valacirca

proper name. Sickle of the Valar

A constellation of seven stars (S/48), the Elvish version of the constellation of the Great Bear (SI/Valacirca), known as the Big Dipper by Americans or the Plough in Britain. It is a compound of Vala and the noun circa “sickle”.

Conceptual Development: A constellation of Seven Stars is mentioned in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/114). In the Qenya Lexicon, the name ᴱQ. Telpea Kalka “✱Silvern Sickle” is given to the Great Bear (QL/47). The name “Sickle of the Gods" for this constellation emerged in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/212), and its Quenya name ᴹQ. Valakirka appears in The Etymologies from the same period (Ety/KIRIK). The Quenya name Valacirca did not appear in the tales themselves until Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (MR/71).

Certh iMbelain

noun. Sickle of the Powers (Q Valakirka)

certh (“sickle”) + in (gen. pl. article) + Belain (pl. of Balan Power) The lenition of Balain to Mbelain reflects Tolkien's earlier view of nasal mutation, where b, d, g > mb, nd, ng [HKF]; or it could possibly be an archaic form.

cerch imbelain

proper name. Sickle of the Gods

Noldorin equivalent of ᴹQ. Valakirka appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s glossed “Sickle of the Gods”, a combination of cerch “sickle”, the elided plural of the definite article i “the” and the nasal-mutated plural of Balan “Vala” (Ety/KIRIK).