Celos
The Celos was a lesser river or stream that flowed out of the White Mountains into the Gondorian land of Lebennin, a little to the west of Minas Tirith. It was a tributary of the larger River Sirith.
Location
The smaller-scale map that accompanies The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales shows the Celos flowing into the Sirith from the east,[1] while the large-scale contour map of Gondor shows it flowing from the west.[2] A brief reference in Unfinished Tales suggests that the Celos was the next river eastward from the Gilrain, which would make the large-scale map correct.[3][note 1] Christopher Tolkien noted the error of the small-scale map in The Treason of Isengard; the correct location of the Celos is thus being the western tributary.[4]
Etymology
The Sindarin name Celos derives from the root KELU- ("flow out swiftly") + ending -sse, -ssa. The Quenya cognate is kelussë ("freshet, water falling out swiftly from a rocky spring").[5][6]
Notes
- ↑ The river's name on that map, incidentally, is spelled Kelos, but the pronunciation is the same in either case.
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age" [map]
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Treason of Isengard, "XV. The First Map of The Lord of the Rings", p. 322 (note 9)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, Index
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 42, July 2001, p. 11
