Itaril (*Itarill-), Itarillë, Itarildë fem. name, Sindarized as Idril(PM:346, 348; SA:ril). (In earlier sources, Tolkien used Irildë as the Quenya form of Idril, and the proper Noldorin/Sindarin form was then Idhril.)
Quenya
itarillë
feminine name. *Sparkling Brilliance
Changes
- Ítaril(le) → Írilde ✧ PE17/112
Cognates
- S. Idril ✧ PE17/112; PE17/112; PE17/112; PM/346; PM/348; PMI/Idril; SA/ril
Elements
Word Gloss ita- “to sparkle” RIL “brilliant (light), brilliance, brilliant (light), brilliance, [ᴹ√] glitter” -llë “feminine agent” Variations
- Ítaril(le) ✧ PE17/112 (Ítaril(le))
- íta-rille ✧ PE17/112 (íta-rille)
- itaril ✧ PE17/112 (itaril)
- Itarildë ✧ PE17/112; PM/348; PMI/Idril; SA/ril
- Itaril/Itarillë ✧ PM/346
- Itaril ✧ PMI/Idril
Itaril
itaril
Irildë
idhril
Irildë fem. name "Idhril" (Idril) (LT2:343), #Írildë (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193), Írildë also as name of a Númenorean woman (UT:210). Irildë Taltyelemna = (later) Sindarin Idril Celebrindal;replaced Irildë Taltelepsa (KYELEP/TELEP; Taltelemna in the Etymologies as printed in LR is an error for Taltyelemna, VT45:25). Tolkien seems to have replaced Irildë as the Quenya form of Idril with Itaril, Itarillë, Itarildë, q.v., in which case the Sindarin form is definitely Idril and not Idhril.
The Quenya name of S. Idril, from which her Sindarin name was derived (SA/ril, PM/346). Her name is a combination of ita- “to sparkle” and the root √RIL “brilliance” (SA/ril, PM/363 note #42) with the feminine agental suffix -llë, perhaps meaning something like “✱Sparkling Brilliance”. This name also appeared as Itarildë, using the suffix -ldë instead (PM/348, PE17/112).
Conceptual Development: For a very long time, Idril’s Quenya name was Irildë (LT2/216, Ety/KYELEP, WJ/235), with its initial element derived from √ID (Ety/ID, PE17/112). After the publication of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien became dissatisfied with this etymology, as the initial ✶Id- would have developed in Sindarin into Idh-. Tolkien explored several possible solutions to the problem: changing Idril to Ídhril or changing her Quenya name to Itarillë (PE17/112). He eventually settled on the second option (PM/346).
When Tolkien first introduced this new Quenya name, its initial element was íta “very, extremely” from the root √IT “repeat, multiply”, so that her name meant “Very Bright” (PE17/112). Tolkien later changed the meaning of this root to √IT “glitter” with the verb form ita- “to sparkle” (PM/363 note #42), and this was the etymology used by Christopher Tolkien in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/ril).
See Q. Irildë for earlier developments of this name.