_n. _a cast shadow. Q. hala, poet. ixal. . This gloss was rejected.
Sindarin
esgal
noun. cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding, veil, cast shadow, shade; screen, hiding; veil
esgal
noun. veil, screen, cover that hides
esgal
a cast shadow
esgaliant
place name. Bridge of Esgalduin
esgalduin
place name. River under Veil, River under Shade
A river flowing through Doriath (S/121), translated “River under Shade” (PE17/15, 184) or “River under Veil” (Ety/SKAL¹). This name is a combination of esgal “shadow, screen” and duin “river” (SA/esgal, duin; PE17/184).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴱN. Esgalduin first appeared in the Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s where it was described as the “Elf-river” (LB/76), perhaps related to G. Egla “Elf” (GL/32). This name reappeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (SM/103, LR/260), and in The Etymologies, Ilk. Esgalduin was designated an Ilkorin name, already with essentially the same derivation as given above (Ety/DUI, SKAL¹).
Esgalduin
noun. veiled river
esgal (“veil, screen, cover”) + duin (“river”)
Esgaliant
noun. bridge over veiled river
esgal (“veil, screen, cover”) + iant (“bridge”)
Esgalduin
noun. 'the river under shadow'
n. lit. 'the river under shadow'.
escal
veil
(screen, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
escal
veil
(noun) 1) escal (screen, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail). 2) fân (cloud, manifested body of a Vala), construct fan, pl. fain
escal
screen
(noun) escal (veil, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
escal
screen
(veil, cover that hides), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
escal
cover that hides
(screen, veil), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
escal
cover
(a cover that hides) escal (screen, veil), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
escal
cover
(screen, veil), pl. escail. Also spelt esgal (pl. esgail).
fanha-
verb. to veil
v. to veil, cloak. Q. fanta-. Naturally mainly used of veils cast over things that shone, or were brighter and more vivid.
fân
noun. veil
fân
noun. cloud (applied to clouds, floating as veils over the blue sky or the sun or moon, or resting on hills)
fân
veil
(cloud, manifested body of a Vala), construct fan, pl. fain
gwathra
veil
(i ’wathra, in gwathrar) (dim, obscure, overshadow)
gwathra
veil
(verb) gwathra- (i **wathra, in gwathrar**) (dim, obscure, overshadow)
haltha
screen
(verb) haltha- (i chaltha, i chalthar);
haltha
screen
(i chaltha, i chalthar);
orthel
screen above
(i orthel, in erthelir for archaic in örthelir) (to roof)
toba
cover
toba- (i doba, i thobar) (roof over). Cited as a ”Noldorin” infinitive in -o (tobo)
toba
cover
(i doba, i thobar) (roof over). Cited as a ”Noldorin” infinitive in -o (tobo)
A word meaning either “veil, screen, hiding” (Ety/SKAL¹; SA/esgal) or “a cast shadow” (PE17/184) derived from the root √SKAL “cover, veil”, most notably an element in the name Esgalduin (S/121) translated “River under Veil” (Ety/SKAL¹) or “River under Shade” (PE17/15, 184).
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s esgal was translated “screen, hiding, roof of leaves”, but there it (and the river name) were from the Ilkorin language. In notes from around 1966-67, however, Tolkien shift the sense of the root, saying:
> √SKAL was applied to more opaque things that cut off light and cast shadows over other things ... √SPAN was applied to things of lighter texture, and corresponds closer to our “veil” ... They appear also to have differed in that while SKAL was primitively verbal SPAN was primitively nominal. Thus the most primitive derivative of SKAL was skalā and this meant the action or effect of overshadowing: a cast shadow, S esgal, Q †ixal & hala. But spanā meant a thing that veiled, a veil (PE17/184).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I think esgal can refer to both a shading screen (as it did in the 1930s) or the shadow under that screen (as it did in the 1960s), but it is unlikely that Tolkien himself maintained these two senses simultaneously. However, there are a number of other Sindarin good words for “shadow” but not many for “screen, veil”, especially since fân < ✶spanā or ✶phanā is used mainly with the sense “cloud”. However, I would limit esgal to genuinely opaque screens and curtains, ones that block most if not all light, and for a diaphanous veil I’d use fân.