Illuin

blue

Illuin place-name, name of one of the Lamps of the Valar; apparently incorporating the element luin "blue" (Silm): hence *"all-blue"?

illuin

proper name. Illuin

The northernmost of the two lamps that first lit the world (S/35). The meaning of this name is unclear.

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the name of this lamp was ᴹQ. Helkar (LR/32). In the 1950s, Tolkien changed this to Foros and then Forontë (both probably from the root ᴹ√PHOR “right hand, north”) before settling on Ormal (MR/7).

luinë

blue

luinë adj. "blue", pl. luini (PE17:66, VT48:23, 24, 28, Nam, RGEO:66). Common Eldarin luini- would also be the stem-form in Quenya (VT48:24). Compare luinincë. Apparently -luin in Illuin, the name of one of the Lamps of the Valar (q.v.), Helluin, name of the star Sirius, and Luinil, name of another blue-shining star (or planet). (SA; Luinil is tentatively identified with Neptune, MR:435). Cf. also menelluin "sky-blue", used as noun = "cornflower" (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 193).

luinë

adjective. blue

Cognates

• S. luin “blue” ✧ SA/luin; VT48/23; VT48/28
• T. luinë “blue” ✧ VT48/28

Derivations

• √LUY “blue” ✧ VT48/23
• ✶luini “blue” ✧ VT48/24
  • √LUY “blue” ✧ VT48/24

Element in

• Q. Andúnë pella Vardo tellumar nu luini “beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. Andúnë pella Vardo nu luini tellumar “West beyond [the borders of] Varda’s under blue domes” ✧ RGEO/58
• Q. Helluin “?Ice or Sky Blue” ✧ SA/luin
• ᴺQ. luicarnë “purple”
• Q. Luinil “*Blue Star” ✧ SA/luin
• Q. luinincë “bluish”
• ᴺQ. luinion “lapis lazuli, (lit.) blue-rock”
• ᴺQ. luinyellë “bluebell”
• Q. menelluin “cornflower (colour), *(lit.) sky-blue”
• Q. sanomë tarnë Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil, mi mísë, mi telepta yo morna, mi laiqua yo ninquë, mi luinë, ta Gimli mi lossëa “There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil in grey, in silver and black, in green and white, and in blue, and also Gimli in white” ✧ PE17/071

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√LUY > luine	[luini] > [luine]	✧ VT48/23
✶luini > luine	[luini] > [luine]	✧ VT48/24

Variations

• luine ✧ PE17/066; VT48/23; VT48/24; VT48/28
• luini ✧ PE17/071
• luin ✧ SA/luin

lúnë

blue

lúnë (stem *lúni-, given the primitive form ¤lugni) adj. "blue" (LUG2, LT1:262; later sources rather give luinë, with pl. form luini_ in Namárië)_. According to VT45:29, lúnë in the Etymologies was changed by Tolkien from lúna.

ninwa

blue

ninwa adj. "blue" (LT1:262)

Ringil

ringil

Ringil noun, name of one of the great Lamps (pillared on ice), apparently contains ringë (RINGI). The name was later abandoned, as Tolkien decided to call the great Lamps Illuin and Ormal.