The creature Gothmog at the Siege of Minas Tirith

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Gordis

After all, can you find a single quote where "Minas Tirith" is called simply "Tirith"? There is not a single case. Why would Minas Morgul be different? Why would it be called simply "Morgul" so many times?

That's an interesting comparison, and it's got me thinking about the meaning of both "Tirith" and "Morgûl." In neither case, if you consider the meaning, does it make any sense to say "Tirith's defences" or "Morgûl's armies." At least, it doesn't make much sense to me, since, literally, you'd be saying "the guard's defences" or "black sorcery's armies"--assuming you were referring to the cities, anyway. And, as both the progenitor of Sindarin and a linguist by trade, it seems unlikely--to me--that Tolkien would have used the Sindarin words and not considered their meaning simultaneously.

That being said, though...

I don't know that that actually proves that "Morgûl" on its own can be taken, therefore, as a marker of the Witch-king--at least not on a straight parallel to Minas Tirith, since if one refers to a ruler by the place he is ruler of, then it would follow here that, to parallel the use of "Angmar" as signifying the Witch-king, you should really be using "Minas Morgûl" to signify the Witch-king--unless, perhaps, you want to make the argument that "Black Sorcery" is being used, not to signify a place the Witch-king is lord over and identified with, but a thing or idea he is being identified with as the public body--the embodiment of. Which is an argument you can make... but I don't think the parallel with Minas Tirith entails it.