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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
(...) Which raises the question: Could it be that the name Sindar referred in part at least to the (...) 'commonness' of that hair colour among them, especially in the royal family (beside the obvious sense that they were Elves of the Twilight in contrast to both Calaquendi and Moriquendi)? After all, the Vanyar were also named thus for their hair colour, weren't they? All speculation, I know...
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Tolkien actually raises this as a supposition of the loremasters, but that's when 'the author' follows with:
'Elwe himself had indeed long and beautiful hair of silver hue, but this does not seem to have been a common feature of the Sindar...'
On the origin of
Sindar, the reader is referred to note 11 (Quendi And Eldar), which explains that
Mithrim was a name given to northern Elves by the southern-dwellers, because of the cooler climate and greyer skies, and the mists of the North, and that it was probably because the Noldor first came into contact with this northerly branch that they gave the name
Sindar or
Sindeldi 'Grey-elves' to all the Telerin inhabitants of the Westlands who spoke the Sindarin language.
It's added that
Sindar was also later held to refer to Elwe's name 'Grey-cloak,' and it was said further that the folk of the North were clad much in grey for secrecy, especially after the return of Morgoth.
I take this to mean: here is the origin of the name Sindar (note 11)... and some loremasters also thought it might refer to hair, and Elwe himseld
did have Silvery hair,
but (and so on), adding that the Sindar generally resembled the Noldor, being tall, lithe and dark-haired (and then the eyes of the Noldor are noted).
This gave me the general impression that there doesn't seem to be any great reason for this added supposition --
Sindar including a reference to hair -- despite it coming from certain loremasters.
That's how I read it anyway
