Some of the more important divisions of the Edhelrim or Elves.
Some of the more important divisions of the Edhelrim or Elves.
A name used among the Sindar or Grey-elves for the Elves as a people. It derives from the word Edhel, 'Elf', itself a variant of Eledh which came ultimately from elen 'star'. The ending -rim referred to an entire culture of people, so Eledhrim meant, at its root, 'People of the Stars'. It is therefore etymologically related to the Quenya word Eldar with the same literal meaning, though for historical reasons the two words carried slightly different implications.
The name Edhelrim emerged as part of the Sindarin language during the long ages in which the Sindar dwelt under the star-filled skies of Beleriand, encountering few other Elves of any kind.1 Thus their language made no distinction between the Sindar themselves as a distinct people and the broader concept of 'all Elves'. After the Noldor returned the Middle-earth, it was natural for the native Grey-elves to include them within the Edhelrim, and so ultimately the term came to be used to refer to an Elf of any kind, whether of the Sindar or the Noldor or of the many other branches of the Elven race.
Notes
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There were perhaps a handful of exceptions to the isolation of the Sindar. We know that there were Dark Elves to be found under the tangled trees of Taur-im-Duinath, and at some point during the ages of starlight a group of Nandor crossed the Blue Mountains and settled in Ossiriand. If these developments had any effect on the scope of the word Edhelrim, it is not recorded.
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- Updated 28 December 2019
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