ᴱN. orthanc adj. “unbroken, without break or cleavage, united, continuous; masked” (Category: to Break)
A word for “unbroken” and also “without break or cleavage, united, continuous” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/164-165), a combination of ᴱN. thanc with the privative prefix ᴱN. or-. In one place Tolkien said orthanc meant “unmasked” = ᴱN. {ithanc >>} idanc where the second element appears to be ᴱN. tanc (PE13/156), though the meaning of tanc in this period was “firm” (PE13/153) which seems inappropriate.
References ✧ PE13/156, 164-165
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| erthainc | plural | ✧ PE13/164 |
| oerthainc | plural | ✧ PE13/156; PE13/164 |
Elements
| ur- | “privative prefix, without, -less” | ✧ PE13/156 (or-) | |
| thanc | “cleft, divided, split, cloven, forked, bifurcated; cleft, break, breach” | ✧ PE13/165 | |
| tanc | “firm, steady, steadfast” | liquid-mutation | ✧ PE13/156 (#thanc) |