S. Balannor loc. “Land of the Valar”
Sindarin cognate of Q. Valinórë (PE17/26), a compound of BAL “power” (basis for S. Balan “Vala”) with S. dôr “land”.
Conceptual Development: The first cognates of ᴱQ. Valinor appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s: (rejected) G. Dor Banion and G. Gwalien (GL/21, LT2A/Valar). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the cognate was N. Balannor (Ety/BAL), and this is the source of the derivation given above.
In a letter from 1972, Tolkien stated that Belain (plural of Balan) was not a word in Sindarin (Let/427). Furthermore, in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, he changed the Sindarin name for the “Annals of Valinor” from N. Inias Valannor to S. Ínias Dor-Rodyn (MR/200). It is possible that Tolkien decided that the normal Sindarin word for the Vala was S. Rodon, so that S. Dor-Rodyn was the equivalent of Valinor.
Reference ✧ PE17/26 ✧ “Land of the Valar”
Related
Elements
| √BAL | “power; powerful, mighty; have power” | |
| dôr | “land” | nasal-mutation |
Cognates
N. Balannor loc. “land of the Gods in the West”
References ✧ Ety/BAL; MR/200; PE19/59
Glosses
Changes
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ON. Balandor > Balannor | [balandor] > [balannor] | ✧ Ety/BAL |
G. Gwalien loc. “Land of the Valar”
References ✧ GL/21, 44; LT1A/Valar; LT2A/Valar; PE13/103; PE15/8, 21
Glosses
Related
Elements
| Gwala | “one of the gods” | ✧ GL/44; LT1A/Valar |
Cognates
G. Dor Banion loc.
References ✧ GL/21; LT1A/Valar; LT2A/Valar; PE13/103; PE15/21
Variations
Related
Changes
Elements
| dôr | “land, country (inhabited), people of the land” | ||
| Ban¹ | “god, one of the Valar” | genitive plural | ✧ GL/21 (Ban); LT1A/Valar (Ban) |
Cognates