- "Then by some shift of airs all the mist was drawn away like a veil, and there leaned up, as he climbed over the rim of the world, the Swordsman of the Sky, Menelvagor with his shining belt."
- —Menelvagor in the Third chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring
Menelvagor, also known as the Swordsman of the Sky, Telumehtar,[1] and Menelmacar,[2] was a shining belt of stars in the night sky of Arda to the north of Helluin[3] and south of Remmirath. Borgil was a part of Menelvagor.[4]
Menelvagor corresponded to the constellation of Orion.[1]
History[]
Between the years 1000 and 1050 of the Years of the Trees, Varda gathered many ancient stars and set them in many constellations throughout the heavens of Arda to prepare for the Awakening of the Elves. In the year 1050, Menelvagor rose in the sky at the very hour the first Elves awoke at Cuivienen. Due to Menelvagor being one of the first things that they saw, the Elves would often burst into song whenever it rose in the night sky.[4] They personified Menelvagor as masculine,[4] believing he "was a sign of Túrin"[5] and the Last Battle prophesied[6] to come at the End of Arda.[3]
A little while before 1:07 am[7] on Halimath 25 of the year 3018 during the late Third Age, the three Hobbits, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and Peregrin Took, witnessed Gildor Inglorion and his Wandering Company "burst into song" in Woody End near Woodhall in the Shire as Menelvagor rose in the night sky. This signaled the time for them to eat and talk.[4]
It was believed by some people that the Great Stars which made up the sword-sheath of Menelvagor will turn "red when he draws his sword" before the Last Battle.[8]
Etymology[]
Menelvagor is a Sindarin name meaning "Swordsman of the Sky", consisting of the words menel ("firmament, high heaven, the region of the stars" or "heaven on high")[9] and a mutation of magor ("swordsman")[10] from the root mak ("cut, hew with a sharp edge;[11] kill, slay;[12] forge metal"[13]).[4]
Menelmacar, or Menelmakar,[3][5] is a Quenya cognate of Menelvagor with the same meaning, consisting of the words menel ("the heavens, firmament, sky;[14] visible Heaven[15]") and macar ("swordsman, forger").[2]
Menelmakil is a Quenya name meaning "sword of the sky" or "heaven-sword", consisting of the words menel ("the heavens, firmament, sky") and macil/makil ("sword;[16] fight (with sword), cleave;[17] a forged sword blade, a cutting sword"[13]).[14]
Telumehtar is a Quenya name meaning "warrior of the sky"[18] and corresponding with Orion,[1] consisting of the words telumë ("roof, canopy; heaven, sky"), used for the heavens before the Elves invented menel, and mehtar ("warrior"), a possible variant of ohtar ("warrior, soldier").[14][19]
In other versions[]
In the earliest draft of the Hobbits' meeting with Gildor Inglorion, the Elves burst into song at the arising of the yellow moon.[20] Christopher Tolkien mentions that due to his father's attempt to keep the Moon phases consistent,[21] the yellow moon was soon changed to be "the thin silver rind of the New Moon" which rose to the East. However, Tolkien eventually realized that no Moon could have appeared in the East on September 25,[21] and as such removed the appearance of the moon and inserted "Menelvagor with his shining belt"[4] alongside Remmirath.[22]
See also[]
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Arabic | مينيلماكار |
| Armenian | Մենելմակար |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Менелмакар |
| Bengali | মেনেলামাকার |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Менелмакар |
| Danish | Menelmacar ("Himmelens Stridsmand") |
| Georgian | მენელმკარი |
| Greek | Μενελμακαρ |
| Gujarati | મેઇનલમેકર |
| Hebrew | מנלמאקאר |
| Hindi | मेनेल्मचर |
| Kannada | ಮೆನೆಲ್ಮಾರ್ಕಾರ್ |
| Kazakh | Менелмакар (Cyrillic) Menelmakar (Latin) |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Мэнэлмакар |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Менелмакар |
| Marathi | मेनलमाकर |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | мэнэлмацар |
| Nepalese | मेनेल्मचर |
| Punjabi | ਮੇਨਲਮੈਕਰ |
| Russian | Менельмакар |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Менелмакар |
| Tamil | மேனில்மக்கார் |
| Telugu | మేనెలమాక |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Менельмакар |
| Urdu | مینیلماکر |
| Yiddish | מענעלמאַקאַר |
| Constellation of Stars | |
|---|---|
| Anarríma • Menelmacar • Soronúmë • Telumendil • Valacirca • Wilwarin | |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Lord of the Rings, "Appendix E: Writing and Spelling", I: "Pronunciation of Words and Names", "Consonants", pg. 391 (entry "H")
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Lord of the Rings, "Appendix E: Writing and Spelling", I: "Pronunciation of Words and Names", "Consonants", pg. 391 (footnote to "Telumehtar ‘Orion’")
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, Part Three: "The Later Quenta Silmarillion", I: The First Phase, 3: "Of the Coming of the Elves", pgs. 160 (§19-20), 166 (commentary to §19)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. III: "Three is Company", pg. 91
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. X: Morgoth's Ring, Part Two: "The Annals of Aman", pgs. 71 (§35, §37), 76
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IV: The Shaping of Middle-earth, Part Two: "Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings", VI: "Quenta Silmarillion", pg. 165 (§31)
- ↑ "Menelvagor" ("Reading the Star Clock" and note 3) on The Encyclopedia of Arda
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, VI: "The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", (4), pgs. 281-2
- ↑ The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, "Notes and Translations", pgs. 63-4
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, pg. 108
- ↑ Vinyar Tengwar 39, "From Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D", pg. 11
- ↑ Vinyar Tengwar 47, "Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numbers", pg. 20
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Vinyar Tengwar 41, "From The Shibboleth of Fëanor", pg. 10
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D: Author's Notes to Quendi and Eldar, pg. 411 (note 15)
- ↑ The Nature of Middle-earth, Part Three: The Word, its Lands, and its Inhabitants, I: "Dark and Light, pg. 281
- ↑ Vinyar Tengwar 49, "Ambidexters Sentence", pg. 17
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", pg. 371 (entry MAK-)
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry TEL-, TELU-
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three: The Third Age, I: "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields", Notes, pg. 282 (note 17)
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The First Phase, II: "From Hobbiton to the Woody End", II: Three's Company and Four's More, pg. 61
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The Story Continued, XXIV: "The Ring Goes South", The Ring goes South, pg. 434 (note 19)
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The Third Phase, XIX: The Third Phase (1): "The Journey to Bree", Chapter II: ‘Ancient History’, pg. 325