City of the Elves in Valinor, built on the hill Túna (S/59). This name is the noun tirion “watch-tower” used as a name, probably inspired by the great tower Mindon Eldaliéva built by Ingwë within that city.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, the name of this city of the Elves in Valinor was ᴱQ. Kôr, which was also the name of the hill where it was built (LT1/122-3). At this early stage, the name ᴱQ. Kortirion was used for the chief city of Tol Eressëa, home of the exiles of Kôr and named after the great tower built by Ingil son of Inwe (LT1/16). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, ᴹQ. Kôr became the name of the hill only, and the name of the city became ᴹQ. Túna “Hill City” (LR/222). In the same period, the name ᴹQ. Kortirion largely vanished from the narratives, mentioned only as the place where Ælfwine recorded the tales (LR/334).

In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the city in Valinor was called ᴹQ. Tirion in Bilbo’s poem in Rivendell (TI/92); this name was also used in Tolkien’s notes on the fall of Númenor from the 1940s (SD/403). The name Tirion was retained in the published Lord of the Rings (LotR/235), and Tolkien used this name for the Valinorian city in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (MR/84). Túna gradually became the name of the hill only (MR/8), while the name Kôr vanished entirely. It is possible that Q. Tirion was a restoration of the early name ᴱQ. Kortirion, now as the city in Valinor rather than Tol Eressëa. The chief city of Tol Eressëa was called Avallónë in later writings (S/260).

The table below summarizes these changes: