XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: joedoe3@gmail.com   
      
   Troels Forchhammer schrieb am 07.10.2011 18:56:   
   > In message    
   > "Jim Heckman"  spoke these staves:   
   >>   
   > [...]   
   >> the Elvish practice of referring to the Sun as "she" and the Moon   
   >> as "he".   
   >>   
   >> My question is where did this Elvish practice come from?   
   >   
   > Geza has already referred to the Elves (both Vanyar and Noldor) that   
   > set foot on Beleriand in the War of Wrath, but I suspect that even   
   > this may have been too late to affect a change if the linguistic   
   > genders of the two had been wrong.   
      
   that's indeed a vaild point; but there may be another solution that does   
   not require direct communication. After all, Sun and Moon were shining   
   with light characteristic for Laurelin and Telperion, respectively and I   
   seem to recall that already the trees had "genders" assigned to them.   
   (Wikipedia agrees, but doesn't cite a source and I do not have my books   
   at hand.)   
   If Telperion was considered male and Laurelin female (which would be   
   consistent with the latter bearing fruit and also follow Tolkien's   
   traditional pattern of having male representatives be created first) it   
   would be natural for the elves - who knew the Trees themselves or (in   
   Doriath) via tales told by their King and Queen - to refer to the Sun,   
   shining with the light of Laurelin, as "She" and to the Moon as "He" -   
   even without knowing the details of their creation and the nature of the   
   spirits who guided the two.   
      
   regards   
    Geza   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)