Dushgoi, Minas Morgul and Dol Guldur

Here the etymological interconnection between Black Speech “dush”, “gûl” and Sindarin place names “Minas Morgul” and “Dol Guldur” will be discussed.

Dushgoi

“Dushgoi” is the Debased Black Speech name for “Minas Morgul” (Tower of Sorcery). It was mentioned in various drafts to “The Lord of Rings” published in “The War of Jewels”, “The War of the Ring” and “Sauron Defeated”, but not included into final version of LOTR. Antony Appleyard whose analysis of Black Speech was used for many Neo-BS dialects translated it as “Dush” = “Morgul” = “(dark) sorcery, black arts, necromancy” and “goi” = “Minas” (tower, citadel, city with central tower).

Dushgoi – Orc name of Minas Morghul (Index to History of Middle-Earth 8: The War of the Ring)

The word “dush” is believed to be taken from Valarin “dušamanûðân” as in “Aþâraphelûn Dušamanûðân” (Arda marred).

Gûl

The word “gûl” in Black Speech occurs in name “Nazgûl” which is directly translated as “ring-wraith”, but the second element has some more nuances:

gûl (phantom, shadow of dark magic, necromancer), slave, servant? (Parma Eldalamberon #17, 79, entry “nazgûl”)

Ringwraiths is a translation of Nazg-(g)ûl < nazg, Ring in the Black Speech, and gûl, an [evil] spirit under control of Sauron.

So, in Black Speech “dush” is “(dark) sorcery” and “gûl” is “wraith, phantom, shadow of dark magic”, a product of “dush” (sorcery).

Morgul

Sindarin word “Morgul” has interesting etymology. “Mor” means “black”, and “gul”/“gûl” has numerous glosses like “black arts, sorcery”, “evil and necromantic arts”, “evil knowledge”, etc. Journal “Parma Eldalamberon” #17 published a compiled list of various J.R.R. Tolkien's notes on names and phrases in tongues of Middle-Earth, where it's stated on page 31 that: 

gûl is a loan from “Black Speech” and refers to evil and necromantic arts. Cf. nazgûl (nazg-gûl). Also in “Dol Guldur”.

However, the word “gûl” in Black Speech itself is a loan from Sindarin, in Etymologies the glossed root is “ÑGOL” (wise, wisdom, be wise) from which the name of Noldor elves has come. 

This word in Black Speech was probably derived from Elvish ngōl-, Q ñōle, S gûl – knowledge, deep knowledge not “occult” in modern sense, but applied to the deeper knowlege of the ‘wise’ or skilled persons, not kept secter (as [?among the] Elves) but not attainable by all. (Parma Eldalamberon #17, 79, entry “nazgûl”)

Initially it didn't have evil connotations, e.g. Quenya words “nolmë” (knowledge) and “ñóle” (wisdom); but in Sindarin it gained such:

S. “gûl” (owing to its frequent use in such combinations as morgul ... was only used for evil or perverted knowledge, necromancy, sorcery... (Morgoth's Ring, 350)

It's also worth noting, that later J.R.R. Tolkien rejected etymology of “noldo” from “ÑGOL” (wisdom) in favor of meaning “dark-brown” in his notes, to “ÑGUL” but it wasn't replaced throughout other texts.

Delete all references of Ñoldo to “wisdom, lore”! [This characteristic only clearly seen later — the Tribal names must be early formations]

√ÑGOL = dark-hued, dark-brown <...> The predominant colour of Ñoldorin hair was very dark brown 

 The stem ÑGUL- (possibly in origin simply a variant of ÑGOL applied to a darker shade ?) meant dark — with sinister connotations.

Guldur

“Dol Guldur” is the Sindarin name of Sauron's fortress in Mirkwood. It means “Hill of Sorcery”: “dol” = “hill”, “gûl” was discussed just above, and “dûr” = “dark [with evil implications], gloomy, hellish” (also in “Barad-dûr” = “Dark Tower”).

Conclusion

Thus, “Guldur” and “Morgul” mean basically the same in Sindarin. And given that “combo”-word “Morgul” is translated with one word “dush” in Black Speech, I suppose that “Guldur” will be translated the same, as there is no significant nuance between “black sorcery” and “dark sorcery”.

I also suppose that word “gûl” was taken by the 1st Age orcs first to describe magic of their master, as they did with other Sindarin words (compare with name “Morgoth” translated as “Dark Lord”  instead of original “Black Enemy”, however keep in mind that this translation into Orcish was taken from very early rejected drafts to Etymologies). I find idea that Orcs have “marred” the Sindarin word so it received bad connotations there more pleasant than just through the frequent usage in compounds like “Guldur” and “Morgul”.

For some reason Eldamo site lists “Gûldur” as Black Speech word, but there is no evidence that canonical Black Speech contains this word – it's never used in any text or quote (“dur/dûr” is presenet in various Neo Black Speech dialects with different meanings though), it's a misinterpretation of Parma Eldalamberon entry. 

Mirkwood Orc as depicted in MERP module Southern Mirkwood – Haunt of the Necromancer

Notice: this is a rewritten article from the forum age.