In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Eärendil the Mariner (pronounced [ɛaˈrɛndil]) is one of the most important figures in the mythology, a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star across the sky. His story is found in The Silmarillion, and there are several references to him throughout The Lord of the Rings.
Eärendil is a Quenya name, meaning 'Lover of the Sea'. However, Tolkien created the name based on Old English literature. T...
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In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Eärendil the Mariner (pronounced [ɛaˈrɛndil]) is one of the most important figures in the mythology, a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star across the sky. His story is found in The Silmarillion, and there are several references to him throughout The Lord of the Rings.
Eärendil is a Quenya name, meaning 'Lover of the Sea'. However, Tolkien created the name based on Old English literature. Tolkien himself states (Letters, 297) that the name is derived from Anglo-Saxon éarendel. He says that he was struck by the "great beauty" of the name as early as 1913, which he perceived as
There is a poem by Tolkien dated to 1914 entitled The Voyage of Eärendel the Evening Star (published in The Book of Lost Tales 2 267–269). Tolkien was also aware of the name's Germanic cognates (Old Norse Aurvandill, Lombardic Auriwandalo), and the question why the Anglo-Saxon one rather than the Lombardic or Proto-Germanic form should be taken up in the...
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