The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
First rose soon after the end of the Years of the Trees
Location
The lower regions of Ilmen
Origins
Mounted in a vessel by Aulë, and set aloft by Varda
Other names
Titles

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About this entry:

  • Updated 20 March 2015
  • This entry is complete

Ithil

The Sindarin name for the Moon

"Fair Ithil, as he goes from Middle-earth, glances upon the white locks of old Mindolluin."
Faramir's description of moonset over Gondor
The Two Towers IV 6
The Forbidden Pool

The common name for the Moon in the Sindarin tongue, closely related to the Quenya name Isil, and ultimately deriving from a root word meaning 'shining with white or silver light'.

Isildur, the elder son of Elendil, was named for the Moon, and when he settled the lands east of Anduin they acquired names based on Sindarin Ithil. Hence Gondor's possessions east of Anduin were named Ithilien ('Land of the Moon'), and the shining fortress city of Isildur on the shoulders of Ephel Dúath was Minas Ithil ('Tower of the Moon'). Long after Isildur's time, that city was later captured by the Nazgûl and renamed Minas Morgul, but even at the end of the Third Age it still shone with a pale light mirroring that of its original namesake, the Moon.


See also...

Isil, Orithil, Starmoon, The Sheen

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 20 March 2015
  • This entry is complete

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