The Silmarillon

Examples are Maedhros, Aredhel, Haudh-en-Arwen. always has the sound of English g in get; thus Region, Eregion are not pronounced like English region, and the first syllable of Ginglith is as in English begin not as in gin.

Consonants written twice are pronounced long; thus Yavanna has the long n heard in English unnamed, penknife, not the short n in unaimed, penny.

VOWELS

AI

has the sound of English eye; thus the second syllable of Edain is like English dine, not Dane.

AU

has the value of English ow in town; thus the first syllable of Aule is like English owl, and the first syllable of Sauron is like English sour, not sore.

EI

as in Teiglin has the sound of English grey.

IE

should not be pronounced as in English piece, but with both the vowels i and e sounded, and run together; thus Ni-enna, not 'Neena'.

UI

as in Uinen has the sound of English ruin.

AE

as in Aegnor, Nirnaeth, and OE as in Noegyth, Loeg, are combinations of the individual vowels, a-e, o-e, but ae may be pronounced in the same way as ai, and oe as in English toy EA and EO are not run together, but constitute two syllables; these combinations are written ea and eo (or, when they begin names, Ea and Eo: Earendil, Eonwe).

U

in names like Hurin, Turin, Tuna should be pronounced oo; thus 'Toorin' not 'Tyoorin'.

ER, IR, UR before a consonant (as in Nerdanel, Cirdan, Gurthang) or at the end of a word (as in Ainur) should not be pronounced as in English fern, fir, fur, but as in English air, eer, oor.

E

at the end of words is always pronounced as a distinct vowel, and in this position is written e. It is likewise always pronounced in the middle of words like Celeborn, Menegroth.

A circumflex accent in stressed monosyllables in Sindarin denotes the particularly long vowel heard in such words (thus Hin Hurin); but in Adunaic (Numenorean) and Khuzdul (Dwarvish) names the circumflex is simply used to denote long vowels.

INDEX OF NAMES

Since the number of names in the book is very large, this index provides, in addition to page-references, a short statement concerning each person and place. These statements are not epitomes of all that is said in the text, and for most of the central figures in the narrative are kept extremely brief; but such an index is inevitably bulky, and I have reduced its size in various ways.

The chief of these concerns the fact that very often the English translation of an Elvish name is also used as the name independently; thus for example the dwelling of King Thingol is called both Menegroth and 'The Thousand Caves' (and also both together). In most such cases I have combined the Elvish name and its translated meaning under one entry, with the result that the page-references are not restricted to the name that appears as the heading (e.g., those under Echoriath include those to 'Encircling Mountains'). The English renderings are given separate headings, but only with a simple direction to the main entry, and only if they occur independently. Words in inverted commas are translations; many of these occur in the text (as Tol Eressea 'the Lonely Isle'), but I have added a great many others.

Information about some names that are not translated is contained in the Appendix.

With the many titles and formal expressions in English whose Elvish originals are not given, such as 'the Elder King' and 'the Two Kindreds', I have been selective, but the great majority are registered. The references are in intention complete (and sometimes include pages where the subject of the entry occurs but is not actually mentioned by name) except in a very few cases where the name occurs very frequently indeed, as Beleriand, Valar. Here the word passim is used, but selected references are given to important passages; and in the entries for some of the Noldorin princes the many occurrences of the name that relate only to their sons or their houses have been eliminated.

References to The Lord of the Rings are by title of the volume, book, and chapter.