Calacirya (Q, pron. [kaˈlakirʲa]), also known as the Cleft of Light, was the pass in the Pelóri Mountains north of Mount Taniquetil where the Noldorin city of Tirion rested atop Túna. It was so called because the light of the Two Trees came through the pass and lit Eldamar, and it is said that many jewels were embedded in the rocks of its wall.
After the hiding of Valinor this was the lone gap through the mountains of Aman. The Valar would have closed the mountains entirely but, realizing that the Elves, even the Vanyar, needed to be able to breathe the outside air and see the stars, they kept Calacirya open. They also did not want to wholly separate the Vanyar and Noldor from the Teleri on the coast.
Calacirya literally means "Light-cleft" in Quenya (from cálë = "light" and cilya = "cleft, gorge"). Variant names used by Tolkien were Kalakirya and Kalakilya (early forms), and Kalakiryan and Calaciryan (later forms).
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 73
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, pp. 183, 452