Primitive elvish
sil
root. shine (white or silver)
Derivatives
- ✶silimā “crystal (white), crystal (white); [ᴹ✶] silver, shining white”
- ✶silki “sheen”
- ✶sisilla- “to twinkle, glisten” ✧ PE22/136
- Q. sisíla- “to shine (frequentative)”
- Q. Isil “Moon, (lit.) Sheen” ✧ SA/sil
- Q. sil- “to shine (white)” ✧ Let/425
- Q. silima “crystal substance devised by Fëanor” ✧ SA/sil
- Q. silmë “starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion”
- S. síla- “*to shine”
Element in
Variations
- sil- ✧ SA/sil
rānā
noun. moon
Derivations
- √RAN “wander, stray, meander, go on an uncertain course, go aside from a course (commanded or self-chosen); err”
Derivatives
Element in
- ✶keu̯rānā “new-moon” ✧ VT48/07
Tolkien used the root √SIL and its variant √THIL for Elvish words for shining things for most of his life. This root first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as unglossed ᴱ√SILI with variant ᴱ√ÞILI and derivatives like ᴱQ. Sil “Moon”, ᴱQ. sili- “gleam, glint”, ᴱQ. silik “flint”, and ᴱQ. silqe “glossy hair” (QL/83), though last of these was the result of blending with ᴱ√SḶKḶ “rich, lush”, variant of ᴱ√SṚKṚ “fat” (QL/86). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had derivatives like G. Sil “Moon” and G. silc “flint” pointing only to ᴱ√SILI (GL/67); the only indication of variant ᴱ√ÞILI was in unglossed G. thil followed by deleted forms like G. Thil “Moon” (GL/72).
By The Etymologies of the 1930s, the variants ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” and ᴹ√THIL were better established (Ety/SIL, THIL). The variant ᴹ√SIL had derivatives like ᴹQ. silme/N. silif “moonlight, light of Silpion” and the extended form ᴹ√SÍLIP from which ᴹQ. Silpion was derived (Ety/SIL), and its most notable use from the 1930s forward was as the basis for the initial element of Q. Silmaril vs. S./N. silef as in N. Silevril (Ety/SIL; PE17/23; Let/425). The variant ᴹ√THIL had derivatives like ᴹQ. Isil/N. Ithil “Moon, (lit.) the Sheen” (Ety/THIL), forms Tolkien also retained from the 1930s forward. Tolkien mentioned both root variants √SIL and √THIL with the glosses like “shine (white or silver)” regularly in his later writings (Let/425; PE17/66; PE22/136; SA/sil).