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Dailir was the name of the unerring dart that was "dearly prizéd"[1] by Beleg Cúthalion. With his bow Belthronding, he used it many times and always found it unharmed.[2]
After Túrin was taken captive by Orcs, Wolves, and Wolf-riders, Beleg used Dailir to kill one of the Wolves. He took out six others with the rest of his arrows until he could sneak past.[2] After getting to the unconscious Túrin and attempting to carry him away from the Orc-camp, Beleg unwittingly tripped over Dailir, breaking it in two and bending its barbs. While on the ground, Beleg coincidentally hurts his hand on Dailir's point, which he considered a sign of ill-fate. Indeed, shortly after, he was accidentally killed by Túrin, who confused Beleg with an Orc.[1]
Etymology[]
Dailir is a Noldorin word that is glossed as "cleaver" in the "Noldorin Word-lists", and is related to the verb daila- ("to cleave") and the noun dail ("axe-blade").[3] The suffix -ir creates an "agent noun",[4] similarly to adding 'r' to 'bite' in English to produce 'biter'. John D. Rateliff suggests that if the name was updated to later versions of Sindarin, the dai- part of Dailir would become dae-.[5] Thus, the updated name would probably either be Crist ("cleaver")[6] used as a name or Daelir ("shadow song")[7] in the Doriathren dialect from dae-[8][5] ("shade, shadow")[9] and -lir ("to sing")[7].
Background[]
Christopher Tolkien suggested in his commentary "that the wounding of Beleg’s hand when he put it on the point of Dailir…accounts for his clumsiness" in cutting Túrin's bonds.[10] While Dailir never reappears outside the first version of The Lay of the Children of Húrin,[11] it was suggested by John D. Rateliff that it may have influenced J.R.R. Tolkien's development of Bard's black arrow despite not being a direct predecessor.[5] Both arrows share a motif of perishing after achieving their goal, which Tolkien likely pulled from Beowulf. In that story, Beowulf's sword cannot kill Grendel's mother but another sword, an ancient blade found in her lair, can destroy her and slice off Grendel's head. However, the sword then melted down to the hilt.[12]
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Amharic | ዳኢሊር |
| Arabic | دايلير |
| Armenian | Դեյլիր |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Даілір |
| Bengali | ডেইলির |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Даилир |
| Chinese | 戴赖尔 |
| Georgian | დაილირი |
| Greek | Ντάιρ |
| Gujarati | દૈલીર |
| Hebrew | דאיליר |
| Hindi | डेलिर |
| Japanese | ダイリール |
| Kannada | ಡೈಲಿರ್ |
| Kazakh | Дейлир (Cyrillic) Deylïr (Latin) |
| Korean | 데일리르 ? |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Даилир |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Даилир |
| Marathi | दलीर |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Даилир |
| Nepalese | ड्ऐलिर |
| Persian | دایلیر |
| Russian | Дайлир |
| Serbian | Даилир (Cyrillic) Dailir (Latin) |
| Sinhalese | ඩයිලර් |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Даилир |
| Tamil | டைலிற் |
| Telugu | దైలీర్ |
| Urdu | داالیر |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Даілір |
| Uzbek | Даилир (Cyrillic) Dailir (Latin) |
| Yiddish | דאַיליר |
| Named weapons of Middle-earth | |
|---|---|
| Hobbits | Barrow-blades • Sting |
| Dwarves | Durin's Axe • Orcrist |
| Servants of Evil | Grond (battering ram) • Grond (hammer) • Morgul-knife |
| Elves | Aeglos • Anglachel • Anguirel • Angrist • Aranrúth • Belthronding • Dailir • Glamdring • Orcrist • Ringil |
| Men | Andúril • Dramborleg • Black arrow • Dagmor • Gúthwinë • Gurthang • Herugrim • Narsil • Red Arrow |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, I: The Lay of the Children of Húrin, II: "Beleg", pg. 45 (lines 1187-1192)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, I: The Lay of the Children of Húrin, II: "Beleg", pg. 42 (lines 1080-1083)
- ↑ Parma Eldalamberon, issue XIII: The Alphabet of Rúmil and Early Noldorin Fragments, "Noldorin Word-lists", pg. 141
- ↑ A Gateway to Sindarin, pg. 165
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Second Phase, XIII (later XIV): "The Death of Smaug", (ii) The Black Arrow, pg. 558 (note 6)
- ↑ "Crist/Dailir" on eldamo.org
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Dailir: Difference between revisions - Revision as of 10:53, 5 August 2010" on Tolkien Gateway
- ↑ Parma Eldalamberon, issue XXII: The Feanorian Alphabet, Part 1 and Quenya Verb Structure, Part 4: The Beleriandic or Exilic Usage, pg. 34
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: The Etymologies, entry "DAY"
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, I: The Lay of the Children of Húrin, II: "Beleg", Commentary on Part II ‘Beleg’, pg. 55
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, I: The Lay of the Children of Húrin, II: "Beleg", Commentary on Part II ‘Beleg’, pg. 53
- ↑ The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Second Phase, XIII (later XIV): "The Death of Smaug", (ii) The Black Arrow, pg. 558