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Things of Middle-earth

uilos

Type: Plants

Meaning: ever-snow-white

Other Names:
alfirin (Sindarin): 'immortal'
uilos (Sindarin): 'ever-snow-white'
simbelmynë (language of the Rohirrim): 'evermind'

Description:

A white flower that blossoms year-round, found in grassy areas of Gondolin and on graves in Rohan; also called alfirin by Elves and simbelmynë by the Rohirrim; see the alfirin entry for the text of a letter from Tolkien describing the flower:
Tuor saw beside the way a sward of grass, where like stars bloomed the white flowers of uilos,1 the Evermind that knows no season and withers not; and thus in wonder and lightening of heart he was brought to the Gate of Silver.

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 1, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin


Etymology
los 'snow' in Oiolossë (Quenya oio 'ever' and losse 'snow, snow-white'); Sindarin loss in Amon Uilos and Aeglos.

The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names


Notes
1   These were the flowers that bloomed abundantly on the burial mounds of the Kings of Rohan below Edoras, and which Gandalf named in the language of the Rohirrim (as translated into Old English) simbelmynë, that is 'Evermind,'.... The Elvish name uilos is only given in this passage, but the word is found also in Amon Uilos, as the Quenya name Oiolossë ("Ever-snow-white," the Mountain of Manwë) was rendered into Sindarin. In "Cirion and Eorl" the flower is given another Elvish name, alfirin....

Unfinished Tales, Part 1, Ch 1, Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin: Notes, Note 27

Contributors: ~Nessime 4Jan04
Elena Tiriel 24Sep05, 10Dec07

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