helcaraxë

place name. Grinding Ice

The ice-filled strait between Araman and Middle-earth (S/80). Its name was translated in a speech by Angrod (S/129): “Wherefore should we that endured the Grinding Ice bear the name of kinslayers and traitors?” It is a compound of helca “icy, ice-cold” (SA/helca) and caraxë “jagged hedge of spikes” (Ety/KARAK).

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared as ᴱQ. Helkarakse in the earliest Lost Tales, though at this early stage it was glossed “Icefang” (LT1/167), and Christopher Tolkien suggested its second element might be aksa “waterfall” (LT1A/Helkaraksë). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the translation of ᴹQ. Helkarakse was changed to “Grinding Ice” (SM/95, LR/125). The name also appeared in this form in The Etymologies (Ety/KARAK), where the derivation noted above is found. It was changed to Helcaraxë (Helkaraxë) in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s after Tolkien changed the orthographic representation of Quenya to be more like Latin (MR/194).

helcaraxë

Helcaraxë

In the Etymologies, the second element in Helkarakse is said to be the Quenya word karakse ("jagged hedge of spikes"). Helge Fauskanger has suggested that the first element (hel-) derives from the root KHELEK ("ice"). Also in the Etymologies, Tolkien experimented with Noldorin translations of Hekarakse: elcharaes, helcharaes or Helcharach.