Quenya 

calima

bright

calima adj. "bright" (VT42:32); cf. ancalima; in PE17:56, arcalima appears as another superlative "brightest" (see ar- #2).

Sindarin 

gelion

place name. Gelion

A great river in eastern Beleriand (S/54). The meaning of the name is unclear. Given the river’s location in Ossiriand, this name might be Nandorin instead.

Conceptual Development: The name N. Gelion first appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the early 1930s as a revision of earlier Flend (SM/135). In The Etymologies, Tolkien said the name was based on the Ilkorin word gelion “bright” (Ety/GYEL). In later notes, Tolkien considered renaming the river to Gelduin >> Gevilon >> Gevelon or Gevolon, the last of these an adaptation of Khuzdul Gabilân “Great River” (WJ/336; NM/311). He did not apply this change in the Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, however.

Changes

  • GelduinGevilon ✧ WJ/336
  • GevilonGevelon ✧ WJ/336
  • GelionGelduin ✧ WJI/Gelduin
  • GelionGevelon ✧ WJI/Gevelon

Cognates

  • Kh. Gabilân “Great River” ✧ WJI/Gevelon

Derivations

  • Kh. Gabilân “Great River” ✧ NM/311; WJ/336; WJI/Gevelon

Element in

Variations

  • Gevolon ✧ NM/311
  • Gelduin ✧ WJ/336; WJI/Gelduin
  • Gevilon ✧ WJ/336; WJI/Gevelon
  • Gevelon ✧ WJ/336; WJ/336; WJI/Gevelon
Sindarin [LT2I/Gelion; MRI/Gelion; NM/311; SI/Gelion; WJ/336; WJI/Gelduin; WJI/Gelion; WJI/Gevelon] Group: Eldamo. Published by

glân

adjective. bright, shining white

The word is deduced from its mutated form, but it is worth mentioning that a stem GALÁN "bright", with glan "daylight" (and later "clear") as derivative, is listed in the Etymologies (not included in the published text, but see VT/45:13). Most of the words meaning "white" in the Indo-Eureopean languages come from the original notion of "brightness", e.g. Greek leukós "white" is cognate with Latin lucere "to shine", lux "light". This association of sense is also found in Gnomish, PE/11:39 (glan "clean, pure", from "bright" originally) and in Early Noldorin (PE/13:144, glann "clean"). The similarity with Welsh glan (where the vowel, incidentally, is also long, though this is concealed by Welsh orthographic convention) is also striking

Sindarin [Curunír 'Lân UT/390] Group: SINDICT. Published by

gail

bright

gail (light), lenited ngail; no distinct pl. form (VT45:18). The adj. calen etymologically means "bright", but is used = "green" (q.v.).

gail

bright

(light), lenited ngail; no distinct pl. form (VT45:18). The adj. calen etymologically means "bright", but is used = "green" (q.v.).

gîl

bright spark

(i ngîl = i ñîl, construct gil) (star, silver glint), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gîl = i ñgîl), coll. pl. *giliath** (RGEO, MR:388)*

Primitive elvish

kalinā

adjective. bright

Derivatives

  • Q. calina “light, bright, sunny, (lit.) illumined”

Elements

WordGloss
kal-“to shine, be bright”
-nā“adjective suffix; passive participle”
Primitive elvish [PE22/136] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

gelion

place name. Gelion

Cognates

Element in

  • N. Thargelion “Land beyond Gelion” ✧ Ety/THAR

Variations

  • Gelion ✧ Ety/GYEL; LR/265; LRI/Gelion; SM/135; SMI/Flend; SMI/Gelion
  • gelion ✧ Ety/THAR
Noldorin [Ety/GYEL; Ety/THAR; LR/265; LRI/Gelion; SM/135; SMI/Flend; SMI/Gelion] Group: Eldamo. Published by

gelion

masculine name. Merry Singer

A sobriquet of Tinfang appearing in the Lays of Beleriand from the 1920s (LB/174) and Silmarillion drafts from the early 1930s (SM/115). The name reappeared in The Etymologies from mid-1930s with the gloss “Merry Singer”, but the character did not appear in the Silmarillion drafts from the same period.

Variations

  • Gelion ✧ Ety/GYEL; SM/115
Noldorin [Ety/GYEL; SM/115] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Doriathrin

gelion

adjective. bright

An adjective meaning “bright” derived from the root ᴹ√GAL, the basis of the river name Gelion (Ety/GYEL). There isn’t enough information to deduce its primitive form, but Helge Fauskanger suggested ✱✶galjānā (AL-Ilkorin/gelion), which seems reasonably plausible.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√GAL “shine” ✧ Ety/GYEL

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√GAL > gelion[galjānā] > [galjāna] > [galjōna] > [galiōna] > [geliōna] > [geliōn] > [gelion]✧ Ety/GYEL
Doriathrin [Ety/GYEL] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

galan

root. bright

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. ala “day” ✧ EtyAC/GAL¹
  • ᴹQ. alan “daytime” ✧ EtyAC/GAL¹
  • ᴺS. glaen “serene, clear, fair (espec. of weather)”
  • S. glân “white, [bright shining] white; [N.] clear; [G.] pure, †bright; [ᴱN.] clean”
  • N. glan “clear” ✧ EtyAC/GAL¹
  • ᴺS. glanna- “to cleanse, purify, purge, *to clear, make clear”

Variations

  • GALÁN ✧ EtyAC/GAL¹
Middle Primitive Elvish [EtyAC/GAL¹] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Noldorin

gelion

masculine name. Gelion

Early Noldorin [LB/174] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

selka

adjective. bright

Derivations

  • ᴱ√SELE “*bright” ✧ QL/083

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√SELE > selka[selkā] > [selka]✧ QL/083
Early Quenya [PME/083; QL/083] Group: Eldamo. Published by