Isso é explicado na carta # 211 de JRR Tolkien.
Q. What is the meaning of this invocation, and of Frodo’s words in the previous chapter, ‘Aiya Eärendil Elenion Ancalima!’?
A. Before 1914 I wrote a ‘poem’ upon Earendel who launched his ship like a bright spark from the havens of the Sun. I adopted him
into my mythology – in which he became a prime figure as a mariner,
and eventually as a herald star, and a sign of hope to men. Aiya
Eärendil Elenion Ancalima (II 329) ‘hail Earendil brightest of Stars’
is derived at long remove from Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast.
- Edited for clarity
Ele entra em mais detalhes sobre a tradução (e significado) em sua Carta nº 297 , "Rascunhos para uma carta para 'Sr. Rang' "
Before 1914 I wrote a ‘poem’ upon Earendel who launched his ship like
a bright spark from the havens of the Sun. I adopted him into my
mythology – in which he became a prime figure as a mariner, and
eventually as a herald star, and a sign of hope to men. Aiya Eärendil
Elenion Ancalima (II 329) ‘hail Earendil brightest of Stars’ is
derived at long remove from Éala Éarendel engla beorhtast. But the
name could not be adopted just like that: it had to be accommodated to
the Elvish linguistic situation, at the same time as a place for this
person was made in legend. From this, far back in the history of
‘Elvish’, which was beginning, after many tentative starts in boyhood,
to take definite shape at the time of the name’s adoption, arose
eventually (a) the C.E. stem ^AYAR ‘Sea’fn117, primarily applied to
the Great Sea of the West, lying between Middle-earth, and Aman the
Blessed Realm of the Valar; and (b) the element, or verbal base
(N)DIL, ‘to love, be devoted to’ – describing the attitude of one to a
person, thing, course or occupation to which one is devoted for its
own sake.fn118 Earendil became a character in the earliest written
(1916–17) of the major legends: The Fall of Gondolin, the greatest of
the Pereldar ‘Half-elven’, son of Tuor of the most renowned House of
the Edain, and Idril daughter of the King of Gondolin. Tuor had been
visited by Ulmo one of the greatest Valar, the lord of seas and
waters, and sent by him to Gondolin. The visitation had set in Tuor’s
heart an insatiable sea-longing, hence the choice of name for his son,
to whom this longing was transmitted. For the linking of this legend
with the other major legends: the making of the Silmarils by Fëanor,
their seizure by Morgoth, and the recapture of one only from his crown
by Beren and Lúthien, and the coming of this into Earendil’s
possession so that his voyages westward were at last successful, see I
204–6 and 246–249. (The attempt of Eärendil to cross Ëar was against
the Ban of the Valar prohibiting all Men to attempt to set foot on
Aman, and against the later special ban prohibiting the Exiled Elves,
followers of the rebellious Fëanor, from return: referred to in
Galadriel’s lament. The Valar listened to the pleading of Eärendil on
behalf of Elves and Men (both his kin), and sent a great host to their
aid. Morgoth was overthrown and extruded from the World (the physical
universe). The Exiles were allowed to return – save for a few chief
actors in the rebellion of whom at the time of the L.R. only Galadriel
remained.fn119 But Eärendil, being in part descended from Men, was not
allowed to set foot on Earth again, and became a Star shining with the
light of the Silmaril, which contained the last remnant of the
unsullied light of Paradise, given by the Two Trees before their
defilement and slaying by Morgoth. These legends are deliberately
touched on in Vol. I as being the chief ones in the background of The
L.R., dealing with the relations of Elves and Men and Valar (the
angelic Guardians) and therefore the chief backward links if (as I
then hoped) the Silmarillion was published.
I relate these things because I hope they may interest you, and at the
same time reveal how closely linked is linguistic invention and
legendary growth and construction. And also possibly convince you that
looking around for more or less similar words or names is not in fact
very useful even as a source of sounds, and not at all as an
explanation of inner meanings and significances. The borrowing, when
it occurs (not often) is simply of sounds that are then integrated in
a new construction; and only in one case Eärendil will reference to
its source cast any light on the legends or their ‘meaning’ – and even
in this case the light is little. The use of éarendel in A-S Christian
symbolism as the herald of the rise of the true Sun in Christ is
completely alien to my use. The Fall of Man is in the past and off
stage; the Redemption of Man in the far future. We are in a time when
the One God, Eru, is known to exist by the wise, but is not
approachable save by or through the Valar, though He is still
remembered in (unspoken) prayer by those of Númenórean descent.