pl1. Belain** ** n. Vala.
Sindarin
balan
noun. Vala, Vala, [N.] Power, God
balan
Vala
balan
noun. Vala, divine power, divinity
Balannor
noun. land of Gods
Balan (“power, god”) + (n-)dor (“land, dwelling”)
balannor
place name. Land of the Valar
Sindarin cognate of Q. Valinórë (PE17/26), a compound of BAL “power” (basis for S. Balan “Vala”) with S. dôr “land”.
Conceptual Development: The first cognates of ᴱQ. Valinor appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s: (rejected) G. Dor Banion and G. Gwalien (GL/21, LT2A/Valar). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the cognate was N. Balannor (Ety/BAL), and this is the source of the derivation given above.
In a letter from 1972, Tolkien stated that Belain (plural of Balan) was not a word in Sindarin (Let/427). Furthermore, in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, he changed the Sindarin name for the “Annals of Valinor” from N. Inias Valannor to S. Ínias Dor-Rodyn (MR/200). It is possible that Tolkien decided that the normal Sindarin word for the Vala was S. Rodon, so that S. Dor-Rodyn was the equivalent of Valinor.
Balannor
'the Land of the Valar'
topon. 'the Land of the Valar'. Q. Valandor.
balan
vala
(i Valan), pl. Belain (i Melain). In ”Noldorin”, the pl. form used with the article was "iMbelain" (LR:365 s.v. KIRIK).
rodon
noun. Vala
A Sindarin term for the Vala (PE17/33), appearing in its plural form S. Rodyn as one of the days of the week (LotR/1110) and also in the Sindarin name for Valinor: Dor-Rodyn (MR/200). It is derived from the prefixal form rod- of raud “noble” (PE17/118, 186). Its final element might be the augmentative suffix -on, perhaps literally meaning “✱Most Noble”. It could also be the agental suffix -on, as suggested by David Salo (GS/283), but that suffix is usually masculine (WJ/400), whereas Rodon seems to apply to all Valar.
rodon
vala
1) Rodon (pl. Rodyn, coll. pl. Rodonnath), 2) Balan (i Valan), pl. Belain (i Melain). In ”Noldorin”, the pl. form used with the article was "iMbelain" (LR:365 s.v. KIRIK).
rodon
vala
(pl. Rodyn, coll. pl. Rodonnath)
coltha-
verb. to bear up; to weigh, balance it on scales; to be worth, value or be equivalent to; to endure
bâl
divine power
construct bal, pl. bail (divinity). Note: the word can also be used as an adj. "divine".
tûr
power
tûr (i dûr, o thûr, construct tur) (victory, mastery, control; master, victor, lord), pl. tuir (i thuir), coll. pl. túrath.
tûr
power
(i dûr, o thûr, construct tur) (victory, mastery, control; master, victor, lord), pl. t**uir (i th**uir), coll. pl. túrath.
The Sindarin equivalent of Q. Vala, derived from the root √BAL “powerful, mighty” and having a plural form Belain (PE17/48). This plural appears as an element in the day-name Orbelain “✱Day of the Valar [Friday]” (LotR/1110). However, in a 1972 Letter Tolkien said this was actually a phonetic adaptation of the Quenya day-name Q. Valanya, an adjective (“✱of the Vala”) not existing in Sindarin (Let/427), presumably because it conflicts with the plural of Balan.
Conceptual Development: N. Balan “Power, God” (both male and female) appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BAL with a Noldorin-style plural Belein or Belen (Ety/BAL). The (nasal-mutated) Sindarin-style plural appeared in the name N. Cerch iMbelain “Sickle of the Gods” under the entry for ᴹ√KIRIK (Ety/KIRIK).
Earlier still, in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien had both G. Ban “a god” (GL/21) and G. Gwala “one of the Gods, including their divine folk and Children, hence often used of one of the lesser folk as opposed to Ban” (GL/44). The first of these was derived from the early root ᴱ√VANA having to do with beauty (QL/99) and the second from the early root ᴱ√gwal “fortune, happiness” (GL/44). The entry for Ban was deleted from the Gnomish Lexicon itself, but presumably these two early words were blended into later N./S. Balan.