A region of Gondor immediately south of Minas Tirith. It was glossed “Flowery Arnarch” in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” to The Lord of the Rings (RC/513), but elsewhere he said that its initial element was S. loss “snow” (VT42/18). Its final element, Arnach was “of forgotten [pre-Númenórean] origin” (LotR/1129).

Conceptual Development: When it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, its name was N. Glossarnach (WR/289) with an initial element N. gloss “snow, snow-white”, further supporting the etymology given above.