Etymology

Nazgul

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Today it means: An evil force which heedlessly destroys everything in its path, and appears like a horseman dressed all in black. Full definition →

Irish nasc
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The story

  1. Irish · derived fromnasc“link, bond”
  2. English todayNazgul

From nazgûl (“ringwraith”) in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional language Black Speech, a compound of nazg (“ring”) and gûl (“wraith; evil spirit”). Tolkien thought it “probable” that the former term nazg was “actually derived from” Irish nasc (“link, bond”), though not borrowed consciously. For the latter term gûl compare ghoul.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.