Cirith Ninniach means "Pass of the Slender Crossing" in Sindarin (from cirith = "cleft, pass", ninn = "slender", and iach = "ford, crossing"). An early (Gnomish) name for the pass was Glorfalc, the "Golden Cleft".
Sindarin
cirith ninniach
place name. Rainbow Cleft
Cirith Ninniach
Cirith Ninniach
Cirith Ninniach
Pass of the Slender Crossing
The pass that led Tuor to the sea, translated “Rainbow Cleft” (S/238). This name is a combination of cirith “cleft” and ninniach “rainbow”.
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this pass was first called G. Cris a Teld Quing Ilon “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” (LT2A/Teld Quing Ilon), revised to G. Cris Ilbranteloth (same translation) in the narratives (LT2/150, 202). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name was changed again to N. Cris-Ilfing >> Cirith Helvin “Rainbow Cleft” (SM/141, 146). The name Cirith Ninniach emerged in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/256, 299).