Menelmacar

Frodo and his companions were spending their night with the Elves in the woods of the Shire; the Elves burst into song as Menelvagor, the Swordsman of the Sky, climbed in the sky, and started the time for dinner, speech and merriment.

The elements of the Quenya name are: menel, "the heavens" and macar "swordsman", therefore "Heaven-Swordsman".

The name Menelvagor is a direct calque of the constellation's Quenya name Menelmacar, "Swordsman of the Sky".

Menelmacar is called Menelmakil in a note to Tolkien’s essay Quendi and Eldar on the origin of the Elvish names for Elves: ' Telumehtar 'warrior of the sky', an older name for Menelmakil, Orion'

In The Etymologies the word makil is translated as 'sword', whereas mahtar is translated as 'warrior' ( > -mehtar in Telumehtar; -makar in Menelmacar ). Therefore, the full word means "Heaven-sword". It is possible that the spelling of Menelmakil may be just an error.

Telumehtar (Quenya "Warrior of the Sky") is another name of the constellation Menelmacar. Behind this name lies an early story about a Vala named Telimektar, son of Tulkas, who apparently was converted into the constellation of Orion. Apart from the story of Telimektar there are two mentions of Telumehtar the Constellation:

1. The name is quoted as an example of the pronunciation of the consonant /H/ with a reference to Orion, explained in a footnote: "usually called in Sindarin Menelvagor, --- Q[uenya] Menelmacar".
2. With the translation "Warrior of the Sky", as an older name for Menelmakil, Orion.

The name Menelvagor meaning "Swordsman of the Sky" is also used.

The constellation Menelvagor entered into the story only in the latest phases of its composition. In earlier versions of the manuscript of The Lord of the Rings the Elves begun to sing as 'the yellow moon rose', and in a later revision 'in the East the thin silver rind of the New Moon appeared' due to Tolkien's calculations considering the phases of the Moon; still there was a fault: the Moon would not have risen from the East at that time of the year; thus the Moon was finally changed to the apparition of Menelvagor and other stars.

Menelmacar is identified in our world as the constellation Orion.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 28/05/2026.