thus a solution could either be an anti-clockwise-rotating circle of radius $A$ or an clockwise-rotating circle of radius $B$, giving as general solution a supposition of these generating an ellipse $X(t) = Ae^{it} + Be^{-it}$? Constants like $\lambda$ then tell you how fast the circles rotate, and you can see why they are indexed etc... and boundary conditions are about orienting the circles. Visualied here from Needham's book P242:
https://i.sstatic.net/Jjj62.png