Ad. Akallabêth pn. “Downfallen”
The Adûnaic name of Númenor after its fall, the equivalent of Q. Atalantë (S/281). Tolkien usually translated this word as “Downfallen”, but its literal meaning was “(She) That Has Fallen” (PE17/111, SD/247). The final element -êth seems to be a feminine suffix, also seen in Arminalêth. The middle element -kallab- seems to be the past formation kallaba of the verb kalab- “to fall (down)”. The function of the initial a- isn’t clear, but it may be some sort of perfective augment, as seen in the Quenya perfect tense; see the discussion of the Adûnaic draft-perfect for more information.
Other Interpretations: Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (VSH/36) that the prefix a- is probably some kind of emphatic suffix rather than evidence of another verb tense. Thorsten Renk proposes (NBA/39) that the a- is a relative pronoun “that”, analogous to Q. ya, which is an interesting possibility.
References ✧ Let/347; LotRI/Akallabêth, Númenor; LRI; MRI; PE17/111; PM/158; PMI/Akallabêth, Atalantë; S/281; SD/247, 312, 375; SDI1/Akallabêth; SDI2/Akallabêth; SI/Akallabêth, Atalantë; UTI; WRI
Glosses
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Elements
| kalab- | “to fall (down)” | past | |
| -êth | “feminine suffix” | ||
| √Ad. KALAB | “fall” | ✧ PM/158 | |
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Cognates