dan

masculine name. Dan

In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, Dan was the leader of the Danians when they turned back from the March and was the source of their name (LR/175, 215). In The Etymologies, this name was derived from the Danian-only root ᴹ√DAN which Tolkien suggested may be related to ᴹ√NDAN “back” (Ety/DAN). This name sometimes appeared with a long â: Dân (LR/215).

danas

collective name. Green-elves

The name Danians used for themselves, derived from the name of their original leader Dan (LR/175, 215; Ety/DAN). It is apparently a combination of that name with an abstract-noun or collective-plural suffix -as.