Vanimeldë fem. name (Appendix A), apparently a feminized form of the adj. vanimelda, q.v.
Quenya
vanimelda
the highest word of praise for beauty
vanimelda
adjective. beautiful and beloved, elven-fair
Cognates
Element in
- Q. Arwen vanimelda, namárië “Arwen beautiful and beloved, farewell” ✧ LotR/0352
- Q. Vanimeldë
Elements
Word Gloss vanima “beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair” melda “dear, beloved, beloved, dear, [ᴹQ.] sweet” Elda “Elf, (lit.) one of the Star-folk” Variations
- Vanimelda ✧ PE17/056; PE17/057
Vanimeldë
vanimeldë
vanima
beautiful, fair
vanima adj. "beautiful, fair" (BAN, VT39:14) (glossed "proper, right, fair" in early "Qenya", LT1:272, though a later source says the word is used "only of living things, especially Elves and Men", PE17:150); nominal pl. vanimar "beautiful ones", partitive pl. genitive vanimálion, translated "of beautiful children", but literally meaning *"of [some] beautiful ones") (LotR3:VI ch. 6, translated in Letters:308). Arwen vanimalda "Beautiful Arwen", literally "Arwen your beauty" (see -lda for reference; changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR; see vanimelda).
vanima
adjective. beautiful
calwa
beautiful
calwa ("k") adj. "beautiful" (LT1:254)
mairëa
beautiful
mairëa adj. "beautiful" (of things made by art) (PE17:163). An alternative (and peculiar) form "mairia" is also implied in the source.
mírya
beautiful
mírya adj. "beautiful" (of work of art only) (PE17:165)
vanimelda adj., said to be "the highest word of praise for beauty", with two interpretations that were apparently considered equally valid and simultaneously true: "beautiful and beloved" (vanima + melda, with haplology), i.e. "movingly lovely", but also "elven-fair" (fair as an Elf) (vanima + elda). The word was also used as the second name of Arwen. (PE17:56, Second Edition LotR1:II ch. 16).