Cirith Ninniach means "Pass of the Slender Crossing" in Sindarin (from cirith = "cleft, pass", ninn = "slender", and iach = "ford, crossing").
Sindarin
cirith ninniach
place name. Rainbow Cleft
Elements
Word Gloss cirith “cleft, ravine, defile, cleft, ravine, defile, [N.] pass” ninniach “rainbow” Variations
- Kirith Ninniach ✧ WJI/Cirith Ninniach
Cirith Ninniach
Pass of the Slender Crossing
Cirith Ninniach
Cirith Ninniach
The pass that led Tuor to the sea, translated “Rainbow Cleft” (S/238). This name is a combination of cirith “cleft” and ninniach “rainbow”.
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this pass was first called G. Cris a Teld Quing Ilon “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” (LT2A/Teld Quing Ilon), revised to G. Cris Ilbranteloth (same translation) in the narratives (LT2/150, 202). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name was changed again to N. Cris-Ilfing >> Cirith Helvin “Rainbow Cleft” (SM/141, 146). The name Cirith Ninniach emerged in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/256, 299).