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S. haudh n. “(funeral) mound, grave; heap, piled mound” (Category: Grave, Tomb)

S. haudh, n. “(funeral) mound, grave, [N.] tomb; [orig.] †heap, piled mound” (Category: Grave, Tomb)
N. cum “mound, heap, [G.] burial mound”

A word appearing in numerous names, usually translated “mound” or “funeral mound”. In revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) made around 1959, Tolkien described its origin as follows:

√KHAB- “heap up, pile up”: khabdā “pile, (artificial) mound”: S haudh, funeral mound ... The sense “funeral mound, especially one in which weapons and other valuables were also buried” shows probably that haudh is also derived from the (perhaps ultimately related) √KHAW “cover up, hide away, lay in store”; with extension *KHAWAD “store, hoard” (PE19/91).

Here the ancient combination of stops in ✶khabdā developed as usual in Sindarin: abd became auð, and indeed it was the main example of this development.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the word N. hauð “mound, grave, tomb” was derived from ᴹ✶khagda “pile, mound” under the root ᴹ√KHAG “pile up” (Ety/KHAG); in that document the sense “grave” was likewise due to the influence of ᴹ√KHAW, though in The Etymologies this root was glossed “rest, lie at ease” (Ety/KHAW). This word also appeared in the contemporaneous Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1940s as a derivative of ᴹ✶khagdā, but there its form was haeð (PE19/45), reflecting Tolkien’s uncertainty on the phonetic developments of agd and whether it became auð or aið > aeð.

In the Outline of Phonology (OP2) as first composed in the early 1950s, Tolkien initially retained the derivation from ✶khagdā as in The Etymologies (PE19/91-92 note #110). But he eventually decided that agd > aið > aeð, at which point he needed a new etymology for haudh “funeral mound”, so he changed √KHAG “pile up” to √KHAB.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use the circa-1959 derivation from √KHAB given above, with the caveat that I’d limit the sense “lay in store” to the extended root √KHAWAD, to allow the retention of various useful words derived from 1930s ᴹ√KHAW “rest, lie at ease”. I’d limit haudh to mounds associated with death (as well as tombs in general); for “mound” in the ordinary sense I would used [ᴺS.] tund.

References ✧ LotR/1054; PE17/97, 116, 141; PE19/91-92; S/197, 216; SA/haudh

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Phonetic Developments

khabdā > haudh [kʰabdā] > [kʰaudā] > [kʰauda] > [xauda] > [xauða] > [xauð] > [hauð] ✧ PE19/91
KHAWAD > haudh [kʰaudā] > [kʰauda] > [xauda] > [xauða] > [xauð] > [hauð] ✧ PE19/91
KHAW > hauð [kʰaudā] > [kʰauda] > [xauda] > [xauða] > [xauð] > [hauð] ✧ PE19/92

N. haudh n. “grave, tomb; (piled) mound, heap” (Category: Grave, Tomb)

See S. haudh for discussion.

References ✧ Ety/KHAG, KHAW; PE19/45

Glosses

Variations

Related

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ✶khagda > hauð [kʰagda] > [kʰāda] > [kʰǭda] > [xǭda] > [xouda] > [xouða] > [xauða] > [xauð] > [hauð] ✧ Ety/KHAG