Q. Valinórë loc. “Land of the Valar”
Land of the Valar within Aman (S/37), a compound of Vali, an archaic plural of Vala, and nórë “land” (SA/val, dôr). It usually appeared in the shorter form Valinor. In older Quenya, this name would have meant “Valian folk”, but it was blended with archaic Valandor to get its current meaning (PE17/20, SA/dôr).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴱQ. Valinor appears in the earliest Lost Tales with essentially the same form and meaning (LT1/70), and its long form Valinōre appeared in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/66). The name ᴹQ. Valinor appeared in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (SM/12, 80; LR/110, 205), and in The Etymologies it already had the same derivation as given above (Ety/BAL, NDOR).
In the earlier stages, the name Aman had not yet been invented, so Valinor referred to the entire land of the West, not just the land of the Valar within it.
See ✶Bali(a)nōrē for a discussion of its complex etymology.
References ✧ Let/198; LotRI/Valinor; MR/200; MRI/Valinor; PE17/20, 26, 74, 106; PMI/Valinor; RC/217; S/102; SA/dôr, val; SI/Valinor; UTI/Valinor; WJ/413; WJI/Valinor
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| Valinóreo | genitive | ✧ MR/200 | |
| Valinóreva | possessive | “of Valinor” | ✧ S/102 |
Elements
| Vala | “(Angelic) Power, ‘God’, Authority” | ✧ Let/198 (Valar); PE17/74 (†Vali); SA/val (val-) |
| nórë | “land, country; †people, race, tribe” | ✧ PE17/106 (nōre); SA/dôr; WJ/413 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶Bali(a)nōrē > Valinórë | [balinōrē] > [βalinōrē] > [βalinōre] > [valinōre] | ✧ PE17/26 |
| ✶Valinōrē > Valinóre | [balinōrē] > [βalinōrē] > [βalinōre] > [valinōre] | ✧ WJ/413 |
ᴹQ. Valinor loc. “Land of the Valar”
References ✧ Ety/BAL, NDOR; LR/25, 202; LRI; MR/200; PE18/24, 56; PE19/58-59; PE21/32-33, 36; PE22/47, 124-125; RSI; SDI1/Valinor; SDI2/Valinor; SMI; TII; WRI
Glosses
Variations
Related
Changes
Inflections
| [Vali]norullo | ablative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| †[Vali]nórulo | ablative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nóra | accusative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]norta | allative; assimilated | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| †[Vali]nórata | allative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nŏrunta | allative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nóren | dative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| Valinóren | genitive | ✧ LR/202; MR/200 | |
| [Vali]nóro | genitive | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nóranen | instrumental | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| Valinoresse | locative | “in Valinor” | ✧ PE22/125 |
| †[Vali]norse | locative; assimilated | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nŏresse | locative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| Valinor | nominative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nórunt | nominative dual | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nórin | nominative plural | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| †[Vali]nórulin | nominative plural | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nóruva | possessive | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| Valinordon | similative | ✧ PE21/36 | |
| [Vali]nóranon | similative | ✧ PE21/36 |
Elements
| Vala | “Power, God” | ✧ Ety/BAL (†Vali) |
| nóre | “land, country, region where certain people live; clan, race, folk, kindred” | ✧ Ety/NDOR |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ✶balī́-ndō̆re > Valinor | [balīndōre] > [βalīndōr] > [βalīndōr] > [βalindōr] > [βalindor] > [valindor] ? [valinor] | ✧ Ety/BAL |
| ᴹ✶Balī-nṓrē̆ > Bali-nṓr(e) > Valinor | [balīnōre] > [βalīnōr] > [βalīnōr] > [βalinōr] > [βalinor] > [valinor] | ✧ PE18/56 |
| ᴹ✶Bắlī + ndṓrḗ > Bálīndṑrē > Bálĭndṑrĕ > Balindor > Valinor | [balīndōre] > [βalīndōr] > [βalīndōr] > [βalindōr] > [βalindor] > [valindor] ? [valinor] | ✧ PE19/59 |
ᴱQ. Valinor loc. “Land of the Gods”
References ✧ GL/21, 30, 44; LBI; LT1/85; LT1A/Valar, Valinor; LT1I; LT2/316; LT2A/Valar; LT2I; PE13/103; PE14/45, 75; PE15/8, 21, 72-73; PME/39, 99; QL/66, 99
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| valinoriva | adjectival | ✧ LT1/85; PME/39 |
Elements
| Vala | “God” | plural | ✧ PE15/72 (Vali); QL/99 (Vali) |
| nóre | “(native) land, nation, family, country” | ✧ LT1A/Valinor (-nor); LT1A/Valinor; PE14/45; PE14/75; QL/66 (-nor) |
Element In
Cognates