A word for “butterfly” appearing as wilwarin in the Markirya poem of the 1960s based on the adjective wilwa “fluttering to and fro” (MC/222, 223). It has a stem form of wilwarind- as implied by the adjective wilwarindëa “like a butterfly” from the version of the Nieninquë poem from the 1960s (PE16/96). The appearance of an initial w- in this word is somewhat unusual: see the entry on the sound [w] for further discussion. Its modern Quenya pronunciation would be vilwarin or vilvarin. Tolkien himself occasionally used vilvarin instead (PE16/72; MR/166).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. wilwarin (wilwarind-) “butterfly” appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√GWILI (QL/104). That document also had an adjective form ᴱQ. wilwarinda, descriptive of the sycamore tree (QL/57). This word appeared in the versions of the Oilima Markirya poem written around 1930, and the adjective wilwarindea appeared in the version of the Nieninqe poem from this period. ᴹQ. wilwarin “butterfly” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√WIL “fly” with a plural form wilwarindi (Ety/WIL). Thus this word was quite stable in Tolkien’s mind, and usually appeared with an initial w.
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “butterfly” derived from the root ᴹ√WIL “fly” (Ety/WIL), apparently with duplication of the root and the addition of the abstract noun suffix N. -th.
Conceptual Development: The word G. gwilbrin or gwilvrin “a butterfly” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s along with an adjective form G. gwilbriniol “like a butterfly”, based on primitive ᴱ√gu̯il (GL/45).