Vale of the Land of the Singers

One of the earliest recorded names for the land that would much later be known as Lórien. The name dated back to the time when the Nandor abandoned the Great Journey of the Eldar and settled in the Vales of Anduin. These people derived from the clan known as the Teleri, a people also known as the Lindar or 'Singers', which provides an explanation for the origin of the name.

The Vale was thus the original home of the Silvan Elves, who ranged through the woods that ran down the vale of Silverlode, and also through the forests of Greenwood the Great across Anduin. It would not be until long afterward that events drove the Elves of the Greenwood away from the Great River, dividing the Silvan Elves into two separate peoples.

In Elvish, the Vale of the Land of the Singers was Lindórinand. After Galadriel came to the land, and started the growing of the golden-leaved mallorn trees, the name evolved, becoming Laurelindórinan, 'Land of the Valley of Singing Gold' or simply Lórinand, 'Valley of Gold'. The Golden Wood would take several other names over the years, and by the end of the Third Age is most usually called Lórien. Though the Singers were forgotten in its new name, the Elves were effectively immortal, and doubtless at least some of the Galadhrim of the Third Age could remember the founding of the Vale of the Land of Singers thousands of years beforehand.