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Thursday, October 27, 2022

Letter 348 - on Galadriel

 from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin)

6 March 1973

from a letter to Mrs. Catharine Findlay

Galadriel, like all other names of elvish persons in 

The Lord of the Rings , is an invention of my own.

It is in Sindarin form and means 'Maiden crowned with

gleaming hair'.  It is a secondary name given to her in

her youth in the far past because she had long hair

which glistened like gold but was also shot with silver.

She was then of Amazon disposition and bound up 

her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats.


page 428 of paperback edition of THE LETTERS of J.R.R. Tolkien 

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