gîl (pl. of gîl “star, bright spark”) + thóniel (perf. act. part. of than- “kindle, set light to”) #[HKF] it is possible that iel is just iell “daughter” [Etym. SEL-D] traditional ending for women’s names.
Sindarin
gilthoniel
feminine name. Star-kindler
Gilthoniel
noun. star-kindler
Gilthoniel
Starkindler
_ theon. _Starkindler (in past). >> thoniel
Gilthoniel
'Star-kindler'
theon.'Star-kindler'. Q. Tintalle. THĂN/THĀN << TÁN << TON; ÑGIL << GIL.
a elbereth gilthoniel
A Elbereth Gilthoniel
A Sindarin song in praise of Elbereth, from the Fellowship of the Ring (LotR/238), generally known by its first line: A Elbereth Githoniel. There is a related invocation spoken by Samwise in the Two Towers (LotR/729), which is often treated as a “second verse” of this poem. Both verses are untranslated in The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien wrote extensive commentary on the poem(s) in RGEO/63-67. A translation of Sam’s invocation also appears on Let/278.
elbereth gilthoniel
Elbereth Gilthoniel
a hîr annûn gilthoniel
*oh Lady of the West, Star-kindler
The fourth phrase of Lúthien’s Song (LB/354). Three translations of this phrase are:
Patrick Wynne: “✱O Lord of the West, star-kindling” (NTTLS/11)
David Salo: “✱O Lady of the West, star-kindler” (GS/211)
Bertrand Bellet and Benjamin Babut: “✱O Lady of the West, Starkindler” (GTLC)
The first word is the vocative particle a “O”. The second word hîr is typically translated as masculine “lord”, but since in this case it is addressing Elbereth, I think (like Salo, Bellet and Babut) it is better to translate it as “lady”, even though elsewhere the Sindarin word for “lady” is given as hiril or heryn. The third word is annûn “west” and the last word is Gilthoniel “Star-kindler”, one of the names of Elbereth (Varda).
Patrick Wynne instead suggested (NTTLS/10) that the fact that the word gilthoniel is lower case might mean it is an adjectival form “star-kindling” applied to the Moon rather than Varda, and he is addressed as “Lord” (the Elves considered the Moon to be male). This does explain the masculine form Hîr, but I find it difficult to believe that Lúthien would address the Moon by one of Varda’s name, and follow Salo, Bellet and Babut in assuming the words are spoken to Elbereth.
a elbereth gilthoniel
o Elbereth who lit the stars
a elbereth gilthoniel
o Elbereth who lit the stars
thoniel
kindler
(pl. thonil). Isolated from Varda’s title Gilthoniel, Star-kindler.
A title of Elbereth (LotR/238) translated “Star-kindler” (RGEO/64, Let/278), the equivalent of Q. Tintallë (MR/388). This name is a combination of gil “star”, a derivative of the root √THAN “kindle” and the feminine suffix -iel (PE17/22-3, MR/388).
Conceptual Development: The name N. Gilthoniel appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s with essentially the same derivation as the one given above, except that the middle element was from the root ᴹ√TAN “make, fashion”, and the gloss was “Star-maker” (Ety/GIL, TAN). When this name first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, it was Gilthonieth, a form that also appeared in The Etymologies, but it was soon revised to Gilthoniel (RS/68). In some notes from the 1950s, Tolkien considered the possibility that the final element thoniel was a special past-tense agental formation meaning “kindler (in the past)” (PE17/82).