Quenya 

silmë

starlight

silmë noun "starlight", also name of tengwa #29 (Appendix E), though in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, the name silmë instead applied to tengwa #3 (VT46:13). Silmë nuquerna "_s reversed", name of tengwa #30, similar to normal silmë but turned upside down (Appendix E)_. In the Etymologies, stem SIL, silmë is defined as the "light of Silpion" (Telperion), and also a poetic word for "silver".

silmë

noun. starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion

A word for “starlight” and also the name of tengwa #29 [i] (LotR/1123), clearly derived from the root √SIL.

Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this word was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. silmea seems to be an adjective meaning “✱lunar” (QL/56). ᴱQ. silme also seems to be an adjectival element “gleaming, silver” in ᴱQ. silmerána “gleaming moon, silver moon” from the Oilima Markirya poem and its drafts from around 1930 (MC/220; PE16/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. silme was derived from primitive ᴹ✶silimē “light of Silpion, †silver” under the root ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” (Ety/SIL) and thus seems to mean “moonlight”. Indeed, silme had the gloss “moonlight” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51), where it was already the name of tengwa #29. It became “starlight” in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, however (LotR/1123), and elsewhere “moonlight” was isilmë (MC/223).

Derivations

  • SIL “shine (white or silver)”

Element in

Variations

  • silme ✧ LotR/1123

isilmë

moonlight

isilmë (þ) noun "moonlight", occurring in Markirya; free translation "the moon" in MC:215 (isilmë ilcalassë, literally "moonlight gleaming-in" = "in the moon gleaming"). Isilmë also appears as the name of a Númenorean woman (UT:210).

isilmë

noun. moonlight

A word loosely translated as “moon” in the Markirya poem of the 1960s (MC/222), but more accurately “moonlight” according to the glossary following the poem (MC/223), perhaps an elaboration of Q. silmë “starlight” under the influence of Q. Isil “moon”.

Conceptual Development: A similar word ᴱQ. silma “a ray of moonlight” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from the early root ᴱ√SILI which was also the basis for ᴱQ. Sil “moon” (QL/83).

Element in

Elements

WordGloss
Isil“Moon, (lit.) Sheen”
silmë“starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion”

Variations

  • isilme ✧ MC/222; MC/222; MC/222; MC/223
Quenya [MC/222; MC/223] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Ilmarë

starlight

Ilmarë noun "starlight", also fem. name, referring to a Maia (GIL, SA:ilm-)

Ilma

starlight

Ilma noun "starlight" (GIL)

Silpion

silpion

Silpion, a name of the Elder of the Two Trees of Valinor (Telperion, the White Tree). (Silm, SIL, SÍLIP, BAL, ROS1, LR:385) In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, the name Silpion is also applied to tengwa #29, which letter Tolkien would later call silmë instead.

ilma Reconstructed

proper name. Starlight

An (archaic?) name for “Starlight”, it is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writing, but appears as an element in several names (SA/ilm). It is a derivative of the root √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white)”. Elsewhere, the usual Quenya word for “starlight” is given as silmë (LotR/1123).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. ilma “air” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/142). The name ᴹQ. Ilma “Starlight” is directly attested in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/205), where it first appeared as Silma (SM/240). Ilma also appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√GIL (Ety/GIL), which is the source of the etymology noted above.

Derivations

  • (Ñ)GIL “shine (white); silver glint; white or silver light”

Element in

  • Q. Ilmarë ✧ SA/ilm
  • Q. Ilmarin “Mansion of the High Airs” ✧ SA/ilm
  • Q. Ilmen “*Place of Starlight” ✧ SA/ilm

Variations

  • ilm- ✧ SA/ilm