Ilma

starlight

Ilma noun "starlight" (GIL)

Ilmarë

starlight

Ilmarë noun "starlight", also fem. name, referring to a Maia (GIL, SA:ilm-)

silmë

starlight

silmë noun "starlight", also name of tengwa #29 (Appendix E), though in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, the name silmë instead applied to tengwa #3 (VT46:13). Silmë nuquerna "_s reversed", name of tengwa #30, similar to normal silmë but turned upside down (Appendix E)_. In the Etymologies, stem SIL, silmë is defined as the "light of Silpion" (Telperion), and also a poetic word for "silver".

silmë

noun. starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion

A word for “starlight” and also the name of tengwa #29 [i] (LotR/1123), clearly derived from the root √SIL.

Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this word was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. silmea seems to be an adjective meaning “✱lunar” (QL/56). ᴱQ. silme also seems to be an adjectival element “gleaming, silver” in ᴱQ. silmerána “gleaming moon, silver moon” from the Oilima Markirya poem and its drafts from around 1930 (MC/220; PE16/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. silme was derived from primitive ᴹ✶silimē “light of Silpion, †silver” under the root ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” (Ety/SIL) and thus seems to mean “moonlight”. Indeed, silme had the gloss “moonlight” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51), where it was already the name of tengwa #29. It became “starlight” in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, however (LotR/1123), and elsewhere “moonlight” was isilmë (MC/223).

Derivations

• √SIL “shine (white or silver)”

Element in

• Q. isilmë “moonlight”
• Q. silmë nuquerna “s-reversed” ✧ LotR/1123

Variations

• silme ✧ LotR/1123

ilma Reconstructed

proper name. Starlight

An (archaic?) name for “Starlight”, it is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writing, but appears as an element in several names (SA/ilm). It is a derivative of the root √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white)”. Elsewhere, the usual Quenya word for “starlight” is given as silmë (LotR/1123).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. ilma “air” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/142). The name ᴹQ. Ilma “Starlight” is directly attested in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/205), where it first appeared as Silma (SM/240). Ilma also appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√GIL (Ety/GIL), which is the source of the etymology noted above.

Derivations

• √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white); silver glint; white or silver light”

Element in

• Q. Ilmarë ✧ SA/ilm
• Q. Ilmarin “Mansion of the High Airs” ✧ SA/ilm
• Q. Ilmen “*Place of Starlight” ✧ SA/ilm

Variations

• ilm- ✧ SA/ilm

gilith

starlight

(also used = Quenya Ilmen, the region of stars) (i ngilith = i ñilith, o n’gilith) These mutations presupposed that the root is

gilgalad

starlight

1) gilgalad (i ngilgalad = i ñilgalad, o n**gilgalad, pl. gilgelaid (in gilgelaid = i ñgilgelaid) if there is a plural form. 2) gilith (also used = Quenya Ilmen, the region of stars) (i ngilith = i ñilith, o n**gilith) _These mutations presupposed that the root is Ñ, as in MR:388, rather than _ as in the Etymologies (LR:358).

gilgalad

starlight

(i ngilgalad = i ñilgalad, o n’gilgalad, pl. gilgelaid (in gilgelaid = i ñgilgelaid) if there is a plural form.

gilith

noun. starlight, *region of the stars

A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “starlight” under the root ᴹ√GIL “shine (white or pale)” with variant forms Gilith and {?Gilwen >>} Gilfen (Ety/GIL; EtyAC/GIL). Elsewhere in The Etymologies, Tolkien compared gilith to N. gwilith “air as a region” and equated it to ᴹQ. Ilmen (Ety/WIL), so it seems Tolkien also intended it to mean “region of the stars”, though Gilfen is more likely as the direct cognate of ᴹQ. Ilmen.

Changes

• Gilwen → Gilfen “starlight” ✧ EtyAC/GIL

Cognates

• ᴹQ. Ilma “Starlight” ✧ Ety/GIL; Ety/GIL
• ᴹQ. Ilmen “Place of Light” ✧ Ety/WIL

Elements

Word	Gloss
geil	“star”
-th	“abstract noun”

Variations

• Gilwen ✧ Ety/GIL (Gilwen)
• Gilith ✧ Ety/GIL
• Gilfen ✧ EtyAC/GIL

gilgalad

noun. starlight

gil-galad

masculine name. Starlight

Elements

Word	Gloss
geil	“star”
calad	“light”

Variations

• gilgalad ✧ Ety/GIL
• Gilgalad ✧ SDI2/Gilgalad

gilith

noun. region above air where stars are

cf. Q ilmen