fallen
| Classification | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specific languages by group |
| ||||||||||
| Neography | |||||||||||
| Study | |||||||||||
| Comparisons | |||||||||||
