Sindarin
ithil
noun. Moon
ithil
noun. Moon
ithil
noun. the (full) Moon, lit. 'The Sheen'
mithril
noun. Moria-silver, true-silver
The name of the magical metal of Moria, variously translated “Moria-silver” or “true-silver” (LotR/317). It is a combination of mith “grey” and √ril “brilliance” (PE17/47), so its original meaning was “✱grey-brilliance”.
Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s Tolkien considered erceleb, ithil and thilevril as names of mithril (RS/465; TI/184). Another possible precursor is the Early Qenya word ᴱQ. ilsa for the “mystic name of silver” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/42).
ithildin
noun. magical alloy that glows in moonlight, (lit.) moon-star
minas ithil
place name. Tower of the (Rising) Moon
Original name of Minas Morgul, translated “Tower of the Rising Moon” (LotR/244), a combination of minas “tower” and Ithil “Moon” (SA/minas, sil).
Conceptual Development: When it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the name N. Minas Ithil was translated more literally as “Tower of the Moon” (TI/119).
ir ithil ammen eruchín
*when the Moon, for us, the Children of God
The first phrase of Lúthien’s Song (LB/354). Three translations of this phrase are:
Patrick Wynne: “✱When the Moon, for us, the Children of Eru” (NTTLS/11)
David Salo: “✱The Moon, [having watched] for us, the Children of Eru” (GS/211)
Bertrand Bellet and Benjamin Babut: “✱When the Moon ... for us, Children of the One” (GTLC)
The first word ir is the most controversial in the poem. Wynne suggested that it might be a cognate of ᴹQ. íre “when” appearing in Fíriel’s Song from the 1930s (LR/72), but Salo suggested that it might be a variant form of the definite article i used before another i to avoid repetition (GS/211). In support of Salo, the form ir appeared as definite article in the Túrin Wrapper: ir Ellath “✱the Elves” (VT50/23), but elsewhere in the wrapper this was written in Ellath, and so ir there may only have been a slip. Furthermore, proper names like Ithil don’t generally need a definite article, as pointed out by Carl Hostetter (VT50/23, note #36). Absent further evidence, I am inclined to agree with Wynne in this case, but even this is quite speculative, since nearly two decades separate the poems.
The rest of the phrase is straightforward. The second word is Ithil “Moon”. The third word is ammen “for us”, the preposition an “for” assimilated to the pronoun men “us”. The last word is Eruchîn “Children of God”, appearing elsewhere as Eruhîn (Let/345, MR/330).
Minas Ithil
noun. the tower of the moon
minas (“tower, fort”), Ithil (“the moon”)
ithil
moon
1) Ithil (= ”the sheen”); 2) (apparently also used = ”month”) raun (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.
ithil
sheen
(The Sheen, name of the Moon) Ithil
ithil
sheen
ithil
moon
(= ”the sheen”)
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.
cýrawn
noun. new moon
cýron
noun. new moon
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.
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).