Elen

PQ Root EL.

It is said traditionally to come from the exclamation ele! ("behold"), being the first word the first Elves spoke at Cuiviénen, when they saw the stars.

• elenna = "to a star": allative, also a name for Númenor.
• elelli = "stars": partitive plural
• elenion = "of stars": pl. genitive
• elenillor = "from stars": pl. ablative

• Elemmírë = "Star-Jewel"
• Elendur = "Servant of the Elves"
• Eldar = "People of the Stars" ("Elves")
• Elenna = "Star-wards"
• Elentári = "Queen of the Stars"
• Elenwe = "Star Person"
• Elerrína = "Crowned with Stars"
• elenya = "Star-day" ("Saturday")

With the meaning "Elf"

• Elendil = "Friend of the Elves"
• Elessar = "Elf-stone"
• Elesser = Variant of Elendil

• Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo = "A star shines on the hour of our meeting"
• Aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima! = "Hail Eärendil brightest of the Stars!"
• yassen tintilar i eleni = "wherein the stars tremble"

El means "deity" in some Semitic languages, and is a common element in many Hebrew names, as happens with Elvish names. Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia suggests that the word El was the first sound emitted by Adam: While the first utterance of humans after birth is a cry of pain, Dante assumed that Adam could only have made an exclamation of joy, which at the same time was addressing his Creator. Verlyn Flieger explains that "neither Tolkien's ele nor its derivative el, functions in his protolanguage as a name of God. Nevertheless, both are names for the first light, which suggests God's emanation. The similarity of the fictive first utterance of Tolkien's Elves to Dante's deduced first utterance should not go unremarked".

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 25/05/2026.