A title of Varda as maker of the stars (LotR/377). The first element of this name is the verb tinta- “to kindle” (SA/tin, MR/388), and the second element is the feminine agental suffix -llë (PE17/69).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴹQ. Tintalle appears in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/200, 212), as well as in The Etymologies (Ety/TIN). In The Etymologies, the variant form ᴹQ. Tintánie “star-maker, star-making” also appeared (Ety/TIN, TAN; EtyAC/TAN), which seems to be a combination of the roots ᴹ√TIN “sparkle” and ᴹ√TAN “make” with the abstract noun ending ᴹQ. -ie; this name did not appear in the narratives, however.
In Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien considered and rejected the root √TAN “construct” as an element in the name Tintallë (PE17/69). After this rejection, he decided that the final element -lle was a feminine agental suffix, but this unfortunately clashed with the contemporaneous 2nd-plural pronominal suffix -llë “you”. Tolkien considered changing Varda’s title to Tintalde to avoid this conflict (PE17/69). In later writings, he revised the 2nd-plural pronoun to -ldë instead (VT49/16, 51), which allowed Tintallë to stand unchanged.
Tintallë noun "Kindler", a title of Varda who kindled the stars (TIN, Nam, RGEO:67). From tinta- "kindle, make to sparkle" (MR:388). According to PE17:69, the form "should be Tintalde", apparently because -llë was at the time the ending for plural "you" and Tintallë could be taken as meaning *"you kindle" rather than as a noun "Kindler". However, Tolkien later changed the pronominal suffix, eliminating the clash of forms while leaving Tintallë correct (after the revision, it was *tintaldë itself that would be the verb "you kindle").