S. iâ n. “chasm, pit; void, abyss” (Category: Ravine, Pass)
A word variously glossed “void, abyss” (Let/383), “chasm, pit” (PE17/35), or “gulf” (Ety/YAG), it was the final element in the name S. Moria “Black Chasm, Black Pit”. It was a derivative of the root √YAG, and in The Etymologies of the 1930s its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶yagu- (Ety/YAG), in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s its primitive form was ᴹ✶yagō (RS/437), while in a 1967 letter its primitive form was ✶yagā (Let/383).
References ✧ Let/383; PE17/35; SA/iâ
Glosses
Related
Element In
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶yagā > iâ | [jagā] > [jaga] > [jaɣa] > [jā] | ✧ Let/383 |
| √YAG > iâ | [jagā] > [jaga] > [jaɣa] > [jā] | ✧ PE17/35 |