sil

root. shine (white or silver)

Tolkien used the root √SIL and its variant √THIL for Elvish words for shining things for most of his life. This root first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as unglossed ᴱ√SILI with variant ᴱ√ÞILI and derivatives like ᴱQ. Sil “Moon”, ᴱQ. sili- “gleam, glint”, ᴱQ. silik “flint”, and ᴱQ. silqe “glossy hair” (QL/83), though last of these was the result of blending with ᴱ√SḶKḶ “rich, lush”, variant of ᴱ√SṚKṚ “fat” (QL/86). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had derivatives like G. Sil “Moon” and G. silc “flint” pointing only to ᴱ√SILI (GL/67); the only indication of variant ᴱ√ÞILI was in unglossed G. thil followed by deleted forms like G. Thil “Moon” (GL/72).

By The Etymologies of the 1930s, the variants ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” and ᴹ√THIL were better established (Ety/SIL, THIL). The variant ᴹ√SIL had derivatives like ᴹQ. silme/N. silif “moonlight, light of Silpion” and the extended form ᴹ√SÍLIP from which ᴹQ. Silpion was derived (Ety/SIL), and its most notable use from the 1930s forward was as the basis for the initial element of Q. Silmaril vs. S./N. silef as in N. Silevril (Ety/SIL; PE17/23; Let/425). The variant ᴹ√THIL had derivatives like ᴹQ. Isil/N. Ithil “Moon, (lit.) the Sheen” (Ety/THIL), forms Tolkien also retained from the 1930s forward. Tolkien mentioned both root variants √SIL and √THIL with the glosses like “shine (white or silver)” regularly in his later writings (Let/425; PE17/66; PE22/136; SA/sil).

sil[i]marin[a]

adjective. *crystalline

rānā

noun. moon

Silmarien

-riën

Silmarien (sometimes "-riën") fem. name, apparently incorporates sil(i)ma (Appendix A) and the feminine ending -ien, or -rien as a variant of -riel (garlanded maiden) as in Altariel (Galadriel).

sil-

verb. shine

sil- vb. "shine" (white), present tense síla "shines, is shining" (FG); aorist silë, pl. silir (RS:324), frequentative sisíla- (Markirya comments), future tense siluva (VT49:38), dual future siluvat (VT49:44, 45)

sil-

verb. to shine

#sil-cal- ("k") vb. "to shine" (silver and gold) < "Qenya" sílankálan *"they shine (silver and gold)" (VT27:20, 27); cf. sil-, cal-, q.v.

sil-

verb. to shine (white)

sil-

verb. shine (white)

sisíla-

frequentative

sisíla- is said to be the "frequentative" form of sil- (MC:223); the participle sisílala in Markirya is simply translated "shining".

untúpa

down-roofs

untúpa vb. "down-roofs" = covers (perhaps for *undutúpa-, cf. undu-). Present tense of untup- with lengthening of the stem vowel and the suffix -a (cf. síla "shines" from sil-)

elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo

a star shines on the hour of our meeting

accal(a)-

verb. shine

shine (suddenly and) brilliantly, blaze

cal-

verb. shine

#cal- vb. "shine", future tense caluva ("k") "shall shine" _(UT:22 cf. 51). Compare also early "Qenya" cala- ("k")"shine" (LT1:254)_. It is possible that the verbal stem should have a final -a in later Quenya as well, since this vowel would not appear in the future tense caluva (compare valuvar as the pl. future tense of vala-, WJ:404).

cal-

verb. to shine

calta-

verb. shine

calta- ("k")vb. "shine" (KAL)

sil-

verb. to shine

silef

sil

_ as the cognate of Quenya silma of this meaning, but silef is there asterisked, apparently to indicate that it only appears as part of the word Silevril ”Silmaril”. The word silef may also be used = Quenya silima (noun), the crystal substance of the Silmarils.

silef

shining white

is listed in LR:385 s.v. SIL as the cognate of Quenya silma of this meaning, but silef is there asterisked, apparently to indicate that it only appears as part of the word Silevril ”Silmaril”. The word silef may also be used = Quenya silima (noun), the crystal substance of the Silmarils.

síla

shine white

(i híla, i sílar) Adj.

ithil

noun. Moon

The usual name for the Moon in Sindarin, 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”: in The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien indicated Ithil was a “poetic name”. Compare this to S. Raun “Wanderer”, which is more descriptive of the nature of the body and hence closer to “Moon” (and “moon”).

Conceptual Development: The first precursor to this name seems to be G. Thilim “Moon” in an early list of names (PE14/13). This became G. {Thil >>} Sil “Rose of Silpion, Moon” (GL/67, 72) and G. {Thilmos >>} Silma in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/33, 67), both derivatives of the early root ᴱ√SILI as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Sil). The name Ithil first appeared in early versions of the tales of Númenor from the 1930s (LR/41).

cal-

verb. to shine

raun

noun. Moon

A word for “moon”, equivalent of Q. Rána, attested in later writings only as the element -rawn in the archaic form S. †cýrawn “new-moon”, in modern speech cýron (VT48/7). Based on its use in this word, as well as in N. cúran “crescent moon” [ᴺS. cúron], it seems this is the ordinary word for “Moon” (or “moon”) as a celestial body, as opposed to S. Ithil which is the proper name of the moon, equivalent to English “Luna”. Raun is derived from primitive ✶rānā from the root √RAN “wander”, and hence originally meant something like “Wanderer”, though its Quenya equivalent is usually translated “Wayward”.

Conceptual Development: A very similar form G. Rân “the moon” appeared in Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/64), as well as ᴱN. rán “moon” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/152), though in this period its etymology is unclear. It appeared as N. Rhân “Moon” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√RAN “wander, stray” (Ety/RAN), but in this period its Quenya equivalent was ᴹQ. Rana with short a. In later writings the Quenya form became Q. Rána, requiring a change to S. Raun since ancient ā became au in Sindarin.

glóren

shining with golden light

(glórin-) (golden), lenited ’lóren; pl. glórin.

ithil

moon

(= ”the sheen”)

raun

moon

(pl. roen, idh roen), coll. pl. ronath. Cf. the ending -ron at the end of month-names. Raun is basically the adj. ”straying, wandering” used as a noun, hence identifying the Moon as ”the Wanderer”. – The ”Noldorin” form rhân presupposes a different primitive form and may not correspond to S ✱rân as would normally be supposed.

ithil

noun. Moon

rhân

noun. Moon

síla-

verb. to shine white

nîlu

noun. moon

A noun translated as “moon” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/431). It appears with both a short and long final -u, but Tolkien indicated that the form with long û is actually the personified form Nîlû “Man in the Moon” (SD/426), perhaps the Adûnaic name of Tilion. Tolkien also listed the “later forms Nil, Njūl” (SD/306), one of which may be the Westron word for “moon”, most likely Wes. nil. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/NUL) that this noun may be related to nûlo/nûlu/nâlu, but given the evil connotations of these words (SD/306) and the different stem vowels, this seems unlikely to me.