mallorn

noun. gold tree, yellow tree

Name of the golden trees of Lórien (LotR/346).

Possible Etymology: In notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien considered a couple etymologies for this word. Initially he derived this word as a combination of malt “gold” and orn “tree”, saying it was “a later Sindarin word (since in earlier times the word malta was only used literally of the metal ‘gold’): older form malh-orn with long voiceless l” (PE17/51). He then considered it as the equivalent of Q. malinornë or maldorne where the initial element was based on ✶malnā “yellow”, with ln becoming ll in Sindarin as opposed to becoming ld in Quenya (PE17/51).

This second etymology seems to have been a transient idea. In notes from the late 1960s Tolkien said: “in The Lord of the Rings ll is used in the manner of modern Welsh for the medial voiceless l; as in mallorn < malhorn < malþorn < malt ‘gold’ and orn ‘tree’ (VT42/27)”. Thus mallorn is the best example of how ancient lt became ll (via lþ) in Sindarin. Whether or not the ll was voiceless in modern Sindarin is an open question, however; in other places Tolkien said ll was eventually voiced (PE17/131).

Conceptual Development: This word was already N. mallorn when it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s (TI/226).

Cognates

• Q. malinornë “mallorn, (lit.) golden/yellow tree” ✧ PE17/051; PE17/080; UTI/malinornë; UTI/mallorn

Derivations

• Os. malthorn “gold tree” ✧ PE17/050; VT42/27

Elements

Word	Gloss
malt	“gold, gold (as metal)”
orn	“(tall straight) tree”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
Os. malþorn > malhorn > mallorn	[maltorne] > [maltʰorne] > [malθorne] > [malθorn] > [mallorn]	✧ VT42/27

Variations

• Mallorn ✧ LotRI/Mallorn