prop. n. 'Daughter of Flowers'. Melian was esp. associated with the flowers in Lórien. >> lúth
Sindarin
lúthien
feminine name. Daughter of Flowers
Lúthien
noun. 'Daughter of Flowers'
lúthien’s song
Lúthien’s Song
A Sindarin poem appearing “The Lay of Leithian Recommenced” from the 1950s (LB/354), likely written in the 1950s. This poem is referred to as “Lúthien’s Song” in the literature. Tolkien did not translate the poem, but most of its vocabulary is known from elsewhere. Patrick Wynne analyzed the poem in 1990 (NTTLS, appearing in VT09/8-11), and David Salo published a different analysis of the poem in 2004 (GS/211-3). A third translation by Bertrand Bellet and Benjamin Babut appears on the GTLC website.
The English text presented here is an amalgam of these translations, rendered literally. My analysis is based largely on that of Wynne and Salo, since Bellet and Babut provided only a translation. For further discussion, see the entries for the individual phrases.
Lúthien
Daughter of Flowers
Lúthien is a Sindarin name meaning "Daughter of Flowers". The first element in the name is lúth. The second element is perhaps the feminine ending -ien.
In early writings, Doriathrin Luthien and Noldorin Lhūthien meant "enchantress", deriving from Primitive Quendian luktiēnē ("enchantress"; from root LUK "magic, enhantement").
Tinúviel (from Primitive Quendian tindômiselde) means "Nightingale", or, more literally, "Daughter of Twilight".
luithien
enchantress
luithien (Doriathrin lúthien, whence the name Lúthien), pl. luithin
luithien
enchantress
(Doriathrin lúthien, whence the name Lúthien), pl. luithin
randír
noun. wanderer, pilgrim
randir
wanderer
randir (pilgrim), no distinct pl. form except with article: idh randir. ”” as name of the Moon, see MOON.
randir
wanderer
(pilgrim), no distinct pl. form except with article: idh randir. ”
Daughter of Thingol and beloved of Beren, also known as Tinúviel (S/165). Her name was translated as “Daughter of Flowers”, a compound of lûth “inflorescence” and the feminine suffix -ien (PE17/15). This name was given to her because her mother, the Maia Melian, was especially associated with flowers when she dwelled in Lórien (PE17/161).
Conceptual Development: In very early writings, Tolkien used the name G. Lúthien for a male character, the Gnomish name of Ælfwine, translated as either “Wanderer” or “Friend” (LT2/301-4). In one place he used it as an Elvish name of England (see G. Luthany). These early names were abandoned, however.
When the character of Lúthien first appeared in the earliest Lost Tales, her given name was G. Tynwfiel, later changed to Tinúviel “Nightingale” (LT2/41, 51). In The Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s, however, Tolkien decided the name Tinúviel was given to her by Beren (LB/179-180) and that her given name as actually ᴱN. Lúthien (untranslated). This new name remained her birthname throughout all of Tolkien’s later writings, but he rarely gave the name a translation.
In The Etymologies, a rejected note translated Dor. Lúthien as “Enchantress”, a combination of luth “spell, charm” with the feminine suffix -ien (Ety/LUK). This Doriathrin translation was deleted, but the Noldorin form of her name, N. Lhúthien “Enchantress”, was not. The translation “Enchantress” is given by Hammond and Scull in the Reader’s Companion (RC/172).
The translation “Daughter of Flowers” given above appeared a list of flower roots written around 1959-60 (PE17/15), which was published after RC.