Christopher Tolkien writes: "With ‘the windy Bay of Bêl' cf. the poem The Man in the Moon came down too soon in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962), where the Man in the Moon fell ‘to a foaming bath in the windy Bay of Bel', identified as Belfalas in the preface to the book.—This passage was struck through, presumably at once, since the next paragraph begins again ‘Several other names in Gondor are apparently of similar origin. A page of rapid manuscript found with the typescript essay shows my father sketching an entirely different origin for the element Bel-. I have referred to this text and cited it in part in Unfinished Tales (p. 247), observing that it represents an altogether different conception of the establishment of the Elvish haven (Edhellond) north of Dol Amroth from that given in Of Dwarves and Men (XII:313 and 329 n. 67), where it is said that it owed its existence to ‘seafaring Sindar from the west havens of Beleriand who fled in three small ships when the power of Morgoth overwhelmed the Eldar and the Atani'. The manuscript page obviously belongs to the same very late period as the essay, as is seen both from the paper on which it is written and from the fact that the same page carries drafting for the Oath of Cirion in Quenya (UT:305)." This manuscript page is given below in full; two notes that Tolkien made to the text are collected together at its end:
Belfalas. This is a special case. Bel- is certainly an element derived from a pre-Númenórean name; but its source is known, and was in fact Sindarin. The regions of Gondor had a complex history in the remote past, so far as their population was concerned, and the Númenóreans evidently found many layers of mixed peoples, and numerous islands of isolated folk either clinging to old dwellings, or in mountain-refuges from invaders (Note 1). But there was one small (but important) element in Gondor of quite exceptional kind: an Eldarin settlement.{37} Little is known of its history until shortly before it disappeared; for the Eldarin Elves, whether Exiled Noldor or long-rooted Sindar, remained in Beleriand until its desolation in the Great War against Morgoth; and then if they did not take sail over Sea wandered westward [sic; read "eastward"] in Eriador. There, especially near the Hithaeglir (on either side), they found scattered settlements of the Nandor, Telerin Elves who had in the First Age never completed the journey to the shores of the Sea; but both sides recognized their kinship as Eldar. There appears, however, in the beginning of the Second Age, to have been a group of Sindar who went south. They were a remnant, it seems, of the people of Doriath, who harboured still their grudge against the Noldor and left the Grey Havens because these and all the ships there were commanded by Cirdan (a Noldo). Having learned the craft of shipbuilding (Note 2) they went in the course of years seeking a place for havens of their own. At last they settled at the mouth of the Morthond. There was already a primitive harbour there of fisher-folk; but these in fear of the Eldar fled into the mountains. The land between Morthond and Serni (the shoreward parts of Dor-en-Ernil)
Note 1. Though none of the regions of the Two Kingdoms were before (or after!) the Númenórean settlements densely populated as we should reckon it.
Note 2: All Elves were naturally skilled in making boats, but the craft that were to make a long voyage over Sea, perilous even to Elven-craft until Middle-earth was far behind, required more skill and knowledge.
The manuscript page ends here, mid-sentence, and without reaching an explanation of the element Bel-. Christopher Tolkien writes: "It was perhaps a purely experimental extension of the history, at once abandoned; but the assertion that Cirdan was a Noldo is very strange. This runs clean counter to the entire tradition concerning him—yet it is essential to the idea sketched in this passage. Possibly it was his realization of this that led my father to abandon it in mid-sentence."
The typescript resumes with a replacement of the rejected passage on Belfalas (and now avoiding discussion of that problematic name):
Several other names in Gondor are apparently of similar origin. Lamedon has no meaning in Sindarin (if it was Sindarin it would be referred to *lambeton-, *lambetân-, but C.E. lambe- ‘language’ can hardly be concerned). Arnach is not Sindarin. It may be connected with Arnen on the east side of Anduin. Arnach was applied to the valleys in the south of the mountains and their foothills between Celos and Erui. There were many rocky outcrops there, but hardly more than in the higher valleys of Gondor generally. Arnen was a rock outlier of the Ephel Dúath, round which the Anduin, south of Minas Tirith, made a wide bend.
Suggestions of the historians of Gondor that arn- is an element in some pre-Númenórean language meaning ‘rock’ is merely a guess.{38} More probable is the view of the author (unknown) of the fragmentarily preserved Ondonóre Nómesseron Minaþurie (‘Enquiry into the Place-names of Gondor’).{39} On internal evidence he lived as far back as the reign of Meneldil, son of Anárion—no events later than that reign are mentioned—when memories and records of the early days of the settlements now lost were still available, and the process of naming was still going on. He points out that Sindarin was not well-known to many of the settlers who gave the names, mariners, soldiers, and emigrants, though all aspired to have some knowledge of it. Gondor was certainly occupied from its beginning by the Faithful, men of the Elf-friend party and their followers; and these in revolt against the ‘Adunaic' Kings who forbade the use of the Elvish tongues gave all new names in the new realm in Sindarin, or adapted older names to the manner of Sindarin. They also renewed and encouraged the study of Quenya, in which important documents, titles, and formulas were composed. But mistakes were likely to be made.{40} Once a name had become current it was accepted by the rulers and organizers. He thinks therefore that Arnen originally was intended to mean ‘beside the water, sc. Anduin'; but ar- in this sense is Quenya, not Sindarin. Though since in the full name Emyn Arnen the Emyn is Sindarin plural of Amon ‘hill', Arnen cannot be a Sindarin adjective, since an adjective of such shape would have a Sindarin plural ernain, or ernin. The name must therefore have meant ‘the hills of Arnen. It is now forgotten, but it can be seen from old records that Arnen was the older name of the greater part of the region later called Ithilien. This was given to the narrow land between the Anduin and the Ephel Dúath, primarily to the part between Cair Andros and the southern end of the bend of Anduin, but vaguely extended north to the Nindalf and south towards the Poros. For when Elendil took as his dwelling the North Kingdom, owing to his friendship with the Eldar, and committed the South Kingdom to his sons, they divided it so, as is said in ancient annals: "Isildur took as his own land all the region of Arnen; but Anárion took the land from Erui to Mount Mindolluin and thence westward to the North Wood", (later in Rohan called the Firien Wood), "but Gondor south of Ered Nimrais they held in common."
Arnach, if the above explanation is accepted, is not then related to Arnen. Its origin and source are in that case now lost. It was generally called in Gondor Lossarnach. Loss is Sindarin for ‘snow’, especially fallen and long-lying snow. For what reason this was prefixed to Arnach is unclear. Its upper valleys were renowned for their flowers, and below them there were great orchards, from which at the time of the War of the Ring much of the fruit needed in Minas Tirith still came. Though no mention of this is found in any chronicles—as is often the case with matters of common knowledge—it seems probable that the reference was in fact to the fruit blossom. Expeditions to Lossarnach to see the flowers and trees were frequently made by the people of Minas Tirith. (See index Lossarnach adding III 36,140;{41} Imloth Melui "sweet flower-valley", a place in Arnach). This use of ‘snow' would be specially likely in Sindarin, in which the words for fallen snow and flower were much alike, though different in origin: loss and loth, [the latter] meaning ‘inflorescence, a head of small flowers'. Loth is actually most often used collectively in Sindarin, equivalent to goloth; and a single flower denoted by elloth (er-loth) or lotheg.{42}
38
Tolkien provides a similar explanation for the initial element of the name
39
40
Tolkien here deleted a parenthetical note that read: "(Many of those who actually gave the names were mariners and settlers [
42
S.