Varda

the sublime

Varda fem. name "the Sublime", name of a Valië, spouse of Manwë, the Queen of the Valar, called Elbereth in Sindarin (BARATH, BARÁD, WJ:402; in Letters:282 Varda is translated the "Lofty"). As a general adjective "sublime", †varda could still occur as a poetic word in verse (PE17:23), but normal prose would apparently rather use the related word varanda (q.v.) Genitive Vardo (for Vardao). (Nam, RGEO:66). Vardamir masc. name, "Varda-jewel" (Appendix A, UT:210); vardarianna ?"Varda-gift", name of a tree (but the ri element is obscure) (UT:167)

varda

feminine name. Exalted, Lofty, Sublime

Valië of the stars, spouse of Manwë (S/26). Her name is variously translated “Exalted” (RGEO/61), “Lofty” (Let/282) or “Sublime” (WJ/402). It is derived from the primitive name ✶Baradā from the root √BARAD “lofty, high” (PE17/22).

Conceptual Development: The name ᴱQ. Varda dates back to the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/58), though at this early stage it was a derivative of the root ᴱ√VṚÐṚ along with ᴱQ. varni “queen” and the verb ᴱQ. vard- “rule, govern” (QL/102, LT1A/Varda). In The Etymologies from the 1930s, Tolkien changed the derivation of ᴹQ. Varda to the one given above (Ety/BARAD), and this etymology reappeared in writings from the 1950s (PE17/22).

Cognates

• Ad. Avradî “*Varda”

Derivations

• ✶Baradā “Varda” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BARAD “lofty, high, height combined with strength/size/majesty” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BAR “[ᴹ√] raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)”
• √BARAD “lofty, high, height combined with strength/size/majesty” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BAR “[ᴹ√] raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)”

Element in

• Q. Andúnë pella Vardo tellumar nu luini “beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. Andúnë pella Vardo nu luini tellumar “West beyond [the borders of] Varda’s under blue domes” ✧ RGEO/58
• Q. an sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë “for now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. an sí Varda, Tintallë, Elentári ortanë máryat Oiolossëo ve fanyar “for now Varda, Star-kindler, Star-queen [has] lifted up her (two) hands from Mount Everwhite like (white) clouds” ✧ RGEO/59
• Q. ma Varda enquantuva i yulma nin sí “will Varda now refill the cup for me?” ✧ PE22/161
• Q. Varda Aratarya “Varda the lofty, Varda in her sublimity” ✧ WJ/369
• Q. Vardamir “*Varda-jewel”
• Q. vardarianna “fragrant evergreen tree”
• Q. Vardilmë “?Friend of Varda”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶baradā > Varda	[baradā] > [bardā] > [βardā] > [βarda] > [varda]	✧ PE17/022
√BARAD > Varda	[baradā] > [bardā] > [βardā] > [βarda] > [varda]	✧ PE17/022

Variations

• Várda ✧ RGEO/58

varanda

sublime

varanda adj. "sublime" (PE17:23), related to the name Varda.

varanda

adjective. sublime

Cognates

• S. brand “towering; tall and massive, towering, tall and massive, [N.] high; lofty, noble, fine” ✧ PE17/023

Derivations

• √BARAD “lofty, high, height combined with strength/size/majesty” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BAR “[ᴹ√] raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√BARAD > varanda	[baranda] > [βaranda] > [varanda]	✧ PE17/022

arta

exalted, lofty

arta (1) adj. "exalted, lofty" (PM:354), "high, noble" (PE17:118, 147); cf. names like Artaher, Artanis.

tára

lofty

tára (1) adj. "lofty". (SA:tar, LT1:264, TĀ/TA3 (AYAK, TÁWAR), VT45:6), "tall, high" (WJ:417). Compare antara. Adverb táro in an early "Qenya" text (VT27:20, 26). The adj. tára is not to be confused with the continuative form of the verb #tar- "stand".

an sí tintallë varda oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat elentári ortanë

for now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds

Ninth and tenth lines @@@

Element in

• Q. Namárië “Farewell”

Variations

• An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë ✧ LotR/0377
• An sī́ Tìntálle Várda Óiolóssëò ve fányar mā́ryat Élentā́ri órtanè ✧ RGEO/58

-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).

Varda

Varda

Varda is a Quenya name, meaning "sublime" or "lofty", from Primitive Quendian baradâ, merged with barathî.[source?] In Telerin she was called Baradis, and in Sindarin Elbereth. All these come from the Root BARÁD/BARATH. In Adûnaic, her name was adapted rather than translated; it became Avradî. Some older forms were Baráda, Bridhil, Timbridhil and Tinwetári. Elbereth derives from elen-bereth meaning "star-queen". It represents evolution of Primitive Quendian *elen-barathî (the final -i umlauted the word to berethi) > elemberethi > elbereth.

raud

lofty

adj. lofty. Q. rāta. >> arod, taer

taer

lofty

adj. lofty. Q. tāra.

taer

adjective. lofty, lofty, *high

Cognates

• Q. tára “lofty, tall, high” ✧ PE17/186; PE17/186

Derivations

• √TĀ/TAƷ “high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble” ✧ PE17/186
• ✶tagra ✧ PE17/186
  • √TĀ/TAƷ “high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble” ✧ PE17/186

Element in

• S. Targon

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶tagra > taer	[taɣra] > [tagra] > [taɣra] > [taira] > [tair] > [taer]	✧ PE17/186

elbereth

varda

arth

lofty

1) arth (noble, exalted), pl. erth, 2) brand (high, noble, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind, 3) orchall (superior, eminent), pl. erchail (for archaic örchail), 4) taur (also tor-, tar- in compounds) (high, sublime, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

arth

lofty

(noble, exalted), pl. erth

arth

exalted

1) arth (lofty, noble), pl. erth;

arth

exalted

(lofty, noble), pl. erth

taur

lofty

(also tor-, tar- in compounds) (high, sublime, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

taur

sublime

taur (also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

taur

sublime

(also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

brand

lofty

(high, noble, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind

hall

exalted

hall (high); lenited chall; pl. hail. Note: a homophone means ”veiled, hidden, shadowed, shady”.

hall

exalted

(high); lenited chall; pl. hail. Note: a homophone means ”veiled, hidden, shadowed, shady”.

orchall

lofty

(superior, eminent), pl. erchail (for archaic örchail)

avradî

feminine name. *Varda

An Adûnaic name for a goddess with the title Gimilnitîr “Star-kindler” (SD/428). Though Tolkien never made it explicit, it is clearly the Adûnaic name of Varda (S. Elbereth). This name is curious, since [v] is not one of the phonemes used in Adûnaic (SD/418). Most likely it is pronounced [awradī]. Tolkien said that to represent the sound [w], he sometimes “used ‘v’ in the Anglicanizing of Adunaic names” (SD/434). Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne suggested (AAD/12) that it may be a derivative of Primitive Elvish ✶Baradā.

Cognates

• Q. Varda “Exalted, Lofty, Sublime”
• ᴹQ. Varda “Lofty, Sublime” ✧ SDI2/Avradî

Derivations

• ✶Baradā “Varda”
  • √BARAD “lofty, high, height combined with strength/size/majesty” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BAR “[ᴹ√] raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)”

Variations

• Avradī ✧ SD/428

baradā

adjective. Varda

Derivations

• √BARAD “lofty, high, height combined with strength/size/majesty” ✧ PE17/022
  • √BAR “[ᴹ√] raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)”

Derivatives

• Ad. Avradî “*Varda”
• Q. Varda “Exalted, Lofty, Sublime” ✧ PE17/022

Variations

• baradā ✧ PE17/022

bredhil

feminine name. Varda

A Noldorin name for Varda appearing in the earliest Silmarillion drafts from the late 1920s, replacing older G. Bridhil (SM/43). It also appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s as a derivative of ON. Bradil (Ety/BARÁD), but these names were rejected and possibly replaced by N. Berethil or N. Elbereth (Ety/BARATH).

Cognates

• ᴹQ. Varda “Lofty, Sublime” ✧ Ety/BARÁD

Derivations

• On. Bradil “Varda” ✧ Ety/BARÁD
  • ᴹ✶b’radil- ✧ Ety/BARÁD
  • ᴹ√BARAD “*lofty, noble” ✧ Ety/BARÁD
    • ᴹ√BAR “raise; uplift, save, rescue(?)” ✧ Ety/BAR

Element in

• N. Timbredhil ✧ Ety/TIN

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
On. Bradil > Breðil	[bradil] > [braðil] > [breðil]	✧ Ety/BARÁD

Variations

• Breðil ✧ Ety/BARÁD (Breðil)
• -breðil ✧ Ety/TIN

gilbrennil

feminine name. Varda

A name for Varda appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/GIL), a combination of geil “star” and brennil “lady”. This name was probably replaced by Elbereth.

Elements

Word	Gloss
geil	“star”
brennil	“lady”

brand

adjective. lofty, noble, fine

brand

adjective. high (in size)

brann

adjective. lofty, noble, fine

brann

adjective. high (in size)

hall

adjective. exalted, high