The Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin

[Aran e-Godhellim]

Originally Posted by Galin

...Tolkien had published in The Lord of the Rings that Gil-galad, the hyphenated form, meant 'Starlight'. And according to letter 211 (1958), he appears to have thought of Gil-galad 'star-light' with galad showing a mutation from a word in initial c- (footnote with respect to kal).

To try to post all the mentions of this name from Words, Phrases, and Passages might be interesting, but arguably would not be very helpful, as Tolkien can change his mind from one note to the next. Although at one point JRRT translates Gil-galad 'radiant star' from a kalat- 'radiance, radiate' and a root KAL- shine. So we have the word 'radiance' here, but still this is variant enough from the idea of a root ÑAL- 'shine by reflection' and a word *ñalatâ 'radiance, glittering reflection (from jewels, glass or polished metals, or water)' -- both the root ÑAL- and *ñalatâ are found in the later Shibboleth papers, and which meanings go hand in hand with the reason for his epesse given there.



For myself I would rather publication, meaning published by JRRT himself, be given the highest rank to follow; and if so we have Gil-galad 'Starlight' from The Lord of the Rings, or from The Road Goes Ever On, 'Star of bright light'

My opinion on these points anyway.

The form "Star-of-bright-light" is linguistically compatible with "Star-of-radiance," and the two could be considered alternate translations of the Sindarin term. Furthermore, if "Star-of-radiance" equates to "Star-of-bright-light," it is very easy to see how this could be simplified into merely "Star-light."

It is possible Tolkien removed the linguistic barrier he earlier erected between the two forms, but I still argue that the archaic form was ñil-ñalatâ, "star-of-radiance" - which was equated to simple "star-light" - rather than ñil-calad. My reasoning is that the "c" in calad should not have mutated to a g, as it is not compounded fully, but retains its individuality. Also, one would expect "light-of-star" to be calad-ñil. In contrast, the progression ñ<g is found in all positions of mature Sindarin, and ñil-ñalatâ fits perfectly with the mature Sindarin pattern for possessives.