Q. Úlairi coll. “Ring-wraiths, (lit.) ?Un-living, Un-summer”
Quenya name of the Nazgûl, of unclear meaning (S/296, PM/175). The first element is likely the negative prefix ú-. The second element resembles a plural form of the noun lairë “summer”, so perhaps it means “*Un-summer”, referring to their cold and undead nature. Alternately, the second element could a derivative of an unattested primitive noun *lay-ro “living one” from the root √LAY (having to do with life), so that the name means “*Un-living”. Both these derivations are quite speculative.
References ✧ PM/175; PMI/Nazgûl, Úlairi; S/296; SI/Ring-wraiths, Úlairi
Glosses
Elements
| ú- | “no, not, un-, in-; hard, difficult, bad, uneasy; hardly, with difficulty, ‘badly’” |
| lairë? | “summer” |
Cognates