The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

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The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two Page 46

by J. R. R. Tolkien


  43 Literally, as he maintained: ‘From that (grief) one moved on; from this in the same way one can move on.’

  44 There are long roots beneath the words of The Fellowship of the Ring (I.2): ‘Elves…could now be seen passing westward through the woods in the evening, passing and not returning; but they were leaving Middle-earth and were no longer concerned with its troubles.’ ‘“That isn’t anything new, if you believe the old tales,’” said Ted Sandyman, when Sam Gamgee spoke of the matter.

  I append here a synopsis of the structural differences between the three versions of Ælfwine of England.

  A: Æ. sails from Belerion and sees ‘islands in the dawn’.

  I: As in A

  II: As in A, but his companion Ælfheah is named.

  A: Æ. sails again with 7 mariners of England. They are shipwrecked on the isle of the Man of the Sea but all survive.

  I: Æ. has only 3 companions, and he alone survives the shipwreck.

  II: Æ. has 7 companions, and is alone on the isle of the Man of the Sea, believing them drowned.

  A: The Man of the Sea helps them to build a ship but does not go with them.

  I: The Man of the Sea helps Æ. to build a boat and goes with him.

  II: Æ. and the Man of the Sea find a stranded Viking ship and sail away in it together.

  A: The Man of the Sea dives into the sea from a cliff-top of his isle.

  I: They come to the Isle of the Ythlings. The Man of the Sea dives from a cliff-top. Æ. gets 7 companions from the Ythlings.

  II: As in I, but Æ. finds his 7 companions from England, who were not drowned; to them is added Bior of the Ythlings.

  A: On their voyages 3 of Æ.’s companions are enchanted in the Magic Isles.

  I: As in A, but in this case they are Ythlings.

  II: As in A

  A: They are blown away from Tol Eressëa after sighting it; Æ. leaps overboard, and the others return home.

  I: They are blown away from Tol Eressëa, and all, including Æ., return home.

  II: As in A

  Changes made to names, and differences in names,

  in the texts of Ælfwine of England

  Lúthien The name of the land in I and II; in A Luthany (see note 20).

  Déor At the first occurrence only in I Déor < Heorrenda, subsequently Déor; A Déor.

  Evadrien In I < Erenol. Erenol = ‘Iron Cliff’ see I.252, entry Eriol. Forodwaith II has Forodwaith < Forwaith < Gwasgonin; I has Gwasgonin or the Winged Helms; A has the Winged Helms.

  Outer Land < Outer Lands at both occurrences in II (pp. 316–17).

  Ælfheah I has Gelimer (at the first occurrence only < Helgor).

  Shipmen of the West In II < Eneathrim.

  APPENDIX

  NAMES IN THE LOST TALES—PART II

  This appendix is designed only as an adjunct and extension to that in Part One. Names that have already been studied in Part One are not given entries in the following notes, if there are entries under that name in Part One, e.g. Melko, Valinor; but if, as is often the case, the etymological information in Part One is contained in an entry under some other name, this is shown, e.g. ‘Gilim See I.260 (Melko)’.

  Linguistic information from the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin (see p. 148) incorporated in these notes is referred to ‘NFG’. ‘GL’ and ‘QL’ refer to the Gnomish and Qenya dictionaries (see I. 246ff.). Qenya is the term used in both these books and is strictly the name of the language spoken in Tol Eressëa; it does not appear elsewhere in the early writings, where the distinction is between ‘Gnomish’ on the one hand and ‘Elfin’, ‘Eldar’, or ‘Eldarissa’ on the other.

  Alqarámë For the first element Qenya alqa ‘swan’ see I.249 (Alqaluntë). Under root RAHA QL gives râ ‘arm’, rakta ‘stretch out, reach’, ráma ‘wing’, rámavoitë ‘having wings’ GL has ram ‘wing, pinion’, and it is noted that Qenya ráma is a confusion of this and a word róma ‘shoulder’.

  Amon Gwareth Under root AM(u) ‘up(wards)’ QL gives amu ‘up(wards)’, amu- ‘raise’, amuntë ‘sunrise’, amun(d) ‘hill’ GL has am ‘up(wards)’, amon ‘hill, mount’, adverb ‘uphill’.

  GL gives the name as Amon ’Wareth ‘Hill of Ward’, also gwareth ‘watch, guard, ward’, from the stem gwar-‘watch’ seen also in the name of Tinfang Warble (Gwarbilin ‘Birdward’, I.268). See Glamhoth, Gwarestrin.

  Angorodin See I. 249 (Angamandi) and I. 256 (Kalormë).

  Arlisgion GL gives Garlisgion (see I.265 (Sirion)), as also does NFG, which has entries ‘Garlisgion was our name, saith Elfrith, for the Place of Reeds which is its interpretation’, and ‘lisg is a reed (liskë)’. GL has lisg, lisc ‘reed, sedge’, and QL liskë with the same meaning. For gar see I. 251 (Dor Faidwen).

  Artanor GL has athra ‘across, athwart’, athron adverb ‘further, beyond’, athrod ‘crossing, ford’ (changed later to adr(a), adron, adros). With athra, adr(a) is compared Qenya arta. Cf. also the name Dor Athro (p. 41). It is clear that both Artanor and Dor Athro meant ‘the Land Beyond’. Cf. Sarnathrod.

  Asgon An entry in NFG says: ‘Asgon A lake in the “Land of Shadows” Dor Lómin, by the Elves named Aksan.’

  Ausir GL gives avos ‘fortune, wealth, prosperity,’ avosir, Ausir ‘the same (personified)’ also ausin ‘rich’, aus(s)aith or avosaith ‘avarice’. Under root AWA in QL are autë ‘prosperity, wealth; rich’, ausië; ‘wealth’.

  Bablon See p. 214.

  Bad Uthwen Gnomish uthwen ‘way out, exit, escape’, see I.251 (Dor Faidwen). The entry in NFG says: ‘Bad Uthwen [emended from Uswen] meaneth but “way of escape” and is in Eldarissa Uswevandë.’ For vandë see I.264 (Qalvanda).

  Balcmeg In NFG it is said that Balcmeg ‘was a great fighter among the Orclim (Orqui say the Elves) who fell to the axe of Tuor—’tis in meaning “heart of evil”.’ (For-lim in Orclim see Gondothlim.) The entry for Balrog in NFG says: ‘Bal meaneth evilness, and Balc evil, and Balrog meaneth evil demon.’ GL has balc ‘cruel’: see I.250 (Balrog).

  Bansil For the entry in NFG, where this name is translated ‘Fair-gleam’, see p. 214; and for the elements of the name see I.272 (Vána) and I.265 (Sil).

  Belaurin See I.264 (Palúrien).

  Belcha See I.260 (Melko). NFG has an entry: ‘Belca Though here [i.e. in the Tale] of overwhelming custom did Bronweg use the elfin names, this was the name aforetime of that evil Ainu.’

  Beleg See I. 254 (Haloisi Velikë).

  Belegost For the first element see Beleg. GL gives ost ‘enclosure, yard—town’, also oss ‘outer wall, town wall’, osta-‘surround with walls, fortify’, ostor ‘enclosure, circuit of walls’. QL under root OSO has os(t) ‘house, cottage’, osta ‘homestead’, ostar ‘township’, ossa ‘wall and moat’.

  bo- A late entry in GL: ‘bo (bon) (cf. Qenya vô, vondo “son”) as patronymic prefix, bo-bon- “son of”’ as an example is given Tuor bo-Beleg. There is also a word bôr ‘descendant’. See go-, Indorion.

  Bodruith In association with bod- ‘back, again’ GL has the words bodruith ‘revenge’, bodruithol ‘vengeful (by nature)’, bodruithog ‘thirsting for vengeance’, but these were struck out. There is also gruith ‘deed of horror, violent act, vengeance’.—It may be that Bodruith Lord of Belegost was supposed to have received his name from the events of the Tale of the Nauglafring.

  Cópas Alqalunten See I.257 (Kópas) and I. 249 (Alqaluntë).

  Cris Ilbranteloth GL gives the group crisc ‘sharp’, criss ‘cleft, gash, gully’, crist ‘knife’, crista- ‘slash, cut, slice’ NFG: ‘Cris meaneth much as doth falc, a cleft, ravine, or narrow way of waters with high walls’. QL under root KIRI ‘cut, split’ has kiris ‘cleft, crack’ and other words.

  For ilbrant ‘rainbow’ see I. 256 (Ilweran). The final element is teloth ‘roofing, canopy’: see I.267–8 (Teleri).

  Cristhorn For Cris see Cris Ilbranteloth, and for thorn see I.266 (Sorontur). In NFG is the entry: ‘Cris Thorn is Eagles’ Cleft or Sornekiris.’

  Cuilwarthon For
cuil see I. 257 (Koivië-néni); the second element is not explained.

  Cûm an-Idrisaith For cûm ‘mound’ see I.250 (Cûm a Gumlaith). Idrisaith is thus defined in GL: of ‘cf. avosaith, but that means avarice, money-greed, but idrisaith = excessive love of gold and gems and beautiful and costly things’ (for avosaith see Ausir). Related words are idra ‘dear, precious’, idra ‘to value, prize’, idri (îd) ‘a treasure, a jewel’, idril ‘sweetheart’ (see Idril).

  Curufin presumably contains curu ‘magic’ see I.269 (Tolli Kuruvar).

  Dairon GL includes this name but without etymological explanation: ‘Dairon the fluter (Qenya Sairon).’ See Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva below.

  Danigwiel In GL the Gnomish form is Danigwethil; see I.266 (Taniquetil). NFG has an entry: ‘Danigwethil do the Gnomes call Taniquetil; but seek for tales concerning that mountain rather in the elfin name.’

  (bo-)Dhrauthodavros ‘(Son of) the weary forest’. Gnomish drauth ‘weary, toilworn’, drauthos ‘toil, weariness’, drautha- ‘to be weary’ for the second element tavros see I.267 (Tavari).

  Dor Athro See Artanor, Sarnathrod.

  Dor-na-Dhaideloth For Gnomish dai ‘sky’ see I.268 (Telimektar), and for teloth ‘roofing, canopy’ see ibid. (Teleri); cf. Cris Ilbranteloth.

  Dramborleg NFG has the following entry: ‘Dramborleg (or as it may be named Drambor) meaneth in its full form Thudder-sharp, and was the axe of Tuor that smote both a heavy dint as of a club and cleft as a sword; and the Eldar say Tarambor or Tarambolaika.’ QL gives Tarambor, Tarambolaike ‘Tuor’s axe’ under root TARA, TARAMA, ‘batter, thud, beat,’ with taran, tarambo ‘buffet’, and taru ‘horn’ (included here with a query: see Taruithorn). No Gnomish equivalents are cited in GL.

  The second element is Gnomish leg, lêg ‘keen, piercing’, Qenya laika; cf. Legolast ‘keen-sight’, I. 267 (Tári-Laisi).

  Duilin NFG has the following entry: ‘Duilin whose name meaneth Swallow was the lord of that house of the Gondothlim whose sign was the swallow and was surest of the archers of the Eldalië, but fell in the fall of Gondolin. Now the names of those champions appear but in Noldorissa, seeing that Gnomes they were, but his name would be in Eldarissa Tuilindo, and that of his house (which the Gnomes called Nos Duilin) Nossë Tuilinda.’ Tuilindo ‘(spring-singer), swallow’ is given in QL, see I.269 (Tuilérë); GL has duilin(g) ‘swallow’, with duil, duilir ‘Spring’, but these last were struck through and in another part of the book appear tuil, tuilir ‘Spring’ (see I.269).

  For nossë ‘kin, people’ see I.272 (Valinor); GL does not give nos in this sense, but has nosta- ‘be born’, nost ‘birth; blood, high birth; birthday’, and noss (changed to nôs) ‘birthday’. Cf. Nostna-Lothion ‘the Birth of Flowers’, Nos Galdon, Nos nan Alwen.

  Eärámë For ea ‘eagle’ see I.251 (Eärendel), and for rámë see Alqarámë. GL has an entry Iorothrarn,-urn ‘Qenya Eärámë or Eaglepinion, a name of one of Eärendel’s boats’. For Gnomish ior, ioroth ‘eagle’ see I.251 (Eärendel), and cf. the forms Earam, Earum as the name of the ship (pp. 260, 276).

  Eärendel See pp. 266–7 and I.251.

  Eärendilyon See I.251 (Eärendel), and Indorion.

  Ecthelion Both GL and NFG derive this name from ecthel ‘fountain’, to which corresponds Qenya ektelë. (This latter survived: cf. the entry kel- in the Appendix to The Silmarillion: ‘from et-kel “issue of water, spring” was derived, with transposition of the consonants, Quenya ehtelë, Sindarin eithel’. A later entry in GL gives aithil (
  Egalmoth NFG has the following entry: ‘Egalmoth is a great name, yet none know clearly its meaning—some have said its bearer was so named in that he was worth a thousand Elves (but Rúmil says nay) and others that it signifies the mighty shoulders of that Gnome, and so saith Rúmil, but perchance it was woven of a secret tongue of the Gondothlim’ (for the remainder of this entry see p. 215). For Gnomish moth ‘1000’ see I.270 (Uin).

  GL interprets the name as Rúmil did, deriving it from alm (< alðam-) ‘the broad of the back from shoulder to shoulder, back, shoulders’, hence Egalmoth = ‘Broadshoulder’ the name in Qenya is said to be Aikaldamor, and an entry in QL of the same date gives aika ‘broad, vast’, comparing Gnomish eg, egrin. These in turn GL glosses as ‘far away, wide, distant’ and ‘wide, vast, broad; far’ (as in Egla; see I.251 (Eldar)).

  Eglamar See I.251 (Eldamar). NFG has the following entry: ‘Egla said the son of Bronweg was the Gnome name of the Eldar (now but seldom used) who dwelt in Kôr, and they were called Eglothrim [emended from Eglothlim] (that is Eldalië), and their tongue Lam Eglathon or Egladrin. Rúmil said these names Egla and Elda were akin, but Elfrith cared not overmuch for such lore and they seem not over alike.’ With this cf. I. 251 (Eldar). GL gives lam ‘tongue’, and lambë is found in QL: a word that survived into later Quenya. In QL it is given as a derivative of root LAVA ‘lick’, and defined ‘tongue (of body, but also of land, or even = “speech”)’.

  Eldarissa appears in QL (‘the language of the Eldar’) but without explanation of the final element. Possibly it was derived from the root ISI: ista ‘know’, issë ‘knowledge, lore’, iswa, isqa ‘wise’, etc.

  Elfrith See pp. 201–2, and I.255 (Ilverin).

  Elmavoitë ‘One-handed’ (Beren). See Ermabwed.

  Elwing GL has the following entry: ‘Ailwing older spelling of Elwing = “lake foam”. As a noun = “white water-lily”. The name of the maiden loved by Ioringli’ (Ioringli = Eärendel, see I.251). The first element appears in the words ail ‘lake, pool’, ailion ‘lake’, Qenya ailo, ailin—cf. later Aelin-uial. The second element is gwing ‘foam’: see I. 273 (Wingilot).

  Erenol See I.252 (Eriol).

  Ermabwed ‘One-handed’ (Beren). GL gives mab ‘hand’, amabwed, mabwed ‘having hands’, mabwedri ‘dexterity’, mabol ‘skilful’, mablios ‘cunning’, mablad, mablod ‘palm of hand’, mabrin(d) ‘wrist’. A related word in Qenya was said in GL to be mapa (root MAPA) ‘seize’, but this statement was struck out. QL has also a root MAHA with many derivatives, notably m (= maha) ‘hand’, mavoitë ‘having hands’ (cf. Elmavoitë).

  Faiglindra ‘Long-tressed’ (Airin). Gnomish faigli ‘hair, long tresses (especially used of women)’ faiglion ‘having long hair’, and faiglim of the same meaning, ‘especially as a proper name’, Faiglim, Aurfaiglim ‘the Sun at noon’. With this is bracketed the word faiglin(d)ra.

  Failivrin Together with fail ‘pale, pallid’, failthi ‘pallor’, and Failin a name of the Moon, GL gives Failivrin: ‘(1) a maid beloved by Silmo; (2) a name among the Gnomes of many maidens of great beauty, especially Failivrin of the Rothwarin in the Tale of Turumart.’ (In the Tale Rothwarin was replaced by Rodothlim.)

  The second element is brin, Qenya vírin, ‘a magic glassy substance of great lucency used in fashioning the Moon. Used of things of great and pure transparency.’ For vírin see I.192–3.

  Falasquil Three entries in NFG refer to this name (for falas see also I.253 (Falman)):

  ‘Falas meaneth (even as falas or falassë in Eldar) a beach.’

  ‘Falas-a-Gwilb the “beach of peace” was Falasquil in Elfin where Tuor at first dwelt in a sheltered cove by the Great Sea.’ -a-Gwilb is struck through and above is written, apparently, ‘Wilb or Wilma.

  ‘Gwilb meaneth “full of peace”, which is gwilm.’

  GL gives gwîl, gwilm, gwilthi ‘peace’, and gwilb ‘quiet, peaceful’.

  Fangluin ‘Bluebeard’. See Indrafang. For luin ‘blue’ see I.262 (Nielluin).

  Foalókë Under a root FOHO ‘hide, hoard, store up’ QL gives foa ‘hoard, treasure’, foina ‘hidden’, fôlë ‘secrecy, a secret’, fôlima ‘secretive’, and foalókë ‘name of a serpent that guarded a treasure’. lókë ‘snake’ is derived from a root LOKO ‘twine, twist, curl’.

  GL originally had entries fû, fûl, fûn ‘hoard’, fûlug ‘a dragon (who guards treasure)’, and ulug ‘wol
f’. By later changes this construction was altered to fuis ‘hoard’, fuithlug,-og (the form that appears in the text, p. 70), ulug ‘dragon’ (cf. Qenya lókë). An entry in NFG reads: ‘Lûg is lókë of the Eldar, and meaneth “drake”.’

  Fôs’Almir (Earlier name of Faskala-númen; translated in the text (p. 115) ‘the bath of flame’.) For fôs ‘bath’ see I.253 (Faskalanúmen). GL gives three names: ‘Fôs Aura, Fôs’Almir, and Fôs na Ngalmir, i.e. Sun’s bath = the Western Sea.’ For Galmir, Aur, names of the Sun, see I.254 and I.271 (Ûr).

  Fuithlug See Foalókë.

  Galdor For the entry in NFG concerning Galdor see p. 215; as first written galdon was there said to mean ‘tree’, and Galdor’s people to be named Nos Galdon. Galdon is not in GL. Subsequently galdon > alwen, and alwen does appear in GL, as a word of poetic vocabulary: alwen ‘= orn’.—Cf. Qenya alda ‘tree’ (see I.249 (Aldaron)), and the later relationship Quenya alda, Sindarin galadh.

  Gar Thurion NFG has the earlier form Gar Furion (p. 202), and GL has furn, furion ‘secret, concealed’, also fûr ‘a lie’ (Qenya furu) and fur- ‘to conceal; to lie’. QL has furin and hurin ‘hidden, concealed’ (root FURU or HURU). With Thurion cf. Thuringwethil ‘Woman of Secret Shadow’, and Thurin ‘the Secret’, Finduilas’ name for Túrin (Unfinished Tales pp. 157, 159).

  Gil See I. 256 (Ingil).

  Gilim See I. 260 (Melko).

  Gimli GL has gimli ‘(sense of) hearing’, with gim-‘hear’, gimriol ‘attentive’ (changed to ‘audible’), gimri ‘hearkening, attention’. The hearing of Gimli, the captive Gnome in the dungeons of Tevildo, ‘was the keenest that has been in the world’ (p. 29).

  Glamhoth GL defines this as ‘name given by the Goldothrim to the Orcin: People of Dreadful Hate’ (cf. ‘folk of dreadful hate’, p. 160). For Goldothrim see I. 262 (Noldoli). The first element is glâm ‘hatred, loathing’ other words are glamri ‘bitter feud’, glamog ‘loathsome’. An entry in NFG says: ‘Glam meaneth “fierce hate” and even as Gwar has no kindred words in Eldar.’

 

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