§ Narghil Pass >> Nargil Pass (TI:309-310)
This is the name of a mountain pass from Lothlann to southern Mordor; later it remains as Nargil.
As Matthew Dinse pointed out to me, Nargil likely contains lenited N. cîl ’cleft, pass between hills, gorge’ (KIL-). Two possibilites remain for the initial element – either syncopated #narg- from NÁRAK- ’tear, rend (tr[ansitive] and intr[ansitive])’ (compare Nargos below (2.58)) or nar- from NAR-1 ’flame, fire’, perhaps referring to the colour ’red’ as Narosîr and Narodûm above (1.6) or Nargalad, Nardol below (3.18). We would gain possible tentative translations *’Rending Gorge’, *’Red Pass’ or *’Fire-Pass’ (the latter perhaps referring to heat or the hostile environment of Mordor).
Earlier Narghil may be explained by the fact that KIL- ’divide’ has, according to its entry a parallel stem SKEL-, although it does not appear anywhere else in The Etymologies. But as it is evident from other SK-stems, this initial cluster yields h- in Noldorin. Therefore, Narghil could contain unlenited *hil, *hîl ’gorge, pass’ and #narg- would obviously remain as the initial element.
Finally, there is still at least a slight possibility that both forms contain gil or lenited ghil with reference to the sun, see Barangils above (2.51).