Emeldir

Emeldir lived until at least the year I 455, when she would have been 49 year old. This was the year of the Dagor Bragollach in which she led the women and children of Dorthonion to safety in Brethil. She evidently survived the journey, but of her subsequent life in Brethil we have no record.

Emeldir's name is not explained, but it seems to contain the old element dír meaning 'man'. This is a clue that Emeldir might be taken from her title 'Manhearted' (or, more precisely, that Emeldir's title 'the Manhearted' was actually a translation of her name). Emel- is not attested as 'heart' (its more usual translation was 'mother') though this perhaps represents an indirect connection with the root-word mel- for 'love' or 'friendship'. So, Emeldir as an Elvish form of 'Manhearted' cannot be taken as certain, but it would follow a common pattern of English titles representing translations of Elvish names.

Presumably Emeldir named her famous and heroic son Beren after her father. The elder Beren is much less well-known than his grandson, and he only receives a passing mention in the index to the published Silmarillion. He was a great-great-grandson of Bëor the Old, being descended from Bëor's younger son Belen.

In a genealogy of the House of Bëor given in volume XI of The History of Middle-earth, Emeldir's name is marked with a note as '(dtr. & third child)'. This is our only mention of her siblings (and indeed the note gives us no real clues as to whether they were brothers or sisters) but it does seem that the elder Beren had at least three children, of whom Emeldir was the youngest.