I note that these variations of “dark” are used one gross of times. Bless. There is a verb “to dark” which means not only “to darken”, but “to listen privily and insidiously”. I’m in love. It’s an Anglo-Saxon word – the Germanic sister-languages have the verb form but not adjective. And, I’m even deeper in love, there’s a dialectical variant “therk”. The derivative “therkness” is so magnificent, I might have to go name something after it.

Of course, our favorite chapter title is here today…

• 1.070 and was swept away into dark lands under strange moons,
• 1.071 The dark came into the room
• 1.072 The dark filled all the room,
• 1.074 In places deep, where dark things sleep,
• 1.083 in a dark sky above the trees.
• 1.083 in dark caverns.
• 1.084 in the dark.
• 1.087 We like the dark,’ said all the dwarves.
• 1.087 Dark for dark business!
• 1.087 Dark for dark business!
• 1.092 and they went back to their dark business.
• 2.028 dark with trees.
• 2.030 for it began to get dark as they went down into a deep valley with a river at the bottom.
• 2.036 Out of the dark mass of the trees
• 2.039 in the pitch dark.
• 3.001 Dark and drear it looked,
• 3.008 There were dark ravines
• 3.017 Till the end of the dark
• 4.017 It was deep, deep, dark,
• 4.034 Take them away to dark holes full of snakes,
• 4.038 down more dark passages with the yells of the goblin-hall
• 4.041 in the dark by itself.
• 4.049 a long, long, way on into the dark tunnels of the goblins’ realm.
• 4.049 in the dark,
• 4.051 in the dark.
• 5.000 Chapter V RIDDLES in THE DARK
• 5.001 for it was just as dark as with them shut.
• 5.003 in a very dark corner for a long while.
• 5.004 would have brought on him out of dark holes
• 5.009 or half-imagined dark things coming out of them.
• 5.010 or the brink of a deep dark subterranean lake.
• 5.011 in the dark.
• 5.012 Deep down here by the dark water
• 5.012 as dark as darkness,
• 5.022 into the dark under the mountains.
• 5.039 Dark!’ he said
• 5.056 in the dark thinking
• 5.058 in the dark by Bilbo.
• 5.083 What useful thing could he keep out on the dark lake?
• 5.085 in the endless dark days.
• 5.087 Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins.
• 5.089 and went off into the dark.
• 5.103 paddling wildly back to the dark shore;
• 5.104 back up the dark passage down which he had come,
• 5.108 in the dark.
• 5.129 in the dark.
• 5.135 in the dark,
• 6.010 in the dark,
• 6.012 in the dark,
• 6.020 in the dark.
• 6.031 in the dark
• 6.041 from the deeper darker forests of the valleys below.
• 6.046 when it was so dark that he could only just see
• 6.082 the dark rush of their beating wings smote them to the floor
• 6.086 and saw the dark lands opening wide underneath him,
• 7.044 said the man leading the way through a dark door
• 7.079 in the dark,
• 7.092 Inside the hall it was now quite dark.
• 7.094 and especially of the dark
• 7.096 The dark night came on outside.
• 7.096 and dark at the top like trees of the forest.
• 7.098 and dark things silent crept beneath.
• 7.102 there black and dark lay boulders stark
• 7.117 all dancing outside from dark to nearly dawn.
• 7.126 But your way through Mirkwood is dark,
• 7.126 in there the wild things are dark,
• 7.132 with the mountains dark on their left,
• 7.132 and to forget the dark forest-path that lay
• 7.134 their leaves were dark
• 7.136 if you have not seen each night after dark a great bear going along with us
• 7.146 and it had seemed as dark
• 7.151 overlooked by his dark tower!
• 8.003 dark dense cobwebs with threads extraordinarily thick,
• 8.004 and dark
• 8.030 and then toppled back into the dark water,
• 8.033 a hind and fawns as snowy white as the hart had been dark.
• 8.042 he saw all round him a sea of dark green,
• 8.042 they were a dark dark velvety black
• 8.042 they were a dark dark velvety black
• 8.054 in the dark;
• 8.059 in a completely lightless dark
• 8.065 In the dark he fell over what he thought was a log,
• 8.076 in the dark
• 8.098 or cast new ropes across the dark spaces.
• 8.111 and in the dark.
• 8.123 to their dark colony.
• 8.129 magic or dark monsters;
• 9.002 in the dark.
• 9.003 The water flowed dark and swift
• 9.011 in the darkest
• 9.013 in a specially deep dark place.
• 9.017 probably all the dark distance of Mirkwood lay between them.
• 9.018 in a dark rough tunnel
• 9.029 what with the dark,
• 9.029 in the dark.
• 9.050 rumbled to the dark opening
• 9.051 (nearly all of them had already disappeared through the dark trapdoor),
• 9.053 Down the swift dark stream you go
• 9.053 Down the swift dark stream you go
• 9.054 into the cold dark water
• 9.055 in the dark tunnel floating
• 9.061 The dark river opened suddenly wide,
• 10.002 its dark head
• 10.020 his eyes were dark
• 11.005 The Mountain lay dark
• 11.008 and see the dark cavernous opening
• 11.008 and a dark smoke.
• 11.009 and I don’t like these dark birds,
• 11.014 like a dark crack
• 11.030 its pale yellow breast freckled with dark spots.
• 12.001 in the dark
• 12.008 down, down into the dark.
• 12.012 It is almost dark so that its vastness can only be dimly guessed,
• 12.042 but it was as dark as night
• 12.044 and dark,
• 12.097 in the dark,
• 12.102 in the dark
• 13.018 They saw the little dark shape of the hobbit
• 13.034 The dark hall was filled with a melody
• 13.048 Out of a dark opening
• 14.002 blotted in the dark.
• 14.012 and dark
• 14.013 A hail of dark arrows leaped up
• 14.019 Suddenly out of the dark
• 14.024 white in the sudden dark under the moon.
• 14.025 dotted dark on the surface of the lake,
• 15.034 from the dark fortress
• 15.036 Under the Mountain dark and tall
• 15.038 in places deep, where dark things sleep,
• 15.042 Under the Mountain dark
• 15.046 dark of hair
• 16.007 As soon as it was full dark,
• 16.017 It was very dark,
• 16.017 and fording it in the dark
• 16.042 in a dark cloak,
• 17.031 and the air was dark
• 17.044 going ever by tunnel or under dark,
• 17.058 till Dale was dark
• 17.062 dark shapes small yet majestic against the distant glow.
• 18.024 in the trackless dark of Mirkwood.
• 18.032 in the dark if foes approached,
• 18.053 and darkly green at the nearer edge
• 19.006 from his dark hold
• 19.014 Fall Moon! Dark be the land!

“dark, v.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2019, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/47296. Accessed 15 October 2019.

“therk, adj.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, September 2019, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/200543. Accessed 15 October 2019.