laurelindórenan

place name. (Land of the) Valley of Singing Gold

The full Quenya name of S. Lórien (UT/253), appearing in the even longer Entish description of that land: Laurelindórenan lindelorendor malinornélion ornemalin (LotR/467). The name is a combination of the elements laurë “gold”, lin(dë) “singing”, -ndor “land” and the suffix -nan “valley” (Let/448, UT/253). This name was crafted by Galadriel, and was an allusion to the Golden Tree of Valinor, Laurelin (UT/253).

Conceptual Development: This name appeared as Laurelindórinan in the first edition of The Lord of the Rings, revised to Laurelindórenan in the second (SD/73). It also appeared in a shorter variant Laurelindórë “Land of Singing Gold” (PE17/80). It seems that when Tolkien first conceived of this name, it was merely an extended, Enticized version of Lórien (PE17/80). The idea that it was the full name coined by Galadriel came later, as Tolkien further developed the etymological history of S. Lórien (UT/253).

Element in

• Q. Laurelindórenan lindelorendor malinornélion ornemalin ✧ Let/448; LotR/0467

Elements

Word	Gloss
laurë	“gold (light or colour)”
lindë	“singing, song, musical sound, singing, song, musical sound; [ᴹQ.] air, tune”
-ndor	“land, country”
nan(do)	“(wide) valley, vale, (wide) valley, vale; [ᴹQ.] water-mead, watered plain; [ᴱQ.] woodland”

Variations

• Laurelindórinan ✧ Let/448; PE17/048; UT/253; UTI/Laurelindorinan; UTI/Lórien²
• Laureline-nan(do) ✧ NM/351
• Laure-ndóre ✧ NM/351
• Laure-linde ✧ NM/351
• laurelindórinan ✧ PE17/080; PE17/080
• laurelindóre ✧ PE17/080; PE17/080
• laurelindorinan ✧ PE17/080