[Iolossë] place-name "Everlasting Snow" = Taniquetil (GEY, EY; changed to Oiolossë)
Quenya
oiolossë
place name. Ever (Snow) White
Iolossë
everlasting snow
oron oiolossë
place name. Mount Everwhite
oiolossë
Oiolossë
Oiolossë (also spelled Oiolosse) is Quenya and means "Ever-snow-white", "Everwhite/snowy", or "Everlasting snow". The name seems to consist of oio "ever" (cf. root OY-) and losse "snow". In Eriol's Old English translations, Oiolossë is referred to as Sinsnaw, Sinsnaewen "Ever-snow". The Sindarin equivalent of Oiolossë was Amon Uilos.
oron
noun. mountain
A word for “mountain” in Quenya whose stem form was oront-, so that it’s plural would be oronti (Ety/ÓROT).
Conceptual Development: There were a number of competing “mountain” words in Quenya of similar derivation, all based on the root √ORO “rise”; its Sindarin cognate S. orod “mountain” was much more stable in form. The earliest iteration of these Quenya words was ᴱQ. oro “hill” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√ORO, unglossed but with other derivatives like ᴱQ. oro- “rise” and ᴱQ. orto- “raise” (QL/70). The word oro “hill” also appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa from this period, alongside a variant form oron(d) of the same meaning (PME/70).
The variant oron reappeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, now with the gloss “mountain” (PE21/33); its inflected forms indicate a stem form of {orom- >>} orum- (PE21/34 and note #125). ᴹQ. oron “mountain” appeared again in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT, this time with a stem form oront- as indicated by its plural oronti (Ety/ÓROT). Oron appeared once more in the name Q. Oron Oiolossë “Mount Everwhite” from the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 (WJ/403).
In Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien gave the variant forms oro, orto “mountain” as derivatives of √ORO/RŌ “rise, mount” (PE17/63-64). ᴹQ. orto had previously appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT but with the gloss “mountain-top” (Ety/ÓROT). Hints of this earlier meaning can be seen in the 1968 word Q. orotinga “mountain-top” though in this compound the second element Q. inga also means “top” (VT47/28). Orto “mountain” may be the final element of the 1968 name Q. Tarmacorto “High Mountain Circle”, but more likely the last element is derivative of √KOR “round”, perhaps ✱Q. corto “circle” (NM/351).
As for oro, it meant “mountain” as an element in many late names: Q. Orocarni “Red Mountains” (MR/77), Q. Orofarnë “Mountain Ash” (PE17/83), Q. oromandi “mountain dweller[s]” (PE16/96), and Q. Pelóri “Mountain Wall” (PE17/26), though in one place Tolkien glossed the prefix oro- as “hill” (PE17/83), perhaps a callback to its meaning in the 1910s.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I feel oron(t) for “mountain” is better established among Neo-Quenya writers. It is the form used in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT), for example. The word Q. orto was not used for “mountain” until quite late, and I would stick with its 1930s meaning “mountain-top”. As for Q. oro, I would use it as “mountain” only in compounds, not as an independent word.
-o
of goodness
-o (1) genitive ending, as in Altariello, Oromëo, Elenna-nórëo, Rithil-Anamo, Rúmilo, Lestanórëo, neldëo, omentielvo, sindiëo, Valinórëo, veryanwesto, q.v. In words ending in -a, the genitive ending replaces this final vowel, hence atto, Ráno, Vardo, vorondo as the genitive forms of atta, Rána, Varda, voronda (q.v.) Following a noun in -ië, the ending can have the longer form -no, e.g. *máriéno "of goodness" (PE17:59, but contrast sindiëo "of greyness" in PE17:72). Where the word ends in -o already, the genitive is not distinct in form, e.g. ciryamo (q.v.) = "mariner" or "mariners". Pl. -ion and -ron, q.v.; dual -to (but possibly -uo in the case of nouns that have nominative dual forms in -u rather than -t). The Quenya genitive describes source, origin or former ownership rather than current ownership (which is rather covered by the possessive-adjectival case in -va). The ending -o may also take on an ablativic sense, "from", as in Oiolossëo "from (Mount) Oiolossë" (Nam), sio "hence" (VT49:18). In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the genitive ending was -n rather than -o, cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren "Annals of Valinor" becoming Yénië Valinórëo (MR:200).
Taniquetil
high white horn
Taniquetil (Taniquetild-), place-name: the highest of the mountains of Valinor, upon which were the mansions of Manwë and Varda. Properly, this name refers to the topmost peak only, the whole mountain being called Oiolossë (SA:til). The Etymologies has Taniquetil, Taniquetildë ("q") (Ta-niqe-til) ("g.sg." Taniquetilden, in LotR-style Quenya this is the dative singular) "High White Horn" (NIK-W, TIL, TA/TA3, OY). Variant Taníquetil with a long í, translated "high-snow-peak"(PE17:26, 168).
oio
endless period
oio noun "an endless period" (CO) or adv. "ever" (SA:los). Oiolairë "Ever-summer" (name of a tree, UT:167; also in the name Coron Oiolairë, "Mound of Ever-summer". Oiolossë "Everwhite, Ever-snowwhite", a name of Taniquetil (OY), hence the translation "Mount Everwhite" in Tolkien's rendering of Namárië. See also SA:los. Explicit "mount" in Oron Oiolossë "Mount Everwhite" (WJ:403). Ablativic genitive Oiolossëo "from Mount Everwhite" in Namárië (Nam, RGEO:67, OY)
oron
mountain
oron (oront-, as in pl. oronti) noun "mountain" (ÓROT; the root occurs in orotinga, q.v.) Oron Oiolossë "Mount Everwhite" (WJ:403)
Another name for Taniquetil (LotR/377, S/37) variously translated as “Everlasting Whiteness”, “Ever-snow”, “Ever-white” or “Ever-snow-white”. This name is a compound of oi(o) “ever” and lossë “snow, snow-white” (RGEO/61).
Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name first appeared as ᴹQ. Ialasse “Everlasting Whiteness” (SM/81). A similar form ᴹQ. Iolosse appeared in The Etymologies (Ety/EY, GEY) and possibly also in the Silmarillion texts (LR/210), but it was rejected and replaced by its final form ᴹQ. Oiolosse (Ety/OY, LR/209).