Nevrast

Beginning in this year, the people of Turgon began to remove from Nevrast and secretly make their way to the newly built city of Gondolin. After their passing, Nevrast became an empty land, though the name was still used for the abandoned region. This entry's timeline shows the period for which Nevrast was an established Noldorin kingdom.

There were Sindar living in Nevrast during the Years of the Trees before the first rising of the Sun. When the Noldor returned to Middle-earth, the native Sindar of this region accepted Turgon as their lord, and the two peoples mingled. Noldor and Sindar alike left their homes in Nevrast when Gondolin was completed.

According to the published Silmarillion, Nevrast originally described the entire western shoreline of Beleriand, distinguishing it (as the Hither, or near, Shore) from Haerast, the distant shore of Aman. The Etymologies, though, show us that this derivation is a later development. There, the name Nevrast comes from an older form, Nivros(t), meaning 'wide western valley'. (The History of Middle-earth volume V, The Lost Road and Other Writings III The Etymologies).