Q. morë (mori-) adj. and n. “dark, black; darkness, night” (Category: Dark, Murky)
A word meaning both “dark” and “black” in various compounds, sometimes also functioning as a noun “darkness”. It was derived from primitive ✶mori based on the root √MOR (Let/382).
Conceptual Development: This word has a long history in Tolkien’s languages. It first appeared as ᴱQ. {mōre >>} mōri “night” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s from the early root ᴱ√MORO (QL/62), also appearing as mōre “night” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/63). The word mōre was used as “darkness” in the Oilima Markirya poem written around 1930 (MC/214).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s there were two distinct forms: noun ᴹQ. móre “blackness, dark, night” from primitive ᴹ✶mǭri and adjective ᴹQ. more “blackness, dark, night” from primitive from primitive ᴹ✶mori (Ety/MOR; EtyAC/MOR), though the adjective prefix mori- was frequently translated “dark” in contemporaneous compounds: ᴹQ. Morimando “Dark Mando”, ᴹQ. Moriqendi “Dark Elves”, etc. In later writings, the forms with long ó were no longer used, though whether this was intentional or a coincidence is unclear.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mainly use more as an adjective with the sense “dark”, reserving for the colour “black” the word morna instead. For the noun form, I’d use mornië, but I sometimes use mori- or móri- for “night” in compounds as the time of darkness.
References ✧ Let/382; PE17/110; PM/384; VT49/24
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| #Mori- | stem | “darkness” | ✧ PM/384 |
| #Mori- | stem | ✧ VT49/24 | |
| #mori- | stem | “black/night” | ✧ PE17/110 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶mori > more | [mori] > [more] | ✧ Let/382 |
ᴹQ. more (mori-) adj. “black, dark” (Category: Black)
Reference ✧ Ety/MOR ✧ “black”
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶mori > more | [mori] > [more] | ✧ Ety/MOR |
ᴹQ. móre (móri-) n. “blackness, dark, night” (Category: Dark, Murky)
Reference ✧ Ety/MOR ✧ “blackness, dark, night”
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶mǭri > móre | [mǭri] > [mǭre] > [mōre] | ✧ Ety/MOR |
ᴱQ. móre (móri-) n. and adj. “night, darkness; black, dark” (Category: Dark, Murky)
References ✧ LT1A/Mornië; MC/214, 221; PE16/60, 62, 64, 72, 74, 76-77; PME/63; QL/62
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Inflections
| móren | nominative | ✧ PE16/64 | |
| moorin | nominative plural | ✧ PE16/72; PE16/77 | |
| morin | nominative plural | “dark” | ✧ PE16/62 |
| mórin | nominative plural | ✧ PE16/64; PE16/76 | |
| moori | plural | ✧ PE16/77 | |
| móri | plural | “black” | ✧ MC/221 |
| móri | plural | ✧ PE16/74 | |
| mōri | stem | ✧ PME/63 | |
| mōri- | stem | ✧ QL/62 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴱ√MORO > mōri | [mōrī] > [mōri] | ✧ QL/62 |
| ᴱ√MORO > mōre | [mōri] > [mōre] | ✧ QL/62 |