Thread by @CameronBorgQeen

On the 11th Day of Sauron, linguistics gave to me: Sauron's actual, real—no joke—original name and the fact that it means things like "admirable, excellent, splendid, and... precious". #12DaysOfSauron. 2 days until the premiere of @LOTRonPrime 🧵1/13 #TheRingsOfPower #Sauron

In a bundle of linguistic notes dated to between 1955-1960, containing work on a list of meanings of names and words in LotR, and published in the linguistic journal Parma Eldalamberon in 2007, we learn that Sauron's original name was "Mairon" meaning "The Admirable." 2/13

This comes from the primitive Quenya root MAY- meaning ‘excellent/admirable.’ Related roots include (A)MAY- (‘suitable, useful, proper, serviceable, right’); it’s inverse, PEN- (‘lack’); and MA3- (‘serve, be of use‘ but also ‘handle, manage, control, wield’ and ‘hand’). 3/13

Cognates derived from from MAY- include: maira (adj: admirable, excellent, precious) and maina (noun: a thing of excellence, a treasure). Alternatively maira (adj: admirable, splendid, sublime. Only of great, august or splendid things). The name Mairon is derived from maira. 4/13

It’s not hard, however, to see a connection between Mairon and the glosses of the related roots. The association with usefulness makes sense for a being interested in order and efficiency, as does the idea of service, since the word "Maiar" also derives from 'maira.' 5/13

The word "Maiar" as the name of the "lesser kin of the Valar" appears to have been written down around roughly the same time as the name "Mairon." What might that tell us about Mairon himself? Might it be that Mairon, pre-fall, was a kind of exemplar of his order? 6/13

Most maiar served under a Vala or were considered their pupils or disciples. If Mairon exemplified this trait, this would go some way to explaining how and why he was so integral to Melkor's early projects, and the veneration in which he appears to have held Melkor. 7/13

"While Morgoth still stood, Sauron [...] worked and schemed for another, desiring the triumph of Melkor, whom in the beginning he had adored. He thus was often able to achieve things [...] which his master did not or could not complete in the furious haste of his malice." 8/13

"[Sauron] spoke of Melkor in Melkor's own terms, as a god, or even as God. This may have been the residue of a state which was in a sense a shadow of good: the ability once in Sauron at least to admire or admit the superiority of a being other than himself." 9/13

But what about being admirable or precious? Like the name Melian (Dear Gift) to be admirable implies a relation and a direction to that relation. The "anna" in her Quenya name, Melyanna, (as well as in Annatar) means "gift" but also implies a direction: to or towards. 10/13

From a giver and to a receiver. To be admirable implies the reverse: from the admirer and towards the admired. What was he admirable for? And to WHOM was he admirable? What about the fact that, unlike fellow Aulë pupil Curunir, his name has no connection to "devices." 11/13

And what about this line from Fellowship of the Ring, which remained almost completely unchanged from the very first extant draft of this chapter, back when Frodo was called Bingo and the nature of the Ring and Bingo's quest was still up in the air: 12/13

"Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket... It now appeared plain and smooth…. The gold looked very fair and pure, and Frodo thought how rich and beautiful was its colour, how perfect was its roundness. ***It was an admirable thing and altogether precious***" 13/13

Find Day 10 here:

https://twitter.com/CameronBorgQeen/status/1564224667916926977?s=20&t=MAm6PEVSgRFUULbfhjPSvQ

Find Day 12 here:

https://twitter.com/cameronborgqeen/status/1565004915826724865