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Originally Posted by Pitchwife
That's an interesting explanation of Lúthien's name. I remember the Etymologies (which I can't for the life of me put my hands on right now although I have it lying around somewhere) derive it from an older form *luktiēnē "enchantress", from a base LUK- to do with, IIRC, putting a spell on somebody. It's probably safe to assume that the Prof changed his mind about the question a few times. "Flower" in Sindarin, in any case, is loth (as in Lothlórien, "Lórien in Flower" or "Dreamflower"), not luth, although there may be some umlaut or ablaut involved.
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Yes Tolkien appears to have changed his mind. As you likely know
Etymologies generally dates to the mid to later 1930s, and continued a bit into the early draft writing for
The Lord of the Rings. It was ultimately abandoned and reflects and old linguistic scenario.
But well after that, post-publication of
The Lord of the Rings, in
Words Phrases And Passages Tolkien rather explained.
Quote:
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S. Lúthien 'daughter of flowers', lúth 'blossom, inflorescence'
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Some websites still have "enchantress", and some refer to both meanings as if both are internal. Unles there is evidence that Tolkien retained the older meaning and thus intended a double maning for this name, my guess is that "daughter of flowers" simply supersedes the older idea.