_ n. _twilight. Q. úyale, yúyal.
Sindarin
muil
adjective. drear
muil
noun. drear
uial
noun. twilight
uial
noun. twilight
emyn muil
place name. Drear Hills
Hills between the river Anduin and the Dead Marshes (LotR/373), translated “Drear Hills” in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings (RC/334). It appears to be a combination of the plural of amon “hill” and muil “drear” (see that entry for further discussion).
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, these hills went through many names: N. Duil Rain >> N. Emyn R(h)ain (TI/268), later N. Sern Lamrach >> N. Trandóran before finally settling on Ety Muil (TI/424).
Emyn Muil
noun. drear hills
emyn (pl. of amon “hill”), muil (Dor. “twilight, shadow, vagueness”)
muil
dreariness
muil (i vuil) (twilight, shadow, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
muil
vagueness
muil (i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, shadow), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
muil
dreariness
(i vuil) (twilight, shadow, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
muil
shadow
(i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
muil
twilight
(i vuil) (dreariness, shadow, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
muil
vagueness
(i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, shadow), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
uial
twilight
- uial (pl. uiail if there is a pl.). This can be specified as: 1) (morning twilight) minuial (i vinuial) (dawn, morrowdim), pl. minuiail (i minuiail). 2) (second twilight, before nightfall) aduial (evendim, the time of evening when the stars come out), pl. aduiail. Other terms for twilight: 1) tinnu (i dinnu, o thinnu) (dusk, starlit evening, early night without a moon, starry twilight), pl. tinny (i thynny) if there is a pl. 2) muil (i vuil) (dreariness, shadow, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil)
minuial
twilight
(i vinuial) (dawn, morrowdim), pl. minuiail (i minuiail).
Emyn Muil
place name. the drear hills
Emyn Muil is a Sindarin name meaning "the drear hills"; the word emyn is the plural form of amon ("hill").
morchant
shadow
- morchant (i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form. 2) dae (i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae). 3) daew (i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8). 4) gwâth (i **wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261) 5) muil (i vuil) (twilight, dreariness, vagueness), no distinct pl. except with article (i muil**),
mûl
slave
(i vûl, construct mul) (thrall), pl. muil (i muil)
mûl
thrall
(i vûl, construct mul) (slave), pl. muil (i muil)
dae
noun. shadow
dae
noun. shadow, shadow (cast by an object or form), [N.] shade
guruthos
noun. the shadow of death, death-horror
morchant
noun. shadow (of objects, cast by light), dark shape
dae
shadow
(i dhae) (shade), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae).
daew
shadow
(i dhaew), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndaew) (VT45:8).
dúath
dark shadow
(i dhúath) (nightshade), pl. dúaith (i núaith). Compare the Ephel Dúath or ”Mountains of Shadow” forming th outer fence of Mordor, perhaps suggesting that Dúath is also the word used of Sauron as ”the Shadow”.
gwâth
shadow
(i ’wâth; construct gwath) (shade, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261)
morchant
shadow
(i vorchant), pl. morchaint (i morchaint). The literal meaning is ”dark shape”, referring to shadows with a recognizable form.
tinnu
twilight
(i** dinnu, o thinnu) (dusk, starlit evening, early night without a moon, starry twilight), pl. tinny (i** thynny) if there is a pl.
A word for “drear”, attested only as an element in S. Emyn Muil “Drear Hills” (LotR/373; RC/334). Ordinarily an adjective in this position would be mutated to vuil, but in notes from 1969 Tolkien explained that in modern Sindarin, an m did not always undergo grammatical mutation, especially with adjectives (PE23/136).
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was G. muil “tarn” [mountain lake] in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/58), an element in the name G. Umboth-muilin where the first element was “twilight” and the second “pools” (LT2/225). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien gave the Doriathrin/Ilkorin word muil “twilight, shadow, vagueness” from the root ᴹ√MUY (Ety/MUL), still an element in Umboth Muilin “Twilight Meres”, but now with the meaning of the elements reversed. In later writings, Tolkien changed this name to Aelin-uial, but muil in Emyn Muil might be a remnant of the Ilkorin word.
Possible Etymology: In Sindarin the word muil seems to be a (plural) adjective meaning “drear”. It seems likely me that S. muil is a remnant of earlier Ilk. muil “twilight, shadow, vagueness” derived from the root ᴹ√MUY “secret”, and may originally have been conceived of as a noun “✱dreariness” (giving an alternate explanation for its lack of mutation). If this theory of its origin is correct, its singular form is also muil.