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 Archaic

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)

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.

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

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.