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The 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It differed from its earlier drafts only in its use of grammar. Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ was warring against Powers”, omitting the name Ar-Pharazôn because Lowdham was unsure how to translate it. In more ordinary English might be “Ar-Pharazôn was warring against the Powers”.

The subject Ar-Pharazônun is the subjective form of the name Ar-Pharazôn. The verb azaggara “was warring” is a form of azgarâ- “to wage war”, either the past tense or continuative-past tense (see the entry for that continuative-past tense for further discussion). The last word Avalôiyada “against the Powers” is the plural form of Avalô “Power, God” with the prepositional suffix -ada “toward, against” separated from the i of the plural by the usual glide-consonant y.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence differs from the final version in two ways (SD/312). First, the subject is in the normal-case instead of the subjective case, perhaps because Tolkien had not finalized the rules for the subjective case. Second, its verb form was azagrāra, although the final verb form azaggara was written nearby as an alternative. See the verb azgarâ- for possible interpretations.

[< Previous Phrase] Lament of Akallabêth (first draft) [Next Phrase >]

The first draft of the 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/311). It differs from the final version primarily in grammar. It has a difficult-to-interpret form azgaranādu of the verb azgarâ-. See the entry to that verb for possible interpretations. The last word avalōi-si seems to be the draft-dative plural form of Avalô “Power, God”, changed from the draft-instrumental plural form avalōi-men.