Íverin

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Íverin
Island
General Information
Other namesÍwerin, Iverindor (Q)
Aivrin, Aîvrien, Iwrien, Ivrien (G)
Ireland (E)
LocationWest of Tol Eressëa after the Faring Forth
TypeIsland
People and History
InhabitantsMen
Elves
Orcs[1]
Createdc. 5th century AD[2]
EventsFaring Forth

Íverin was the name of an island to the west of Tol Eressëa after its breaking during the Faring Forth, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales. The island later became known as Ireland.[3]

History[edit | edit source]

In the Faring Forth, a great expedition by the Elves of Tol Eressëa for the rescue of their kin in the Great Lands, the island of Tol Eressëa was dragged across the Ocean from the West, and anchored near the shores of the Great Lands.

The Vala Ossë, angered at the uprooting of the island that he himself has set in its place in the West ages ago, attempted to drag it back to Valinor. However, the island broke apart, and the western portion of what was once Tol Eressëa became its own island, which the Elves named Íverin, but which would eventually be called Ireland by Men.[3]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The name Íverin is in Qenya, however, its meaning is unclear.[4]

Other names[edit | edit source]

Other Qenya names for the island, according to the Gnomish Lexicon, are Íwerin and Iverindor.[5]

The Gnomish cognates of Íwerin and Iverindor are Aivrin and Aîvrien, respectively.[5]

In the Gnomish Lexicon Slips, a compilation of several texts written at least a year after the primary text of the Gnomish Lexicon itself, the names Iwrien and Ivrien appear as the Gnomish names for the island.[6][note 1]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

The story of Íring[edit | edit source]

In one of the Early Runic Documents, contemporary with the Book of Lost Tales, there appears a story about a Man called Íring, son of King Ír from Ireland, who is challenged to a wager by the sons of King Watol, and ultimately ends up killing them.[1]

Ælfwine of England and associated writings[edit | edit source]

In a text called Ælfwine of England from c. 1920, following several similar earlier outlines, the Book of Lost Tales was reimagined so that Tol Eressëa was no longer identified with what would eventually become the British Isles, and the character of Eriol/Ottor Wǽfre from the 5th century northern Germany was replaced by Ælfwine, an Anglo-Saxon living in the 11th century England.

At the beginning of the text, it is said that the land of England was broken in the "warfare of the Gods", and that the part that was broken was afterwards called Ireland.[7]

It is speculated by Christopher Tolkien that, since the story of Ælfwine of England doesn't include the earlier conception of the dragging of Tol Eressëa across the ocean and its breaking apart by Ossë, the breaking off of Ireland possibly refers to the earliest idea of what would, in the later legendarium, become the cataclysm at the end of the First Age and the breaking of Beleriand during the War of Wrath.[8]

According to one other, contemporary text, it is said that in later ages, most of the Lost Elves still left east of Valinor and Tol Eressëa, congregated either in the islands of Lúthien or Íverin.[9]

Later legendarium[edit | edit source]

The island of Ireland is mentioned several times in some of the later stories such as The Lost Road and The Notion Club Papers, both in the conversation between the protagonists of the story (especially in reference to the story of Saint Brendan[10], and the poem Imram[11]),[12][13][14] and as a stopping point in Ælfwine's journey to Tol Eressëa.[15][16]

Notes

  1. Some of the earlier forms of these names were: Íwerien (changed from Íweirien), Íwerí(e)nd, Ivrin and Iwrin.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", in Parma Eldalamberon XV (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Early Runic Documents", p. 96
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "I. The Cottage of Lost Play": "Notes and Commentary", p. 23
  3. 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 5, p. 283
  4. Paul Strack, "ᴱQ. Íverin loc.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 11 April 2022)
  5. 5.0 5.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 18
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Alphabet of Rúmil & Early Noldorin Fragments", in Parma Eldalamberon XIII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "Gnomish Lexicon Slips", p. 114
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales": "Ælfwine of England", p. 312
  8. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "VI. The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales": "Ælfwine of England", pp. 323-4
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon", in Parma Eldalamberon XII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 2
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion Club Papers Part Two: Night 69", pp. 261, 264
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion Club Papers Part Two: Note on 'The Death of Saint Brendan' with the text of the published form 'Imram'", pp. 296, 299
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion Club Papers Part Two: Night 66", p. 234
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion Club Papers Part Two: Night 69", p. 267
  14. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part One: III. The Lost Road, (i) The opening chapters", p. 39
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Sauron Defeated, "Part Two: The Notion Club Papers Part Two: Night 70", pp. 278-9
  16. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, "Part One: III. The Lost Road, (iii) The unwritten chapters", pp. 80-1