Ambar

File:Tengwar Ambar.gif

ambar means "doom" in Quenya. Compare with amarth in Sindarin.

Examples:

• Ambaráto = "Champion of Doom"
• Turambar = "Master of Doom"

When Ambar is capitalized, it refers to "The World" with the connotation of "habitation" or "home". Tolkien equated the Elvish term with the Greek term "Oikoumene", which referred to the inhabited world, as oppossed to the barbaric wild. In this sense Ambar is different than Arda, which refers to the world as a physical whole.

The Elves may have equated the concept of "doom" with the inhabited world because their fëar were tied eternally with Arda, as opposed to Men, whose souls escape beyond the world upon death (see: the Gift of Men).

ambar may be a variant of umbar, which means "fate".

References

• The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel
• Quenya Corpus Wordlist edited by Helge Kåre Fauskanger