Valinor

the land (or people) of the valar

Valinor place-name "the land (or people) of the Valar", *"Vali-land" (Vali = Valar), land of the Gods in the West (BAL, NDOR); cf. Valandor. Full form Valinórë (BAL; Vali-nórëunder NDOR).Said to be "the true Eldarin name of Aman", the latter name being explained as a borrowing from Valarin in some versions of the linguistic scenario (VT49:26). In the early "Qenya Lexicon", Valinor, Valinórë is glossed "Asgard", the name of the city of the gods in Norse mythology (LT1:272). It seems that in such more restricted use, Valinor is not the entire Blessed Realm but rather the specific region beyond the Pelóri where (most of) the Valar dwelt, with Val(i)mar as the chief city. Thus it is said of Eärendil that he "went into Valinor and to the halls of Valimar" only after he had already left his ship and ventured as far as Tirion (Silmarillion, chapter 24). Possessive Valinóreva in Nurtalë Valinóreva, the "Hiding of Valinor", the possessive case here assuming the function of object genitive (Silm); genitive Valinórëo in Yénië Valinórëo "Annals of Valinor" (MR:200; the last word was changed from Valinóren, Tolkien revising the genitive ending from -n to -o)

valinórë

place name. Land of the Valar

Land of the Valar within Aman (S/37), a compound of Vali, an archaic plural of Vala, and nórë “land” (SA/val, dôr). It usually appeared in the shorter form Valinor. In older Quenya, this name would have meant “Valian folk”, but it was blended with archaic Valandor to get its current meaning (PE17/20, SA/dôr).

Conceptual Development: The name ᴱQ. Valinor appears in the earliest Lost Tales with essentially the same form and meaning (LT1/70), and its long form Valinōre appeared in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/66). The name ᴹQ. Valinor appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (SM/12, 80; LR/110, 205), and in The Etymologies it already had the same derivation as given above (Ety/BAL, NDOR).

In the earlier stages, the name Aman had not yet been invented, so Valinor referred to the entire land of the West, not just the land of the Valar within it.

See ✶Bali(a)nōrē for a discussion of its complex etymology.

Valandor

the land of the valar

Valandor place-name "the land of the Valar", confused with and replaced by Valinórë "the people of the Valar", short form Valinor (SA:dôr, Silm)

valandor

place name. Land of the Valar

An archaic name for Valinórë (SA/dôr, PE17/26), a compound of Vala and the suffix -ndor “land”.

Arvalin

outside valinor

Arvalin place-name, "outside Valinor" (AR2)

Valimar

vali-home

Valimar place-name "Vali-home" (Vali = Valar), the city of the Valar in Valinor, also in shorter form Valmar. Cf. the Silmarillion: "the city of Valimar where all is glad" (Valaquenta); "in the midst of the plain beyond the mountains they [the Valar] built their city, Valmar of many bells" (chapter 1). In Namárië, the word Valimar is used = Valinor, since Valimar was its chief city (Nam, RGEO:67)

Valinor

Valinor

Valinor (archaic Valinórë) is Quenya meaning "Land of Valar". There is also the name Valandor of roughly the same meaning. The terms Ever-eve or Evereven also referred to Valinor. In Hobbit lore, the mythical West was known as Faery.

nurtalë valinóreva

proper name. the Hiding of Valinor

The time when the Valar hid Valinor from the attacks of Morgoth (S/102). This name is a combination of nurtalë “hiding” and the possessive form of Valinórë.

Avallónë

of all cities the nearest to valinor

Avallónë place-name; haven and city on Tol Eressëa. In the Akallabêth the city is said to be so named because it is "of all cities the nearest to Valinor", but the etymology is not further explained. The Etymologies gives Avalóna "the outer isle" = Tol Eressëa (LONO, (AWA), VT45:28)

Eruman

desert north-east of valinor

Eruman place-name; this is a word to which various meanings are ascribed, but it always denotes some region. In the earliest phases of Tolkien's mythology, it was a region south of Taniquetil (LT1:91, 252-253). In the Etymologies, entry ERE, Eruman is a "desert north-east of Valinor". In the final version of the Quenya Lord's Prayer, where the locative form Erumandë appears, Tolkien appears to have moved Eruman out of this world entirely, making it the abode of God (Eru); Erumandë translates "in heaven".

yénië valinóreo

proper name. Annals of Valinor

Quenya title of the “Annals of Valinor” (MR/200), a combination of yénië “annals” and the genitive form of Valinórë. It also appeared as Valinóre Yénie.

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name appeared as ᴹQ. Yénie Valinóren (LR/202) using the earlier form of the Quenya genitive: the suffix -n instead of later -o. This name was preceded by the forms ᴹQ. Valinórelúmien >> ᴹQ. Nyarna Valinóren, all with the same translation.

pelóri valion

place name. Mountains of Valinor

A longer name for the Pelóri mountains, with the descriptor Valion “of the Valar”, the (archaic?) genitive plural form of Vala (MR/18). In one place, Tolkien changed this name to Pelóre Valion (MR/33), but since Pelóri consistently appeared in plural form elsewhere, this is probably an aberration.

-o

of goodness

-o (1) genitive ending, as in Altariello, Oromëo, Elenna-nórëo, Rithil-Anamo, Rúmilo, Lestanórëo, neldëo, omentielvo, sindiëo, Valinórëo, veryanwesto, q.v. In words ending in -a, the genitive ending replaces this final vowel, hence atto, Ráno, Vardo, vorondo as the genitive forms of atta, Rána, Varda, voronda (q.v.) Following a noun in -ië, the ending can have the longer form -no, e.g. *máriéno "of goodness" (PE17:59, but contrast sindiëo "of greyness" in PE17:72). Where the word ends in -o already, the genitive is not distinct in form, e.g. ciryamo (q.v.) = "mariner" or "mariners". Pl. -ion and -ron, q.v.; dual -to (but possibly -uo in the case of nouns that have nominative dual forms in -u rather than -t). The Quenya genitive describes source, origin or former ownership rather than current ownership (which is rather covered by the possessive-adjectival case in -va). The ending -o may also take on an ablativic sense, "from", as in Oiolossëo "from (Mount) Oiolossë" (Nam), sio "hence" (VT49:18). In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the genitive ending was -n rather than -o, cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren "Annals of Valinor" becoming Yénië Valinórëo (MR:200).

Ingolondë

land of the gnomes

Ingolondë place-name "Land of the Gnomes" (Beleriand, "but before applied to parts of Valinor") (ÑGOLOD)

antara

very high, very lofty

antara adj. "very high, very lofty", the adjective tára "lofty" with the superlative prefix an- (q.v.) We might have expected *antára. Also place-name Antaro (VT45:5, 36), said to be the "name of a mountain in Valinor south of Taniq[u]etil" (VT46:17)

nurtalë

hiding

nurtalë noun "hiding" (evidently a verbal stem #nurta- "hide" with the verbal noun ending -lë); Nurtalë Valinóreva "the Hiding of Valinor" (Silm)

yénië

annal(s)

yénië noun "annal(s)"; Yénië Valinórëo "Annals of Valinor" (MR:200)

nurtalë

noun. hiding

ailo

lake, pool

ailo noun "lake, pool" (LT2:339; Tolkien's later Quenya has ailin)

celusindi

river

celusindi _("k")_noun "river" (LT1:257; hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya, where the terms sírë and sirya appear instead)

cuvoite

adjective. hiding, secretive

hlóna

river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains

[hlóna (2) noun "a river, especially given to those at all seasons full of water from mountains" (VT48:27; the word is marked with a query and the note containing it rejected; it was apparently replaced by lón, q.v.)]

miruvor

mead

miruvor, full form miruvórë noun "mead", "a special wine or cordial"; possessive miruvóreva "of mead" (Nam, RGEO:66; WJ:399).In the "Qenya Lexicon", miruvórë was defined "nectar, drink of the Valar" (LT1:261).

nen

river

nen noun "river" (LT1:248), "river, water" (LT1:262) (In Tolkien's later Quenya, nén with a long vowel means "water", but hardly "river" - that is sírë.)

nendë

noun. lake, lake, [ᴹQ.] pool

A word for “lake” (PE17/52) or “pool” (Ety/NEN), derived from the root √NEN “water”.

Conceptual Development: This word appeared in both The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/NEN) and notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/37) with the same basic meaning and derivation.

nuinë

suffix. river

sindi

river

sindi noun "river" (LT1:265; rather sírë in LotR-style Quenya)

sirya

river

#sirya noun "river", attested in the dual form siryat (VT47:11). Compare sírë.

sír

river

sír noun "river", shorter form of sirë (PE17:65, VT49:17)

sír(ë)

noun. river, river, [ᴱQ.] stream

The most common Quenya word for “river”, derived from the root √SIR “flow”.

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared as ᴱQ. sīre “stream” as a derivative of ᴱ√SIŘI [SIÐI] (QL/84), and this form and gloss also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/84). The form ᴹQ. siri- “river” appeared in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s, along with uninflected sire with short i and various inflected forms with siry- (PE21/10). The form sīre “river” with long ī appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√SIR “flow” (Ety/SIR; EtyAC/SIR). In several notes from the mid-1960s, it appeared in monosyllabic form sír (PE17/65) or sīr (VT49/17), but it had dual form siryat from the late 1960s implying a stem form of sirĭ- and a development similar to that of DN from the early 1930s (VT47/11).

Neo-Eldarin: Its form síre is probably better known and more commonly used in Neo-Quenya. For example this is the typical form in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT).

sírë

river

sírë noun "river" (SIR, VT46:13), "stream" (LT1:265). Also short form sír, q.v.Compare #sirya.

inias valannor

proper name. Annals of Valinor

Noldorin title for the “Annals of Valinor”, a combination of ínias “annals” and the lenited form of the Noldorin name of the region, Balannor (LR/202).

galathilion

proper name. White Tree of Valinor

síla

verb. (he) shines white

duirro

noun. river-bank

sirion

noun. great river

blâb

verb. (he) flaps, beats

The Etymologies seem to list this word as a noun, but it is clearly the third person singular of the verb

celon

noun. river

lhammas

noun. account of tongues

lhâf

verb. (he) licks

lhôd

verb. (he) floats

oel

noun. lake, pool, mere

orthor

verb. (he) masters, conquers

osgar

verb. (he) cuts, amputates

sîr

noun. river

sîr

noun. river

sôg

verb. (he) drinks

thia

verb. it appears

tôg

verb. (he) leads, brings

tôl

verb. (he) comes

According to WJ/301, the expression tôl acharn "vengeance comes" was later changed to tûl acharn by Tolkien

ínias dor-rodyn

proper name. Annals of Valinor

Sindarin name of the “Annals of Valinor”, a combination of ínias “annals” and Dor-Rodyn “✱Land of the Valar” (MR/200).

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name first appeared as N. Inias Valannor in keeping with the different rules of lenition from that period, later revised to Inias Balannor (LR/202).

galadhad

noun. the Two Trees of Valinor

balannor

place name. Land of the Valar

Sindarin cognate of Q. Valinórë (PE17/26), a compound of BAL “power” (basis for S. Balan “Vala”) with S. dôr “land”.

Conceptual Development: The first cognates of ᴱQ. Valinor appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s: (rejected) G. Dor Banion and G. Gwalien (GL/21, LT2A/Valar). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the cognate was N. Balannor (Ety/BAL), and this is the source of the derivation given above.

In a letter from 1972, Tolkien stated that Belain (plural of Balan) was not a word in Sindarin (Let/427). Furthermore, in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, he changed the Sindarin name for the “Annals of Valinor” from N. Inias Valannor to S. Ínias Dor-Rodyn (MR/200). It is possible that Tolkien decided that the normal Sindarin word for the Vala was S. Rodon, so that S. Dor-Rodyn was the equivalent of Valinor.

rochirrim

noun. horse-lords, the people of Rohan

ónen

noun. I gave

Written onen in some editions of LotR. In the Qenyaqetsa, Qenya anta- is marked as having an irregular past tense áne. Assuming the same sound-shifts as observed in other words, this would indeed lead to onen in Sindarin, see PE/12:31 and TT/14:48-49

Lossoth

noun. the Snowmen

ael

noun. lake, pool, mere

anfangrim

noun. the Longbeards (a tribe of Dwarves)

anglennatha

verb. (he) will approach

avo

verb. don't!

Used as a negative adverb before an imperative: avo garo "don't do it!". Sometimes used as prefix: avgaro

avon

verb. I won't

cuio

verb. live!

dagorath

noun. all the battles

drúwaith

noun. the wilderness of the Drû-men (q.v.)

duin

noun. (long and large) river (having strong current)

falathrim

noun. people of the Falas

lammas

noun. account of tongues

lâf

verb. (he) licks

lô

noun. shallow lake, fenland

lôd

verb. (he) floats

noro

verb. run! ride!

Untranslated in LotR, but written nora-lim and rendered as "ride on" in RS/196 (not a literal translation) and later translated as "run swift" in RC/195. A verb nor- is attested in the old Gnomish lexicon, PE/11:61, with the meaning "to run, roll"

pêd

verb. (he) says

rammas

noun. (great) wall

sîr

noun. river

tôl

verb. (he) comes

According to WJ/301, the expression tôl acharn "vengeance comes" was later changed to tûl acharn by Tolkien

ael

lake

(aelin-, pl. aelin) (pool, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin.

celon

river

(i gelon, o chelon), pl. celyn (pl. i chelyn)

duin

river

(long, large river with strong current) duin (i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin) (VT48:24)

duin

large river

(i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54); compare the river-name Anduin, ”long river”.

ethir

of a river

(estuary), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. ethiriath. Note: a homophone means "spy".

lind

river

”singer” may also be used of rivers (see

lîn

lake

1) lîn (pool), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #liniath (isolated from Hithliniath, WJ:194). 2) ael (aelin-, pl. aelin) (pool, mere). In ”Noldorin” oel, pl. oelin. 3) nên (water, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn**. **

lîn

lake

(pool), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. #*liniath*** (isolated from Hithliniath**, WJ:194).

lô

shallow lake

(fenland), pl. lŷ.

nên

lake

(water, pool, stream, waterland), construct nen, pl. nîn.

rim

cold pool or lake

; no distinct pl. form except with article (idh rim), coll. pl. rimmath. Note: a homophone means ”crowd, great number, host”.

sîr

river

1) (also = rill) sîr (i hîr, o sîr), in compounds sir- or -hir or -hír; no distinct pl. form except with article (i sîr), coll. pl. siriath. Note: sîr is also the adverb ”today”. 2) celon (i gelon, o chelon), pl. celyn (pl. i chelyn), 3) The word lind ”singer” may also be used of rivers (see . (WJ.309).

sîr

river

(i hîr, o sîr), in compounds sir- or -hir or -hír; no distinct pl. form except with article (i sîr), coll. pl. siriath. Note: sîr is also the adverb ”today”.