S. Dol Guldur loc. “Hill of Sorcery”
Fortress of the Necromancer in Mirkwood (LotR/250). This name is a combination of dol(l) “head, hill” and guldur “sorcery” (SA/dol, gûl, dûr; PE17/32).
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this name first appeared as (Ilk.?) Dol Dúghol (TI/178), with several variations in the second element as Tolkien worked through the drafts (sometimes u instead of o, sometimes gh instead of g). The form Dol Guldur did not appear until very late in Tolkien’s writing (WR/122).
References ✧ LotRI/Dol Guldur; PE17/31-32, 36; PMI/Dol Guldur; RSI/Dol Guldur; SA/dol, dûr, gûl; SI/Dol Guldur; TII/Dol Dúgol; UTI/Dol Guldur; WR/122; WRI/Dol Guldur
Glosses
Elements
| dol(l) | “head, hill” | ✧ PE17/32 (dol); PE17/36 (dol); SA/dol (dol) | |
| guldur | “black arts, sorcery” | ||
| gûl | “black arts, sorcery, (evil) knowledge” | ✧ PE17/31; PE17/32; SA/gûl | |
| dûr | “dark (with evil implications), gloomy, hellish” | ✧ SA/dûr | |
Ilk. Dol Dúghol loc.
An earlier name for Dol Guldur appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (WR/122), with variations Dol Dúgol (TI/178) and Dol Dûghul (TI/244). The word dûghol appears an earlier rejected word for “sorcery” in The Etymologies (EtyAC/ÑGOL), so perhaps this word was originally intended to be Ilkorin.
See S. Dol Guldur for further discussion.
References ✧ PMI/Dol Guldur; TI/178, 244, 296; TII/Dol Dúgol; WR/122; WRI/Dol Dúghol
Variations
Changes
Elements
| *dol | “head, *hill” |
| durgul? | “sorcery” |