Isil (þ) place-name "Moon" (FS; SA:sil, Appendix E, SD:302, SIL; also defined as "the Sheen" under THIL); Isildur masc. name., *"Moon-servant" (SA:sil, Appendix A, NDŪ)
Quenya
Isil
noun. moon
Isil
moon
isil
noun. Moon, (lit.) Sheen
The usual name for the Moon in Quenya, also translated as “Sheen” (LR/240; MR/130), from an augmented form of the root √THIL (Let/425; Ety/THIL). This word is most likely the proper name of the Moon, analogous to English “Luna”. Compare this to Q. Rána “Wayward”, which is more descriptive of the nature of the body and hence closer to “Moon” (and “moon”).
Conceptual Development: The precursor to this name seems to be ᴱQ. Sil (Sill-) “moon” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from the early root ᴱ√SILI (QL/83). The root had various derivatives having to do with “gleam(ing)”, but in the contemporaneous narratives ᴱQ. Sil was translated “(silver) rose” (LT1/192 and 197 note #17). There was also ᴱQ. Silmo as a masculinized name for “moon” (QL/83), which seems to be the ordinary word for “moon” in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/75).
The name ᴹQ. Isil first appeared in early versions of the tales of Númenor from the 1930s (LR/41). The derivation given above appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/THIL) and again in a 1972 letter to Richard Jeffery (Let/425).
Cognates
- S. Ithil “Moon” ✧ Let/425; LotR/1114; PE17/039; PE17/121; SA/sil
Derivations
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √THIL > Isil [itʰil] > [iθil] > [isil] ✧ Let/425 Variations
- Ithil ✧ NM/280
Narsil
sun
Narsil (Þ) noun the sword of Elendil, compound of the stems seen in Anar "Sun" and Isil "Moon"; see Letters:425 for etymology
Anar
sun
Anar noun "Sun" (ANÁR, NAR1, SA:nár; UT:22 cf. 51); anar "a sun" (Markirya); Anarinya "my Sun" (FS). See also ceuranar, Úr-anar. (According to VT45:6, Tolkien in the Etymologies mentioned anar "sun" as the name of the short vowel carrier of the Tengwar writing system; it would be the first letter if anar is written in Quenya mode Tengwar.) Compounded in the masc. name Anárion "Sun-son" (Isildur's brother, also the Númenorean king Tar-Anárion, UT:210); also in Anardil "Sun-friend" (Appendix A), a name also occurring in the form Anardilya with a suffix of endearment (UT:174, 418). Anarya noun second day of the Eldarin six-day week, dedicated to the Sun (Appendix D). Anarríma name of a constellation: *"Sun-border"??? (Silm; cf. ríma)
Calaventë
sun
Calaventë _("k")_noun "Sun" (LT1:254)
Calavénë
sun
Calavénë _("k")_noun "Sun" (lit. "light-vessel", "light-dish") (LT1:254)
úri
sun
úri noun "sun" (MC:214, 221; this is "Qenya"); genitive úrio "sun's" (MC:216)
moon