The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

by J. R. R. Tolkien

  For hoth ‘folk’ see I.264 (orchoth in entry Orc), and cf. Goldothrim, Gondothlim, Rúmhoth, Thornhoth. Under root HOSO QL gives hos ‘folk’, hossë ‘army, band, troop’, hostar ‘tribe’, horma ‘horde, host’ also Sankossi ‘the Goblins’, equivalent of Gnomish Glamhoth, and evidently compounded of sankë ‘hateful’ (root SK ‘rend, tear’) and hossë.

  Glend Perhaps connected with Gnomish glenn ‘thin, fine’, glendrin ‘slender’, glendrinios ‘slenderness’, glent, glentweth ‘thinness’ Qenya root LENE ‘long’, which developed its meaning in different directions: ‘slow, tedious, trailing’, and ‘stretch, thin’: lenka ‘slow’, lenwa ‘long and thin, straight, narrow’, lenu- ‘stretch’, etc.

  Glingol For the entry in NFG, where the name is translated ‘singing-gold’, see p. 216; and see I.258 (Lindelos). The second element is culu ‘gold’, for which see I.255 (Ilsaluntë); another entry in NFG reads: ‘Culu or Culon is a name we have in poesy for Glor (and Rúmil saith that it is the Elfin Kulu, and-gol in our Glingol).’

  Glorfalc For glor see I.258 (Laurelin). NFG has an entry: ‘Glor is gold and is that word that cometh in verse of the Kôr-Eldar laurë (so saith Rúmil).’

  Falc is glossed in GL ‘(1) cleft, gash; (2) cleft, ravine, cliffs’ (also given is falcon ‘a great two-handed sword, twibill’, which was changed to falchon, and so close to English falchion ‘broadsword’). NFG has: ‘Falc is cleft and is much as Cris; being Elfin Falqa’ and under root FK in QL are falqa ‘cleft, mountain pass, ravine’ and falqan ‘large sword’. GL has a further entry: Glorfalc ‘a great ravine leading out of Garioth’. Garioth is here used of Hisilómë see I.252 (Eruman). Cf. later Orfalch Echor.

  Glorfindel For the entry in NFG, where the name is rendered ‘Goldtress’, see p. 216. For glor see I.258 (Laurelin), and Glorfalc. GL had an entry findel ‘lock of hair’, together with fith (fidhin) ‘a single hair’, fidhra ‘hairy’, but findel was struck out; later entries are finn ‘lock of hair’ (see fin- in the Appendix to The Silmarillion) and fingl or finnil ‘tress’. NFG: ‘Finndel is “tress”, and is the Elfin Findil.’ Under root FIRI QL gives findl ‘lock of hair’ and firin ‘ray of the sun’.

  In another place in GL the name Glorfindel was given, and translated ‘Goldlocks’, but it was changed later to Glorfinn, with a variant Glorfingl.

  Glorund For glor see I.258 (Laurelin), and Glorfalc. GL gives Glorunn ‘the great drake slain by Turumart’. Neither of the Qenya forms Laurundo, Undolaurë (p. 84) appear in QL, which gives an earlier name for ‘the great worm’, Fentor, together with fent ‘serpent’, fenumë ‘dragon’. As this entry was first written it read ‘the great worm slain by Ingilmo’ to this was added ‘or Turambar’.

  Golosbrindi (Earlier name of Hirilorn, rendered in the text (p. 51) ‘Queen of the Forest’.) A word goloth ‘forest’ is given in GL, derived from *gwloth, which is itself composed of aloth (alos), a verse word meaning ‘forest’ (= taur), and the prefix *ngua > gwa, unaccented go, ‘together, in one’, ‘often used merely intensively’. The corresponding word in Qenya is said to be málos, which does not appear in QL.

  Gondobar See Gondolin, and for -bar see I.251 (Eldamar). In GL the form Gondobar was later changed to Gonthobar.

  Gondolin To the entries cited in I.254 may be added that in NFG: ‘Gond meaneth a stone, or stone, as doth Elfin on and ondo.’ For the statement about Gondolin (where the name is rendered ‘stone of song’) in NFG see p. 216; and for the latest formulation of the etymology of Gondolin see the Appendix to The Silmarillion, entry gond.

  Gondothlim GL has the following entry concerning the word lim ‘many’, Qenya limbë (not in QL): ‘It is frequently suffixed and so becomes a second plural inflexion. In the singular it = English “many a”, as golda-lim. It is however most often suffixed to the plural in those nouns making their plural in -th. It then changes to -rim after -1. Hence great confusion with grim “host” and thlim “race”, as in Goldothrim (“the people of the Gnomes”).’ NFG has an entry: ‘Gondothlim meaneth “folk of stone” and (saith Rúmil) is Gond “stone”, whereto be added Hoth “folk” and that -lim we Gnomes add after to signify “the many”.’ Cf. Lothlim, Rodothlim, and Orclim in entry Balcmeg; for hoth see Glamhoth.

  Gondothlimbar See Gondolin, Gondothlim, and for -bar see I.251 (Eldamar). In GL the form Gondothlimbar was later changed to ‘Gonthoflimar or Gonnothlimar’.

  go- An original entry in GL, later struck out, was: gon-go- ‘son of, patronymic prefix (cf. suffix ios/ion/io and Qenya yô, yondo)’. The replacement for this is given above under bo-. See Indorion.

  Gon Indor See go-, Indorion.

  Gothmog See pp. 67, 216, and I.258 (Kosomot). GL has mog- ‘detest, hate’, mogri ‘detestation’, mogrin ‘hateful’ Qenya root MOKO ‘hate’. In addition to goth ‘war, strife’ (Qenya root KOSO ‘strive’) may be noted gothwen ‘battle’, gothweg ‘warrior’, gothwin ‘Amazon’, gothriol ‘warlike’, gothfeng ‘war-arrow’, gothwilm ‘armistice’.

  Gurtholfin GL: Gurtholfin ‘Urdolwen, a sword of Turambar’s, Wand of Death’. Also given is gurthu ‘death’ (Qenya urdu; not in QL). The second element of the name is olfin(g) (also olf) ‘branch, wand, stick’ (Qenya olwen(n)).

  It may be noted that in QL Turambar’s sword is given as Sangahyando ‘cleaver of throngs’, from roots SANGA ‘pack tight, press’ (sanga ‘throng’) and HYARA ‘plough through’ (hyar ‘plough’, hyanda ‘blade, share’). Sangahyando ‘Throng-cleaver’ survived to become the name of a man in Gondor (see the Appendix to The Silmarillion, entry thang).

  Gwar See I.257 (Kôr, korin).

  Gwarestrin Rendered in the Tale (p. 158) as ‘Tower of Guard’, and so also in NFG; GL glosses it ‘watchtower (especially as a name of Gondolin)’. A late entry in GL gives estirin, estirion, estrin ‘pinnacle’, beside esc ‘sharp point, sharp edge’. The second element of this word is tiri(o)n; see I.258 (Kortirion). For gwar see Amon Gwareth.

  Gwedheling See I.273 (Wendelin).

  Heborodin ‘The Encircling Hills.’ Gnomish preposition heb ‘round about, around’ hebrim ‘boundary’, hebwirol ‘circumspect’. For orod see I.256 (Kalormë).

  Hirilorn GL gives hiril ‘queen (a poetic use), princess; feminine of bridhon’. For bridhon see Tevildo. The second element is orn ‘tree’. (It may be mentioned here that the word neldor ‘beech’ is found in QL; see the Appendix to The Silmarillion, entry neldor).

  Idril For Gnomish idril ‘sweetheart’ see Cûm an-Idrisaith. There is another entry in GL as follows: Idhril ‘a girl’s name often confused with Idril. Idril = “beloved” but Idhril = “mortal maiden”. Both appear to have been the names of the daughter of Turgon—or apparently Idril was the older and the Kor-eldar called her Irildë (=Idhril) because she married Tuor.’ Elsewhere in GL appear idhrin ‘men, earth-dwellers; especially used as a folk-name contrasted with Eglath etc.; cf. Qenya indi’, and Idhru, Idhrubar ‘the world, all the regions inhabited by Men; cf. Qenya irmin’. In QL these words indi and irmin are given under root IRI ‘dwell?’, with irin ‘town’, indo ‘house’, indor ‘master of house’ (see Indor), etc.; but Irildë does not appear. Similar words are found in Gnomish: ind, indos ‘house, hall’, indor ‘master (of house), lord’.

  After the entry in NFG on Idril which has been cited (p. 216) a further note was added: ‘and her name meaneth “Beloved”, but often do Elves say Idhril which more rightly compares with Irildë and that meaneth “mortal maiden”, and perchance signifies her wedding with Tuor son of Men.’ An isolated note (written in fact on a page of the Tale of the Nauglafring) says: ‘Alter name of Idril to Idhril. The two were confused: Idril = “beloved”, Idril = “maiden of mortals”. The Elves thought this her name and called her Irildë (because she married Tuor Pelecthon).’

  Ilbranteloth See Cris Ilbranteloth.

  Ilfiniol, Ilfrith See I.255 (Ilverin).

  Ilúvatar An entry in NFG may be noticed here: ‘En do the mystic sayings of the Noldoli also name Ilathon [emended from d Ilon], who
is Ilúvatar—and this is like the Eldar Enu.’ QL gives Enu, the Almighty Creator who dwells without the world. For Ilathon see I.255–6 (Ilwë).

  Indor (Father of Tuor’s father Peleg). This is perhaps the word indor ‘master (of house), lord’ (see Idril) used as a proper name.

  Indorion See go-. QL gives yô, yond- as poetic words for ‘son’, adding: ‘but very common as -ion in patronymics (and hence practically = “descendant”)’ also yondo ‘male descendant, usually (great) grandson’ (cf. Eärendel’s name Gon Indor). Cf. Eärendilyon.

  Indrafang GL has indra ‘long (also used of time)’, indraluin ‘long ago’ also indravang ‘a special name of the nauglath or dwarves’, on which see p. 247. These forms were changed later to in(d)ra, in(d)rafang, in(d)raluin/idhraluin.

  An original entry in GL was bang ‘beard’ = Qenya vanga, but this was struck out; and another word with the same meaning as Indravang was originally entered as Bangasur but changed to Fangasur. The second element of this is sûr ‘long, trailing’, Qenya sóra, and a later addition here is Surfang ‘a long-beard, a naugla or inrafang’. Cf. Fangluin, and later Fangorn ‘Treebeard’.

  Irildë See Idril.

  Isfin NFG has this entry: ‘Isfin was the sister of Turgon Lord of Gondolin, whom Eöl at length wedded; and it meaneth either “snow-locks” or “exceeding-cunning”.’ Long afterwards my father, noting that Isfin was ‘derived from the earliest (1916) form of The Fall of Gondolin’, said that the name was ‘meaningless’ but with the second element cf. finn ‘lock of hair’ (see Glorfindel) or fim ‘clever’, finthi ‘idea, notion’, etc. (see I.253 (Finwë)).

  Ivárë GL gives Ior ‘the famous “piper of the sea”, Qenya Ivárë.’

  Íverin A late entry in GL gives Aivrin or Aivrien ‘an island off the west coast of Tol Eressëa, Qenya Íwerin or Iverindor.’ QL has Íverind- ‘Ireland’.

  Karkaras In GL this is mentioned as the Qenya form; the Gnomish name of ‘the great wolf-warden of Belca’s door’ was Carcaloth or Carcamoth, changed to Carchaloth, Carchamoth. The first element is carc ‘jag, point, fang’ QL under root KK has karka ‘fang, tooth, tusk’, karkassë, karkaras ‘row of spikes or teeth’.

  Kosmoko See Gothmog.

  Kurûki See I.269 (Tolli Kuruvar).

  Ladwen-na-Dhaideloth ‘Heath of the Sky-roof’. See Dor-na-Dhaideloth. GL gives ladwen ‘(1) levelness, flatness; (2) a plain, heath; (3) a plane; (4) surface.’ Other words are ladin ‘level, smooth; fair, equable’ (cf. Tumladin), lad ‘a level’ (cf. mablad ‘palm of hand’ mentioned under Ermabwed), lada- ‘to smooth out, stroke, soothe, beguile’, and ladwinios ‘equity’. There are also words bladwen ‘a plain’ (see I.264 (Palúrien)), and fladwen ‘meadow’ (with flad ‘sward’ and Fladweth Amrod (Amrog) ‘Nomad’s Green’, ‘a place in Tol Erethrin where Eriol sojourned a while; nigh to Tavrobel.’ Amrog, amrod = ‘wanderer’, ‘wandering’, from amra- ‘go up and down, live in the mountains, wander’ see Amon Gwareth).

  Laiqalassë See I.267 (Tári-laisi), I.254 (Gar Lossion).

  Laurundo See Glorund.

  Legolas See Laiqalassë.

  Lindeloktë See I. 258 (Lindelos).

  Linwë Tinto See I.269 (Tinwë Linto).

  Lókë See Foalókë.

  Lôs See I.254 (Gar Lossion). The later form loth does not appear in GL (which has however lothwing ‘foamflower’). NFG has ‘Lôs is a flower and in Eldarissa lossë which is a rose’ (all after the word ‘flower’ struck out).

  Lósengriol As with lôs, the later form lothengriol does not appear in GL. Losengriol is translated ‘lily of the valley’ in GL, which gives the Gnomish words eng ‘smooth, level’, enga ‘plain, vale’, engri ‘a level’, engriol ‘vale-like; of the vale’. NFG says ‘Eng is a plain or vale and Engriol that which liveth or dwelleth therein’, and translates Lósengriol ‘flower of the vale or lily of the valley’.

  Los ’lóriol (changed from Los Glóriol; the Golden Flower of Gondolin). See I.254 (Gar Lossion), and for glóriol ‘golden’ see I.258 (Laurelin).

  Loth, Lothengriol See Lôs, Lósengriol.

  Lothlim See Lôs and Gondothlim. The entry in NFG reads: ‘Lothlim being for Loslim meaneth folk of the flower, and is that name taken by the Exiles of Gondolin (which city they had called Lôs aforetime).’

  Mablung For mab ‘hand’ see Ermabwed. The second element is lung ‘heavy; grave, serious’ related words are lungra- ‘weigh, hang heavy’, luntha ‘balance, weigh’, lunthang ‘scales’.

  Malkarauki See I.250 (Balrog).

  Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva See I.260 and add: a late entry in GL gives the Gnomish name, Bara Dhair Haithin, the Cottage of Lost Play; also daira- ‘play’ (with dairwen ‘mirth’, etc.), and haim or haithin ‘gone, departed, lost’ (with haitha- ‘go, walk’, etc.). Cf. Dairon.

  Mathusdor (Aryador, Hisilómë). In GL are given math ‘dusk’, mathrin ‘dusky’, mathusgi ‘twilight’, mathwen ‘evening’. See Umboth-muilin.

  Mavwin A noun mavwin ‘wish’ in GL was struck out, but related words allowed to stand: mav- ‘like’, mavra ‘eager after’, mavri ‘appetite’, mavrin ‘delightful, desirable’, mavros ‘desire’, maus ‘pleasure; pleasant’. Mavwin’s name in Qenya, Mavoinë, is not in QL, unless it is to be equated with maivoinë ‘great longing’.

  Meleth A noun meleth ‘love’ is found in GL; see I.262 (Nessa).

  Melian, Melinon, Melinir None of these names occur in the glossaries, but probably all are derivatives of the stem mel- ‘love’ see I.262 (Nessa). The later etymology of Melian derived the name from mel- ‘love’ (Melyanna ‘dear gift’).

  Meoita, Miaugion, Miaulë See Tevildo.

  Mindon-Gwar For mindon ‘tower’ see I. 260 (Minethlos); and for Gwar see p. 291 and I.257 (Kôr, korin).

  Morgoth See p. 67 and Gothmog. For the element mor- see I.261 (Mornië).

  Mormagli, Mormakil See I.261 (Mornië) and I.259 (Makar).

  Nan Dumgorthin See p. 62. For nan see I.261 (Nandini).

  Nantathrin This name does not occur in the Lost Tales, where the Land of Willows is called Tasarinan, but GL gives it (see I.265 (Sirion)) and NFG has an entry: ‘Dor-tathrin was that Land of Willows of which this and many a tale tells.’ GL has tathrin ‘willow’, and QL tasarin of the same meaning.

  Nauglafring GL has the following entry: ‘Nauglafring = Fring na Nauglithon, the Necklace of the Dwarves. Made for Ellu by the Dwarves from the gold of Glorund that Mîm the fatherless cursed and that brought ruin on Beren Ermabwed and Damrod his son and was not appeased till it sank with Elwing beloved of Eârendel to the bottom of the sea.’ For Damrod (Daimord) son of Beren see pp. 139, 259, and for the loss of Elwing and the Nauglafring see pp. 255, 264. This is the only reference to the ‘appeasing’ of Mîm’s curse.—Gnomish fring means ‘carcanet, necklace’ (Qenya firinga).

  Níniel Cf. Gnomish nîn ‘tear’, ninios ‘lamentation’, ninna-‘weep’ see I.262 (Nienna).

  Nínin-Udathriol (‘Unnumbered Tears’). See Níniel. GL gives tathn ‘number’, tathra- ‘number, count’, udathnarol, udathriol ‘innumerable’. Û- is a ‘negative prefix with any part of speech’. (QL casts no light on Nieriltasinwa, p. 84, apart from the initial element nie ‘tear’, see I.262 (Nienna).)

  Noldorissa See Eldarissa.

  Nos Galdon, Nos nan Alwen See Duilin, Galdor.

  Nost-na-Lothion See Duilin.

  Parma Kuluinen The Golden Book, see p. 310. This entry is given in QL under root PARA: parma ‘skin, bark; parchment; book, writings’. This word survived in later Quenya (The Lord of the Rings III. 401). For Kuluinen see Glingol.

  Peleg (Father of Tuor). GL has a common noun peleg ‘axe’, verb pelectha- ‘hew’ (QL pelekko ‘axe’, pelekta- ‘hew’). Cf. Tuor’s name Pelecthon in the note cited under Idril.

  Ramandur See I.259 (Makar).

  Rog GL gives an adjective rôg, rog ‘doughty, strong’. But with the Orcs’ name for Egnor Beren’s father, Rog the Fleet, cf. arog ‘swift, rushing’, and raug of the same meaning; Qenya arauka.<
br />
  Rôs GL gives yet another meaning of this name: ‘the Sea’ (Qenya Rása).

  Rodothlim See Rothwarin (earlier form replaced by Rodothlim).

  Rothwarin GL has this name in the forms Rothbarin, Rosbarin: ‘(literally “cavern-dwellers”) name of a folk of secret Gnomes and also of the regions about their cavernous homes on the banks of the river.’ Gnomish words derived from the root ROTO ‘hollow’ are rod ‘tube, stem’, ross ‘pipe’, roth ‘cave, grot’, rothrin ‘hollow’, rodos ‘cavern’ QL gives rotsë ‘pipe’, róta ‘tube’, ronta, rotwa ‘hollow’, rotelë ‘cave’.

  Rúmhoth See Glamhoth.

  Rúsitaurion GL gives a noun rûs (rôs) ‘endurance, longsuffering, patience’, together with adjective rô ‘enduring, longsuffering; quiet, gentle’, and verb rô-‘remain, stay; endure’. For taurion see I.267 (Tavari).

  Sarnathrod Gnomish sarn ‘a stone’ for athrod ‘ford’ see Artanor.

  Sarqindi (‘Cannibal-ogres’). This must derive from the root SK given in QL, with derivatives sarko ‘flesh’, sarqa ‘fleshy’, sarkuva ‘corporeal, bodily’.

  Silpion An entry in NFG (p. 215) translates the name as ‘Cherrymoon’. In QL is a word pio ‘plum, cherry’ (with piukka ‘blackberry’, piosenna ‘holly’, etc.), and also Valpio ‘the holy cherry of Valinor’. GL gives Piosil and Silpios, without translation, as names of the Silver Tree, and also a word piog ‘berry’.

  Taimonto See I.268 (Telimektar).

  Talceleb, Taltelepta (Name of Idril/Irildë, ‘of the Silver Feet’.) The first element is Gnomish tâl ‘foot (of people and animals)’ related words are taltha ‘foot (of things), base, pedestal, pediment’, talrind, taldrin ‘ankle’, taleg, taloth ‘path’—another name for the Way of Escape into Gondolin was Taleg Uthwen (see Bad Uthwen). QL under root TALA ‘support’ gives tala ‘foot’, talwi (dual) ‘the feet’, talas ‘sole’, etc. For the second element see I.268 (Telimpë). QL gives the form telepta but without translation.