Try our affiliated browser extension - redirect to BreezeWiki automatically!

Tavari

! The canonicity of this subject is uncertain.
The precise canonical status of this article's subject is unclear.
To find out about what is considered "canon" see LOTR:Canon. 		!


Tavari, also called Alandri, were the Fays of the woods according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales.[1]

The Tavari entered into the world with Aulë and Yavanna along with many other types of Fays.[2]

Etymology

Tavari is a Quenya name that is one of the plural forms of tavar ("dale-sprite"), the other being Tavarni.[3] The Gnomish cognate of tavar was tavor ("wood-fay").[4]

Tavar is derived from the root TAVA ("beam"), with "beam" here referring to the Old English béam ("tree, piece of wood, rafter, pillar").[3]

The name suggests that the Tavari used the forest as their home, and that such forests were watched or guarded by them.[5]

Alandri is a Quenya name based on the word aldarë ("wood"), which was probably derived from the word alda ("tree").[1] The word alda itself comes from the root ALA ("spread").[6]

In other versions

In a later version of the legendarium from The Etymologies (1930s), there appear the terms tavaron (male)[7]/tavaril (female)[8], both meaning "dryad, spirit of woods". The earlier forms of these names were tawaro or tawarë.[9]

Inspiration

According to C.S. Lewis, Tolkien once told him that the historical people in a sense did not falsely claim to see "nymphs in the fountains and woods and dryads in the wood" since the production of food was closely connected to one's own land and territory: people came to internalize the nature surrounding them.[10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Parma Eldalamberon XIV, "The Creatures of the Earth", pgs. 7, 10
  2. ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, III: "The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor", pg. 66
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Parma Eldalamberon XII, pg. 90 (entry "TAVA, ?TAFA")
  4. ↑ Parma Eldalamberon XI, pg. 69 (entry "tavor")
  5. ↑ Parma Eldalamberon XVI, pg. 80
  6. ↑ Parma Eldalamberon XII, pg. 29 (entry "ALA (2)")
  7. ↑ "Tavaron" on eldamo.org
  8. ↑ "Tavaril" on eldamo.org
  9. ↑ The History of Middle-earth, vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: The Etymologies, pg. 391 (entry "TÁWAR-")
  10. ↑ C.S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Family Letters 1905-1931, letter from 1930