The first part of this statement was cited in the section Cirion and Eorl in UT:315 n.35.
This entry is given in full in UT:319 n. 51 (last paragraph).
This entry is given in the same note in Unfinished Tales, but in this case slightly reduced. In the original the passage begins:
Eilenach (better spelt Eilienach). Probably an alien name; not Sindarin, Númenórean, or Common Speech. In true Sindarin eilen could only be derived from *elyen, *alyen, and would normally be written eilien. This and Eilenaer (older name of Halifirien: see that below) are the only names of this group that are certainly pre-Númenórean. They are evidently related. Both were notable features.
The name and parenthetical note on Eilenaer entered here, as alterations to the typescript. Christopher Tolkien writes: "The name Eilenaer does not in fact occur in the account of Halifirien in this essay: my father intended to introduce it, but before he did so he rejected that account in its entirety, as will be seen." At the end of the description of Eilenach and Nardol as given in Unfinished Tales, where it is said that the fire on Nardol could be seen from Halifirien, Tolkien added a note:
The line of beacons from Nardol to Halifirien lay in a shallow curve bending a little southward, so that the three intervening beacons did not cut off the view.
There follow statements concerning Erelas and Calenhad, elements of which were used in the index to Unfinished Tales.
Erelas was a small beacon, as also was Calenhad. These were not always lit; their lighting as in The Lord of the Rings was a signal of great urgency. Erelas is Sindarin in style, but has no suitable meaning in that language. It was a green hill without trees, so that neither er- ‘single' nor las(s) ‘leaf seem applicable.
Calenhad was similar but rather larger and higher. Galen was the usual word in Sindarin for ‘green' (its older sense was ‘bright', Q. kalina). -had appears to be for sad (with usual mutation in combinations); if not misspelt this is from SAT ‘space, place, sc. a limited area naturally or artificially defined' (also applied to recognized periods or divisions of time), ‘divide, mark off', seen in S. sad ‘a limited area naturally or artificially defined, a place, spot', etc. (also sant ‘a garden, field, yard, or other place in private ownership, whether enclosed or not'; said ‘private, separate, not common, excluded'; seidia- ‘set aside, appropriate to a special purpose or owner'); Q. satì- verb, with sense of S. seidia- (< satya-); [Q. adj.] satya [with same sense] as S. said; also [Q.] asta a division of the year, ‘month' (sati- was in Quenya applied to time as well as space).{44} Calenhad would thus mean simply ‘green space', applied to the flat turf-covered crown of the hill. But had may stand for S. -hadh (the maps do not use dh, but this is the only case where dh might be involved, except Caradhras which is omitted, and Enedhwaith which is misspelt [?ened].{45} -hadh would then be for sadh (in isolated use sâdh) ‘sward, turf' – base SAD ‘strip, flay, peel off', etc.{46}
Halifirien
The essay ends (unfinished) with a long and notable discussion of the Halifirien; Tolkien's interspersed notes are collected together at the end of this discussion. With this account cf. UT:300-1, 303-5.
Halifirien is a name in the language of Rohan. It was a mountain with easy approach to its summit. Down its northern slopes grew the great wood called in Rohan the Firien Wood. This became dense in lower ground, westward along the Mering Stream and northwards out into the moist plain through which the Stream flowed into the Entwash. The great West Road passed through a long ride or clearing through the wood, to avoid the wet land beyond its eaves. The name Halifirien (modernized in spelling for Háligfirgen) meant Holy Mountain. The older name in Sindarin had been Fornarthan ‘North Beacon';{47} the wood had been called Eryn Fuir ‘North Wood'. The reason for the Rohan name is not now known for certain. The mountain was regarded with reverence by the Rohirrim; but according to their traditions at the time of the War of the Ring that was because it was on its summit that Eorl the Young met Cirion, Steward of Gondor; and there when they had looked forth over the land they fixed the bounds of the realm of Eorl, and Eorl swore to Cirion the Oath of Eorl—"the unbroken oath"—of perpetual friendship and alliance with Gondor. Since in oaths of the greatest solemnity the names of the Valar were invoked (Note 1) — and though the oath was called "the Oath of Eorl" in Rohan it was also called "the Oath of Cirion" (for Gondor was equally pledged to aid Rohan) and he would use solemn terms in his own tongue—this might be sufficient to hallow the spot.
But the account in annals contains two remarkable details: that there was at the place where Cirion and Eorl stood what appeared to be an ancient monument of rough stones nearly man-high with a flat top; and that on this occasion Cirion to the wonder of many invoked the One (that is God). His exact words are not recorded, but they probably took the form of allusive terms such as Faramir used in explaining to Frodo the content of the unspoken "grace" (before communal meals) that was a Númenórean ritual, e.g. "These words shall stand by the faith of the heirs of the Downfallen in the keeping of the Thrones of the West and of that which is above all Thrones for ever."
This would in effect hallow the spot for as long as the Númenórean realms endured, and was no doubt intended to do so, being not in any way an attempt to restore the worship of the One on the Meneltarma (‘pillar of heaven), the central mountain of Númenor (Note 2), but a reminder of it, and of the claim made by "the heirs of Elendil" that since they had never wavered in their allegiance they (Note 3) were still permitted to address the One in thought and prayer direct.
The "ancient monument"—by which was evidently meant a structure made before the coming of the Númenóreans—is a curious feature, but is no support to the view that the mountain was already in some sense "hallowed" before its use in the oath-taking. Had it been regarded as of "religious" significance it would in fact have made this use impossible, unless it had at least been completely destroyed first (Note 4). For a religious structure that was "ancient" could only have been erected by the Men of Darkness, corrupted by Morgoth or his servant Sauron. The Middle Men, descendants of the ancestors of the Númenóreans, were not regarded as evil nor inevitable enemies of Gondor. Nothing is recorded of their religion or religious practices before they came in contact with the Númenóreans (Note 5), and those who became associated or fused with the Númenóreans adopted their customs and beliefs (included in the "lore" which Faramir speaks of as being learned by the Rohirrim). The "ancient monument" can thus not have been made by the Rohirrim, or honoured by them as sacred, since they had not yet established themselves in Rohan at the time of the Oath (soon after the Battle of the Field of Celebrant), and such structures in high places as places of religious worship was no part of the customs of Men, good or evil (Note 6). It may however have been a tomb.
44
The base SAT would appear to explain the Quenya suffix
45
The words from "and Enedhwaith" to the end of this sentence entered as a handwritten note in the top margin. Cf. XII:328-29 n. 66.
46
47