S. Maedhros m. “*Shapely and Red-haired”
Eldest son of Fëanor (S/60). His name is an adaption of elements from both his mother-name Q. Maitimo “Well-shaped One” and his nickname Q. Russandol “Copper-top”: S. maed¹ “shapely” and S. ross² “red-haired” (PM/366). As such, his name was more properly spelled Maedros (PM/352).
Conceptual Development: When he first appeared in the earliest Lost Tales, this character’s name was G. Maidros (LT2/241), a name that earlier in the tales was used for the grandfather of Fëanor (LT1/146). This form continued to be used in the Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (SM/88, LR/223), but in The Etymologies, Tolkien said it was an anglicanization of proper Noldorin Maidhros “Pale-glitter” (Ety/MAD), which also appeared in The Etymologies as N. Maedhros (Ety/RUS).
The form Maidhros continued to appear in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (WJ/115), but for the most part earlier Maidros was revised to Maedhros (MR/177), the form Christopher Tolkien adopted for the published version of The Silmarillion: see N. [ai] revised to [ae]. Tolkien constructed the derivation given above in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, where he actually used the form Maedros (PM/352, 366). Later still he considered revising the name to Maedron (PM/372, note #2), but this change was not carried out in the texts.
References ✧ LR/301; LRI/Maidros; LT1I; MRI/Maidros; PM/352, 366, 372; PMI/Maedros; SI; SMI/Maidros; UTI; VT41/10; WJ/115; WJI/Maidros
Variations
Related
Changes
Elements
| maed¹ | “shapely” | ✧ PM/366; VT41/10 |
| ross² | “red-haired, copper-coloured” | ✧ PM/366; VT41/10 |
N. Maidhros m. “Pale-glitter”
References ✧ Ety/MAD, MAƷ|MAG, RUS; EtyAC/MAƷ; LR/301; LRI/Maidros; MRI/Maidros; PMI/Maedros; SMI/Maidros; WJ/115; WJI/Maidros
Glosses
Variations
Related
Changes
Elements
| maidh | “pale, fallow, fawn [light yellowish tan colour]” | ✧ Ety/MAD (maið); EtyAC/MAƷ (maið); EtyAC/MAƷ (meið) | |
| †rhoss² | “polished metal” | soft-mutation | ✧ Ety/RUS (†rhoss) |
| ᴹ√RUS | “flash, glitter of metal” | ✧ Ety/MAD | |
| ᴹ√MAD | “*pale (yellow)” | ✧ Ety/RUS | |
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ON. Maenros > Maedhros | [maenros] > [maeðros] | ✧ Ety/MAƷ|MAG |