Butterflies
Butterflies were insects with large wings, often colorful.
History[edit]
A legend says that all kinds of butterflies appeared in the Land of Willows.[1]
Butterflies are noted for their wings bearing colorful markings, and the "purple emperor" type loves the top of oak-woods. In Mirkwood however, Bilbo Baggins found hundreds of totally black butterflies, without any markings, at the treetops and he imagined them as 'black emperors'.[2][note 1]
Some of Gandalf's fireworks fluttered like butterflies.[3]
Wilwarin is also a name the Elves gave to a constellation of stars.[note 2]
Etymology[edit]
In Quenya/Qenya, the word for "butterfly" is wilwarin (pl. wilwarindi). Cognates of the same meaning are Telerin vilverin, Noldorin gwilwileth, and Ilkorin gwilwering.[4] In earlier Gnomish (the precursor of Noldorin) "butterfly" is gwilbrin (or -vrin).[5]
The words wilwarindëa and wilwarindië (older Qenya form was wilwarindeën[6]) are the respective singular and plural forms meaning "like a wilwarin or butterfly".[7] In Qenya there is also the word wilwarindon ("like a butterfly").[8]
The words come from the same root (wil-, "fly, float in air") as Q. vilya/S. gwilith "air", and the name for the Ring of Air, Vilya.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Although not mentioned specifically, it is possible that these butterflies, like other creatures of Mirkwood, were infected by the Shadow of Dol Guldur to which they owed this color.
- ↑ Christopher Tolkien associates it with Cassiopeia
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "III. The Fall of Gondolin", p. 154
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Flies and Spiders"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniv. Ed.), The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party", p. 27
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", p. 398 (root WIL-)
- ↑ 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. 45
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays, "A Secret Vice", pp. 213, 216, 220
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", in Parma Eldalamberon XVI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, Carl F. Hostetter and Bill Welden), p. 96
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", in Parma Eldalamberon XVI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, Carl F. Hostetter and Bill Welden), p. 63
