Firstly as to the meaning of Galadriel's name:
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Originally Posted by davem
Galadriel’s name is usually translated as ‘Lady of Light’ but its actually closer in meaning to ‘radiient haired maiden’ Tolkien describes her hair as ‘’shining’. It shines with the light of the Two Trees, So, if the hairs are set in animperishable crystal each by Gimli, what he will end up with are three imperishable crystals, shining with the light of the Two Trees.
The similarity between the Quenya & Sindarin words for ‘Tree’ & ‘Light’ are interesting in this context:
Quenya Sindarin
Alta = Light = Galad
Alda = Tree = Galadh
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There's quite a fabulous and mad thread started by davem on the topic here:
Galadhremmin Ennorath and if you read Verlyn Flieger's Splintered Light you'll find that the concept of Light and Trees seems to be an important one to several readers. Well worth investigation if you're interested in the spirituality/cosmology of Tolkien's creation.
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Originally Posted by Legate
The female counterparts of the rulers have the same power, but they willingly treat their husbands as greater authority. Yeah, that's what I had in mind, I hope you understand now what I meant, Lommy.
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I think I know what you're getting at Legate but I'm not sure so let me pass something by you. The way I see it is this: in Middle-earth we see rulers and consorts where the consort is patently more powerful than the ruler e.g. Thingol and Melian, Celeborn and Galadriel. However, the more powerful one in the partnership does not 'over-rule' or dominate the less powerful partner. I suppose a real world analogy might be Margaret Thatcher who was often portrayed by satirists as being horrible to her husband and he was often portrayed as a tiny little man in comparison to her.
It is not that such women treat their husbands as having greater authority, but that they have the good grace to treat their marriage as an equal partnership and not 'boss' their husband so much that he appears ineffective and 'unmanly'....alright I know I'm opening up lines of humour here...
But maybe, just perhaps, this shows that Tolkien had an idealised view of women as being balanced people who would be more willing to show the grace to be equals rather than the boss? Or does it show that Tolkien thought that achieving the perfect balance of male/female (getting a bit Jungian now) was the proper way of leadership? He is not afraid to show the softer sides of Aragorn or Faramir, is he?