Editing Balrog (section)

== In-universe origins==

The name "Balrog", but not the meaning, emerges early in Tolkien's work: it appears in ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]'', one of the earliest texts Tolkien wrote, around 1918. Tolkien began a poem in [[alliterative verse]] about the battle of Glorfindel with the Balrog in that text, where both were killed by falling into the abyss, just like Gandalf and the Balrog in ''The Lord of the Rings''.<ref name="Abbott 1989"/>

An early list of names described ''Balrog'' as "an Orc-word with no pure equivalent in [[Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien|Tolkien's invented language]] of [[Quenya]]: 'borrowed Malaroko-'&nbsp;".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1987}}, p. 404.</ref> 
In Gnomish (another of Tolkien's invented languages), ''Balrog'' is parsed as ''balc'' 'cruel' + ''graug'' 'demon', with a Quenya equivalent ''Malkarauke''. Variant forms of the latter include ''Nalkarauke'' and ''Valkarauke''.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984}}, Part I, Appendix: Names in ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', p. 250.</ref>
By the 1940s, when Tolkien began writing ''The Lord of the Rings'', he had come to think of Balrog as [[Noldorin]] ''balch'' 'cruel' + ''rhaug'' 'demon', with a Quenya equivalent ''Malarauko'' (from ''nwalya-'' 'to torture' + ''rauko'' 'demon').<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1987}}, "[[The Etymologies (Tolkien)|The Etymologies]]", entries for ÑGWAL (p. 377) and RUK (p. 384).</ref> 
The last [[etymology]], appearing in the invented languages [[Quendi and Eldar]], derives ''Balrog'' as the [[Sindarin]] translation of the Quenya form ''Valarauko'' (Demon of Might). This etymology was published in ''The Silmarillion''.<ref name='SilEntry' group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1977}}, Index, p. 353.</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1993}}, "Annals of Aman",  Section 2.</ref>
Gandalf on the bridge of Khazad-dûm calls the Balrog "flame of Udûn" ( the Sindarin name of Morgoth's fortress ''[[Utumno]]'').<ref name="Bridge of Khazad-dûm" group=T/>