malina adj. "yellow" (SMAL, Letters:308), "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51). Malinalda *"Yellow-tree", a name of Laurelin (SA:mal-; evidently malina + alda), translated "Tree of Gold" in the Silmarillion index. Cf. also malinornë.
Quenya
malinalda
proper name. Tree of Gold
malina
yellow
malda
yellow, of golden colour
malda adj. "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51), variant of malina. An earlier source (the Etymologies, entry SMAL) has malda as the noun "gold" but LotR gives malta, q.v., and according to VT46:14 the form malta originally appeared in the Etymologies as well. Since Quenya sometimes uses adjectives as nouns (see for instance fanya), malda could still be regarded as a valid side-form of the noun malta "gold".
tulca
yellow
tulca (3) ("k") adj. "yellow". Adopted and adapted from Valarin; the normal Quenya word for "yellow" is rather malina (WJ:399)
Another name of Laurelin (S/38), a compound of malina “yellow, golden” and alda “tree” (SA/alda, mal).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴹQ. Malinalda also appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/210), likely with the same meaning and etymology.