echoriath

place name. Encircling Mountains, (lit.) Encircling Fence

The mountains around Gondolin, translated “Encircling Mountains” (S/138). This name is a compound of echor “encircling” (SA/echor) and iath “fence”, hence its literal meaning is “Encircling Fence”.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, these mountains were called G. Heborodin “Encircling Hills” (LT2/166). In the tale “The Wanderings of Húrin” from the late 1950s, Tolkien changed the name to Echoriad (meaning unclear), but Christopher Tolkien retained the earlier but more common form Echoriath in the published version of The Silmarillion (WJ/271, 302 note 27).

Changes

• Echoriath → Echoriad ✧ WJI/Echoriad

Element in

• S. alae! ered en Echoriath, ered e·mbar nín “[?behold!] the mountains of Echoriath, the mountains of my home!” ✧ UT/040

Elements

Word	Gloss
echor	“outer circle; encircling”
iath	“fence”

Variations

• Echoriad ✧ WJI/Echoriad

eryd echor

place name. Encircling Mountains

A variant name for Echoriath appearing in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings (RC/621), a combination of the plural form of orod “mountain” and echor “encircling”.