Greenleaf?

[Elianna]

I know the usual translation of Legolas is Greenleaf, because Galadriel called him "Legolas Greenleaf" in her warning to him about the sea. But I'm wondering if a translation is really what Tolkien was meaning to give there.

I'm thinking the Greenleaf was a sir name. Sir names are usually occupations, patronymic, or they come from the name of your home. The latest I think is how we get Greenleaf: Mirkwood was renamed Eryn Lasgalen, the Forest of Greenleaves, after the WR.

The element "las" leaf is in Legolas, but how do you get "lego" from either "galen" or "laire" both meaning green?

So if Legolas doesn't mean Greenleaf, what does it mean?
My guess (don't laugh): active joy, or nimbleness
In the Eytomolgies (in HoME V5) under the root lek-, there's the Ilkorin word legol meaning "nimble, active, running free; cf. Legolin, a river-name" and under the root galás-, there's a Noldorin word glas meaning "joy; cf. names as Borlas." So legol-(gl)as: active-joy.
Or, since there's the word bregol meaning fierce and the name Bregolas meaning fierceness, maybe legol+as means nimbleness.

Both I think would be appropriate for Legolas. Nimbleness, obviously, running on top of the snow on Caradhras, barely leaving footprints as he ran across Rohan. Active joy I think fits too, because I find Legolas to be very funny (altough sometimes he doesn't mean to be). Remember "he alone of the Company remained light of heart" on Caradhras, and he waved at Aragorn and Boromir as he ran past them as they swam through the snow. He was always quick to make a joke off of something Gimli said, like when they come to Isengard and Gimli gets very upset to find the young Hobbits smoking.

...A fine hunt you have led us! Two hundred leagues, through fen and forest, battle and death, to rescue you! And here we find you feasting and idling-and smoking! Smoking! Where did you come by the weed, you villans?..."
"You speak for me, Gimli," laughed Legolas. "Though I would sooner learn how they came by the wine."

hehehe, I always laugh at that one.

Or maybe it's Silvan Elvish and really does mean greenleaf.

So, do you guys think I'm on to something here, or just finding a creative way to show off my knowledge of Elvish?

[Legolas]

As interesting as the thought might be, Tolkien specifically stated the meaning of Legolas and the manner in which he arrived at that spelling. The meaning of the name is explicitly explained in two of the Prof.'s letters and the statements don't really leave much room for interpretation. Legolas lived in Mirkwood. He was of Sindarin lineage and lived among Silvan elves - even if Tolkien hadn't spelled out the meaning for us, the usage of the Noldorin terms you mentioned isn't probable (as Tolkien himself subsequently points out in the second quote by explaining the Sindarin). Tolkien's Elvish vocabulary was always changing - it had changed quite a bit from the material in the earlier HoME volumes to the time of The Lord of the Rings, especially with the development of the Silvan subculture that came to exist east of the Misty Mountains after the First Age.

Legolas means 'green-leaves', a woodland name – dialectal form of pure Sindarin laegolas: *lassē (High-elven lasse, S. las(s)) 'leaf'; *gwa-lassa/*gwa-lassiē 'collection of leaves, foliage' (H.E. olassiē, S. golas, -olas); *laikā 'green' – basis LAY as in laire 'summer' (H.E. laica, S. laeg (seldom used, usually replaced by calen), woodland leg).

Legolas is translated Greenleaf (II 106, 154) a suitable name for a Woodland Elf, though one of royal and originally Sindarin line. 'Fiery locks' is entirely inappropriate: he was not a balrog! I think an investigator, not led astray by my supposed devotion to A-S, might have perceived the relation of the element -las to lassi 'leaves', in Galadriel's lament, lasse-lanta 'leaf-fall' = autumn. III 386; and Eryn Lasgalen III 375. 'Technically' Legolas is a compound (according to rules) of S. laeg 'viridis' fresh and green, and go-lass 'collection of leaves, foliage'.

Having said that, this speculative topic is better suited for the Novies and Newcomers forum...you can continue discussion on there.

[Elianna]

Oh well, I tried.

I really gotta read the Letters.....