Ilma

starlight

Ilma noun "starlight" (GIL)

Ilmarë

starlight

Ilmarë noun "starlight", also fem. name, referring to a Maia (GIL, SA:ilm-)

silmë

starlight

silmë noun "starlight", also name of tengwa #29 (Appendix E), though in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, the name silmë instead applied to tengwa #3 (VT46:13). Silmë nuquerna "_s reversed", name of tengwa #30, similar to normal silmë but turned upside down (Appendix E)_. In the Etymologies, stem SIL, silmë is defined as the "light of Silpion" (Telperion), and also a poetic word for "silver".

silmë

noun. starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion

A word for “starlight” and also the name of tengwa #29 [i] (LotR/1123), clearly derived from the root √SIL.

Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this word was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. silmea seems to be an adjective meaning “✱lunar” (QL/56). ᴱQ. silme also seems to be an adjectival element “gleaming, silver” in ᴱQ. silmerána “gleaming moon, silver moon” from the Oilima Markirya poem and its drafts from around 1930 (MC/220; PE16/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. silme was derived from primitive ᴹ✶silimē “light of Silpion, †silver” under the root ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” (Ety/SIL) and thus seems to mean “moonlight”. Indeed, silme had the gloss “moonlight” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51), where it was already the name of tengwa #29. It became “starlight” in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, however (LotR/1123), and elsewhere “moonlight” was isilmë (MC/223).

ilmen

place name. *Place of Starlight

The region above the air where the stars are, through which the Sun and Moon travelled (S/99, SI/Ilmen). The name is probably a compound of Ilma “Starlight” and men “place”, meaning “Place of Starlight”.

Conceptual Development: This name first appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s as ᴹQ. Silma >> Ilma >> Ilmen, translated as “Place of Light” (SM/240-1). It appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√GIL, described as the “region above air where stars are” (Ety/GIL). These earlier appearances are the source for the etymology given above.

ilma Reconstructed

proper name. Starlight

An (archaic?) name for “Starlight”, it is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writing, but appears as an element in several names (SA/ilm). It is a derivative of the root √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white)”. Elsewhere, the usual Quenya word for “starlight” is given as silmë (LotR/1123).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. ilma “air” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/142). The name ᴹQ. Ilma “Starlight” is directly attested in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/205), where it first appeared as Silma (SM/240). Ilma also appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√GIL (Ety/GIL), which is the source of the etymology noted above.

gil-galad

masculine name. Starlight

gilgalad

noun. starlight

gilith

noun. starlight, *region of the stars

A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “starlight” under the root ᴹ√GIL “shine (white or pale)” with variant forms Gilith and {?Gilwen >>} Gilfen (Ety/GIL; EtyAC/GIL). Elsewhere in The Etymologies, Tolkien compared gilith to N. gwilith “air as a region” and equated it to ᴹQ. Ilmen (Ety/WIL), so it seems Tolkien also intended it to mean “region of the stars”, though Gilfen is more likely as the direct cognate of ᴹQ. Ilmen.

gil-galad

masculine name. Starlight, (lit.) Star of Radiance

Last high-king of the Noldor and leader of the elves in the Last Alliance against Sauron at the end of the Second Age (LotR/52). His name is a compound of S. gil “star” and S. galad “radiance, glittering reflection”, the latter also an element in the name S. Galadriel “Glittering-garland” (RGEO/65, Let/425). In The Lord of the Rings his name was translated “Starlight” (LotR/191) but elsewhere Tolkien translated this name in various ways all roughly with the meaning: “Star of Radiance” (PM/347), which was the translation used by Christopher Tolkien in The Silmarillion index (SI/Gil-galad).

Conceptual Development: This name appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s as N. Gil-galad “Starlight” (Ety/GIL). At this stage, the final element was probably the lenited form of N. calad “light” (PE17/50), though N. galad also appeared in The Etymologies with the gloss “light” (EtyAC/GAL).

gilgalad

noun. 'Starlight'

prop. n. 'Starlight'. >> gil-

ithildin

noun. a silver-colored substance, which mirrors only starlight and moonlight

gilgalad

starlight

1. gilgalad (i ngilgalad = i ñilgalad, o n**gilgalad, pl. gilgelaid (in gilgelaid = i ñgilgelaid) if there is a plural form. 2) gilith (also used = Quenya Ilmen, the region of stars) (i ngilith = i ñilith, o n**gilith) _These mutations presupposed that the root is Ñ, as in MR:388, rather than _ as in the Etymologies (LR:358).

gilgalad

starlight

(i ngilgalad = i ñilgalad, o n’gilgalad, pl. gilgelaid (in gilgelaid = i ñgilgelaid) if there is a plural form.

gilith

starlight

(also used = Quenya Ilmen, the region of stars) (i ngilith = i ñilith, o n’gilith) These mutations presupposed that the root is