tintila-

twinkle

tintila- vb. "twinkle", present (or maybe rather aorist) pl. tintilar (Nam, RGEO:67)

tintila-

verb. to twinkle, sparkle, glitter, give tremulous light, †tremble

A verb appearing in the Namárië poem, where Tolkien translated it as “tremble” (LotR/377). It is clear form his writings elsewhere that this a poetic rendering, and the actual meaning of the word is “twinkle, give tremulous light” (PE17/66) or “sparkle, glitter” (RGEO/61). It seems to be a combination of the roots √TIN “sparkle” and √THIL “shine silver” (PE17/66), and so is especially appropriate for describing starlight.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies from the 1930s, there was a similar verb ᴹQ. tintina- “to sparkle”, likely a reduplication of the root ᴹ√TIN “sparkle”. For Neo-Quenya writing, it is probably preferable to use the better known tintila-.

Cognates

• ᴺS. tinthiltha- “to twinkle, *sparkle”

Element in

• Q. tintilar lirinen ómaryo Airë-tário ✧ PM/364
• ᴺQ. tintilië “sparkling, twinkling”
• Q. yassen tintilar i eleni “wherein the stars tremble” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. yassen tintilar i eleni “in which twinkle the stars” ✧ RGEO/59

Elements

Word	Gloss
TIN	“sparkle, spark, sparkle, spark, [ᴱ√] twinkle, [ᴹ√] emit slender (silver pale) beams”
THIL	“shine silver; white light”