N. dadben adj. and adv. “downhill, inclined, prone” (Category: Down, Below, Beneath)
A word for “downhill, inclined, prone” in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a combination of N. dad “down” and N. penn “declivity, *slope”, with the forms dadben and dadbenn where the double nn was probably archaic (Ety/DAT, PEN).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies also had (rejected) dadðenn, dadhenn based on an earlier meaning “hillside, slope” of the root ᴹ√DEN (Ety/DEN; EtyAC/DAT), and earlier still a form dadvenn based on a rejected root ᴹ√BEND (EtyAC/DAT). Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s also had ᴱN. dadvenn “downhill” with an archaic form {datvhend >>} datbhend (PE13/139, 160-161). In one entry it had the figurative meaning “easy-going, easy, not arduous” (PE13/161), comparable to the English idiom “it’s all downhill from here”.
Neo-Sindarin: I’d adopt the later form dadben as an adjective and adverb for “downhill, inclined [downwards]”, but I would not use it for “prone” in its modern English sense “lying flat”, since I believe Tolkien intended this gloss to be for its archaic English sense of sloping downwards. I would, however, assume the Early Noldorin sense “easy-going, easy, not arduous” remains valid as a figure of speech.
References ✧ Ety/DAT, DEN, PEN; EtyAC/DAT, DEN
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Elements
| dad | “down” | ✧ Ety/DAT; EtyAC/DAT | |
| penn¹ | “declivity” | soft-mutation | ✧ Ety/DEN (denn); Ety/PEN |
| ᴹ√PEN(ED) | “*hillside, slope” | ✧ Ety/DAT (PEN); EtyAC/DAT (PEN); EtyAC/DAT (DEN); EtyAC/DAT (BEND) | |
| ᴹ√DAT | “fall down” | ✧ Ety/PEN | |
ᴱN. dadvenn adj. and adv. “downhill; (figuratively) easy-going, easy, not arduous” (Category: Down, Below, Beneath)
References ✧ PE13/139, 160-161
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Elements
| #dad | “down” | ✧ PE13/139 (#dad) |
| benn | “sloping, inclined, slanting, up or down hill” | ✧ PE13/138; PE13/160 |
Element In