(= ”the sheen”)
Noldorin
ithil
noun. Moon
ista-
verb. to have knowledge
rhân
noun. Moon
Sindarin
ithil
noun. Moon
ithil
moon
ist
knowledge
ist (lore); no distinct pl. form.
ist
knowledge
(lore); no distinct pl. form.
gûl
noun. knowledge
n. knowledge, deep knowledge not 'occult' in modern sense, but applied to the deper knowledge of the 'wise' or skilled persons, not kept secret (as [?among the] Elves) but not attainable by all. Q. ñōle, B.S. gûl phantom, shadow of dark magic, necromancer, slave, servant?. The B.S. word gûl was prob. derived from ngōl-.
raun
noun. Moon
A word for “moon”, equivalent of Q. Rána, attested in later writings only as the element -rawn in the archaic form S. †cýrawn “new-moon”, in modern speech cýron (VT48/7). Based on its use in this word, as well as in N. cúran “crescent moon” [ᴺS. cúron], it seems this is the ordinary word for “Moon” (or “moon”) as a celestial body, as opposed to S. Ithil which is the proper name of the moon, equivalent to English “Luna”. Raun is derived from primitive ✶rānā from the root √RAN “wander”, and hence originally meant something like “Wanderer”, though its Quenya equivalent is usually translated “Wayward”.
Conceptual Development: A very similar form G. Rân “the moon” appeared in Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/64), as well as ᴱN. rán “moon” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/152), though in this period its etymology is unclear. It appeared as N. Rhân “Moon” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√RAN “wander, stray” (Ety/RAN), but in this period its Quenya equivalent was ᴹQ. Rana with short a. In later writings the Quenya form became Q. Rána, requiring a change to S. Raun since ancient ā became au in Sindarin.
ista
have knowledge
(i ista, in istar), pa.t. sint or istas (VT45:18).
raun
moon
(pl. roen, idh roen), coll. pl. ronath. Cf. the ending -ron at the end of month-names. Raun is basically the adj. ”straying, wandering” used as a noun, hence identifying the Moon as ”the Wanderer”. – The ”Noldorin” form rhân presupposes a different primitive form and may not correspond to S ✱rân as would normally be supposed.
silith
silver light
silith (i hilith, o silith), no distinct pl. form except with article (i silith), if there is a pl. form. The word silif is of similar meaning and would have the same mutations.
Quenya
ista-
verb. to know, to know, [ᴹQ.] learn
Nolmë
knowledge, philosophy (including science)
Nolmë ("ñ")noun "knowledge, Philosophy (including Science)" (PM:360 cf. 344)
handë
knowledge, understanding, intelligence
handë noun "knowledge, understanding, intelligence" (KHAN). Note: *handë is (probably) also the past tense of the verb har- "sit".
issë
knowledge, lore
issë noun "knowledge, lore" (LT2:339; rather ista or istya in Tolkien's later Quenya)
ista
knowledge
ista (1) noun "knowledge" (IS). Also istya.
istare
noun. knowledge
istya
knowledge
istya noun "knowledge" (IS). Also ista (#1).
Adûnaic
nîlu
noun. moon
A noun translated as “moon” and fully declined as an example of a Strong II noun (SD/431). It appears with both a short and long final -u, but Tolkien indicated that the form with long û is actually the personified form Nîlû “Man in the Moon” (SD/426), perhaps the Adûnaic name of Tilion. Tolkien also listed the “later forms Nil, Njūl” (SD/306), one of which may be the Westron word for “moon”, most likely Wes. nil. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/NUL) that this noun may be related to nûlo/nûlu/nâlu, but given the evil connotations of these words (SD/306) and the different stem vowels, this seems unlikely to me.
Primitive elvish
ista-
verb. to know
rānā
noun. moon
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
istil
noun. silver light, starlight
A Doriathrin noun for “silver light, starlight”, also given as istel, which developed from the root ᴹ√SIL (Ety/SIL). Tolkien said that it was probably originally a (ancient?) Quenya word learned from Melian. This apparently this means its development was unusual. Along with the identical Istil “Moon”, it is the only Ilkorin noun with a medial [st]. Helge Fauskanger suggested it must have developed by a strengthening of [s] to [st]. It may also be another example of a development from syllabic [ṣ], though elsewhere [[ilk|initial [s] became [es] before voiceless stops]].
istil
noun. Moon
Middle Primitive Elvish
ithil
noun. moon
ista-
verb. to know
ranā
proper name. Moon
Gnomish
celebron
proper name. Moon
rân
noun. Moon
Early Noldorin
gist-
verb. to know
rán
noun. moon
Early Primitive Elvish
ŋolo
root. to know
Early Quenya
ista-
verb. to know
rána
noun. Moon
Qenya
ista
noun. knowledge
istare
noun. knowledge
istya
noun. knowledge
nú
proper name. Moon
A name for the moon in linguistic notes from 1930s (PE21/38, 41), perhaps a derivative of the root ᴹ√NDŪ “go down”, though this root usually applied to the Sun. Its dual form Nunt referred to both the sun and moon (PE21/38).
Westron
nil
noun. moon
A word listed as a later form of Ad. nîlu “moon” (SD/306) and therefore perhaps a Westron word, as suggested by Andreas Moehn (EotAL/NUL). The other “later form” Njūl is unlikely to be Westron, since there Westron seems not have palatalized consonants.
The usual name for the Moon in Sindarin, from an augmented form of the root √THIL (Let/425; Ety/THIL). This word is most likely the proper name of the Moon, analogous to English “Luna”: in The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien indicated Ithil was a “poetic name”. Compare this to S. Raun “Wanderer”, which is more descriptive of the nature of the body and hence closer to “Moon” (and “moon”).
Conceptual Development: The first precursor to this name seems to be G. Thilim “Moon” in an early list of names (PE14/13). This became G. {Thil >>} Sil “Rose of Silpion, Moon” (GL/67, 72) and G. {Thilmos >>} Silma in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/33, 67), both derivatives of the early root ᴱ√SILI as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Sil). The name Ithil first appeared in early versions of the tales of Númenor from the 1930s (LR/41).