Menel noun "heavens" (Markirya, SA), "the heavens, the firmament" (SD:401), "the apparent dome in the sky" (MR:387). Menel Cemenyë ("k") "Heaven and Earth" (VT47:30). Found in names like Meneldil "Heaven-friend" = astronomer (Appendix A; Letters:386), Meneldur masc. name, "Heaven-servant" (Appendix A, Tar-Menelduras a Númenórean King, UT:210); menelluin "sky-blue", used as noun = "cornflower" (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193). Menelmacar "Swordsman of the Sky", the Orion constellation (also called Telumehtar, Appendix E, first footnote); the older name was Menelmacil "Heaven-sword" (WJ:411); Meneltarma "Pillar of Heaven", name of the great central mountain of Númenor (SA:tar, VT42:21).Menelya fifth day of the Eldarin six-day week, dedicated to the heavens (Appendix D) Locative meneldë "in heaven"; abandoned forms menellë, menelzë (VT43:12, 16). Adj. meneldëa "(being) in heaven", evidently based on a locative form meneldë "in heaven"; abandoned forms menelzëa, menellëa, menelessëa (VT43:13, VT44:16; the last of these forms would suggest the locative form #menelessë).
Quenya
menel
noun. the heavens, firmament, sky
Menel
heavens
meneldil
masculine name. *Lover of the Heavens
meneldur
masculine name. *Servant of the Heavens
menelmacar
proper name. Swordsman of the Sky
A name of the constellation Orion, also called Telumehtar (LotR/1038). This name is a compound of menel “the heavens” and macar “swordsman”, and was translated “Swordsman of the Sky” (MR/71).
Conceptual Development: In the Early Quenya from the 1920s, another name for Orion was ᴱQ. Taimordo (QL/62), though in the narratives he appeared as ᴱQ. Telimektar (LT1/101), precursor to Q. Telumehtar. In the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, there is a variant form of this name: Q. Menelmacil “✱Sword of the Sky”.
menelmacil
proper name. *Sword of the Sky
A variant form of the name for Orion: Menelmacar (WJ/411). It seems to be a compound of menel “the heavens” and macil “sword”, so meaning “✱Sword of the Sky”.
meneltarma
place name. Pillar of Heaven
Name of the highest and holiest mountain in Númenor, translated “Pillar of Heaven” (S/261). This name is a compound of menel “the heavens” and tarma “pillar” (SA/menel, tarma).
Conceptual Development: This mountain was referred to only as the “Mountain of Ilúvatar” in the first version of the “Fall of Númenor” (LR/27). Its Quenya name first emerged in the versions of the stories associated with the unfinished “Notion Club Papers” story from the 1940s, in forms such as ᴹQ. Menelmin(do) or Meneltyúla (SD/315, 335, 346), though at this stage it frequently appeared in its Adûnaic forms: Ad. Menel-Tûbal >> Minul-târik (SD/388). In the revisions of the Akallabêth in the 1950s, the name first appeared as Menelmindon but was soon revised to its final form Meneltarma (PM/146).
menel acúna
the heavens bending
The twenty-fourth line of the Markirya poem (MC/222). It consists of another subordinate clause menel acúna “heavens bending”, with the noun menel “heavens” followed by the infinitive of the verb cúna- “to bend”. The prefix a- in acúna marks the infinitive as an object of the primary verb, which is the verb “see” of the previous phrase.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> menel a-cúna = “✱heavens (object)-bending”
Conceptual Development: In the first draft, Tolkien used na- for the object-prefix, which he first retained in the second draft before changing it to a- (MC/222).
meneldil
noun. astronomer, *(lit.) lover of the heavens
A term for “astronomer” appearing in a 1967 letter to Mr. Rang, a combination of the word Q. menel “the heavens” with the suffix -(n)dil “-lover”, so more literally “✱lover of the heavens” (though specifically “love” as in “deep interest in”). It also appeared as the proper name Q. Meneldil, the third king of Gondor (LotR/1038).
menelluin
adjective. cornflower (colour), *(lit.) sky-blue
menelya
noun. *Wednesday, Heavens-day
menelluin írildeo ondolindello
Cornflower of Idril from Gondolin
menelyas
on Wednesday
Menel
Menel
The word is understood as men "towards" + el "star" meaning "the Direction of the Stars". The loremaster Quennar is attributed as having devised the word Menel ("heavens, firmament").
meneltarma
Meneltarma
The name Meneltarma is Quenya and means "pillar of heaven", from menel and tarma.
menelwa
adjective. heavenly
A neologism for “heavenly” appearing in ABNW (ABNW) from the early 2000’s. It is simply an adjectival form of menel “the heavens”.
-yë
conjunction. and
-yë (4) conj. "and" as a suffix added to the second of a pair, as Menel Cemenyë "Heaven and Earth" (VT47:30, 31, VT49:25). Other "pairs" are mentioned as examples but not actually translated into Quenya by Tolkien: Sun and Moon (*Anar Isilyë), Land and Sea (*Nór Eäryë), fire and water (*nárë nenyë, or *úr nenyë).
Taimë
the sky
Taimë, Taimië noun "the sky" (LT1:268; rather menel in LotR-style Quenya)
macar
swordsman
macar ("k") (1) noun "swordsman" (VT39:11). In Menelmacar (see menel). According to VT41:10, macar is literally "forger" (derived from maca-, q.v.), "often used in later use of a warrior".
eruman
place name. Heaven
The Quenya name for Heaven in the final draft of Átaremma, Tolkien’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT43/12), attested only in the assimilated locative form Erumande. Its initial element is Eru “God” and its final element is probably related to the root √MAN “good, blessed, unmarred” also seen in the names Aman and Manwë, as suggested by Patrick Wynne, Arden Smith and Carl Hostetter (VT43/16).
Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of Tolkien’s legendarium, the name ᴱQ/ᴹQ. Eruman was used for the wasteland north of Valinor (LT1/91, Ety/ERE), but in the materials used for the published version of The Silmarillion, that name was changed to Q. Araman (MR/123). This freed Tolkien to use the name Eruman for “Heaven”, as suggested by Patrick Wynne, Arden Smith and Carl Hostetter (VT43/16-17).
In earlier versions of the Átaremma prayer, Tolkien used menel for “Heaven”, but it was rejected and elsewhere Tolkien said that menel referred only to “the heavens, firmament” where the stars reside (MR/387, PE17/152). In writings from the 1940s, Tolkien used ᴹQ. ilúve for “Heaven” (MR/355, SD/401), but later ilúvë meant “the whole, the all”, and was equated to Eä “the Universe” (WJ/402, Ety/IL).
Taimavar
shepherd of the sky
Taimavar masc. name "Shepherd of the Sky", Orion (LT1:268; Orion is called Telumehtar or Menelmacar in Tolkien's later Quenya)
Taimondo
orion
Taimondo, also Taimordo masc. name "Orion" (LT1:268; Orion is rather called Telumehtar or Menelmacar in Tolkien's later Quenya)
luinë
blue
luinë adj. "blue", pl. luini (PE17:66, VT48:23, 24, 28, Nam, RGEO:66). Common Eldarin luini- would also be the stem-form in Quenya (VT48:24). Compare luinincë. Apparently -luin in Illuin, the name of one of the Lamps of the Valar (q.v.), Helluin, name of the star Sirius, and Luinil, name of another blue-shining star (or planet). (SA; Luinil is tentatively identified with Neptune, MR:435). Cf. also menelluin "sky-blue", used as noun = "cornflower" (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193).
telumë
dome, roof, canopy
telumë noun "dome, roof, canopy" (TEL/TELU, WJ:411 cf. 399; see also telluma); "firmament" (MC:214), inflected telumen in MC:221 (the latter is "Qenya"). Telumehtar "warrior of the sky", older name of Menelmacar = Orion (Appendix E, TEL/TELU, WJ:411); Telumendil *"Sky-friend", name of a constellation (Silm)
luinë
adjective. blue
Illuin
blue
Illuin place-name, name of one of the Lamps of the Valar; apparently incorporating the element luin "blue" (Silm): hence *"all-blue"?
Telimbectar
orion
Telimbectar ("k") noun,name of constellation:"Orion", lit. "Swordsman of Heaven". Also Telimectar ("k"). (LT1:268; in Tolkien's later Quenya Telumehtar, q.v. The combination ct is not found in LotR-style Quenya.)
Telimectar
orion
Telimectar ("k")noun, name of constellation,"Orion", lit. "Swordsman of Heaven". Also Telimbectar ("k"). (LT1:268; in Tolkien's later Quenya Telumehtar)
and
and
a (2) conj. "and", a variant of ar occurring in Fíriel's Song (that also has ar; a seems to be used before words in f-, but contrast ar formenna "and northwards" in a late text, VT49:26). According to PE17:41, "Old Quenya" could have the conjunction a (as a variant of ar) before n, ñ, m, h, hy, hw (f is not mentioned), PE17:71 adding ty, ny, hr, hl, ñ, l, r, þ, s. See ar #1. It may be that the a or the sentence nornë a lintieryanen "he ran with his speed" (i.e. as quickly as he could) is to be understood as this conjunction, if the literal meaning is "he ran and [did so] with his speed" (PE17:58).
ar
and
ar (1) conj. "and" (AR2, SA, FS, Nam, RGEO:67, CO, LR:47, 56, MC:216, VT43:31, VT44:10, 34; see VT47:31 for etymology, cf. also VT49:25, 40). The older form of the conjunction was az (PE17:41). Ar is often assimilated to al, as before l, s (PE17:41, 71), but "in written Quenya ar was usually written in all cases" (PE17:71). In one case, Tolkien altered the phrase ar larmar "and raiments" to al larmar; the former may then be seen as representing the spelling, whereas the latter represents the pronunciation(PE17:175). More complex schemes of assimilation are suggested to have existed in "Old Quenya", the conjunction varying between ar, a and as depending on the following consonant (PE17:41, 71). An alternative longer form of the conjunction, arë, is said to occur "occasionally in Tolkien's later writings" (VT43:31, cf. VT48:14). In the Etymologies, the word for "and" was first written as ar(a) (VT45:6). In one source, Tolkien notes that Quenya used ar "as preposition beside, next, or as adverb = and" (PE17:145); compare ara.
ar
and
o (1) conj. "and", occurring solely in SD:246; all other sources give ar.
arë
and
arë conj. "and", longer form of ar, q.v. (VT43:31)
az
and
az, archaic form of the conjunction ar "and"; see ar #1.
hellë
sky
hellë noun "sky" (3EL; a distinct word hellë "frost" was struck out, see KHEL.)
ilwë
sky, heavens
ilwë noun "sky, heavens" (LT1:255), "the middle air among the stars" (LT1:273). VT49:51, 53 also mentions an obscure prononominal element ilwë.
lúnë
blue
lúnë (stem *lúni-, given the primitive form ¤lugni) adj. "blue" (LUG2, LT1:262; later sources rather give luinë, with pl. form luini_ in Namárië)_. According to VT45:29, lúnë in the Etymologies was changed by Tolkien from lúna.
mectar
swordsman
mectar _("k")_noun"Swordsman". In Telimectar ("k"). (LT1:268; in LotR-style Quenya mehtar, also macar)
ninwa
blue
ninwa adj. "blue" (LT1:262)
telluma
dome, copula
telluma noun "dome, copula", especially the "Dome of Varda" over Valinor, but also applied to the domes of the mansion of Manwë and Varda upon Taniquetil. Adopted from Valarin _delgūmā under the influence of pure Quenya telumë (WJ:399, 411). Pl. tellumar is attested (Nam, RGEO:66)_.
yo
and
yo conj. "and", "often used between _two _items (of any part of speech) that were by nature or custom clearly associated, like the names of spouses (Manwë yo Varda), or "sword and sheath" (*macil yo vainë*), "bow and arrows" (quinga yo pilindi), or groups like "Elves and Men" (Eldar yo Fírimor but contrast eldain a fírimoin [dative forms] in FS, where Tolkien joins the words with a, seemingly simply a variant of the common conjunction ar). In one source, yo is apparently a preposition "with" (yo hildinyar* = "with my heirs", SD:56).
ar
conjunction. and, and; [ᴱQ., ᴹQ.] but
A word for the firmament or “the heavens” (but not “Heaven”), derived from the root √MENEL of the same meaning (PE17/24, 152; PE21/84), possibly √MEN + √EL “✱direction of the stars” (RGEO/64). It was often used in contrasted to cemen, “earth”, “the earth” (but not “Earth”), as the surface of the world versus its (apparent) “roof”. Tolkien clarified that “these were ‘pictorial’ words, as the lore of the Eldar and the Numenoreans knew much astronomy” (PE17/24), so that menel as the dome over the world was metaphorical rather than actual.
At one point in the Legendarium there was an actual dome of heaven created by Varda, but over Aman rather than the entire world:
> Later, when the Valar took refuge from Melkor, and the imminent ruin of Arda, and built and fortified Valinor in Aman, it was Varda who made the great dome above Valinor, to keep out any spirits or spies of Melkor. It was made as a simulacrum of the true firmament (Tar-menel), and the patterns were therein repeated, but with apparent stars (or “sparks”: tinwi) of greater relative size to the total visible area. So that the lesser firmament of Valinor (Nur-menel) was very brilliant (PE17/22; MR/388).
This notion was not mentioned in The Silmarillion as published, however.
Conceptual Development: At various points in his work on the Legendarium Tolkien considered having a literal firmament or “upper airs”, ᴱQ. Vaitya (QL/100) >> ᴹQ. Vaiya. See for examples, his diagrams of the world in the Ambarkanta (SM/243, 245). How literal this notion was depended on whether Tolkien was considering the Legendarium as a cycle of myth or as an actual description of the world. In earlier documents the term for the firmament or “outermost airs” was often ᴱQ. Vaitya >> ᴹQ. Vaiya (QL/100; SM/241-245) or Q. Ilmen (SM/241-245, LR/12 etc.), the last term surviving into The Silmarillion as published (S/99).
The term menel appeared in the 1940s, mentioned as “heaven” in an early draft of Lord of the Rings Book I (RC/671) and also appearing in The Notion Club Papers and related document of the 1940s where it was a cognate of Ad. minil or minal and derived from the ancient Elvish root ᴹ√MENEL (SD/241, 414). In these document it was distinctly “the heavens, the firmament” (SD/401), but in the 1950s Quenya prayer Átaremma, Tolkien used menel = “Heaven” a number of times (VT43/8-12), though in the final draft of the prayer he used the term Eruman for “Heaven” (VT43/12). For the most part, though, Tolkien used menel for “the heavens” rather than “Heaven” in later writings.