Sindarin 

drúadan

noun. wild man, one of the Woses

Sindarin [UT/385] drû+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

drúadan

noun. Drúadan

one of the drû; drû (S adaptation of their native word drughu) + adan (“man”)

Sindarin [Tolkiendil] Group: Tolkiendil Compound Sindarin Names. Published by

drúadan

proper name. Wose, (lit.) Wild-man

The full Sindarin word for “Wose”, a compound of Drû “Wose” and Adan “Man” (PM/324, UT/385), also translated as “Wild Man” (PE17/99, WR/352).

Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the name N. Druadan appeared with a short u (WR/352). It also had a short u in Tolkien’s Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/99), but had a long ú in later writings.

Cognates

  • Q. Rúatan “Wose, (lit.) Wose-man” ✧ UT/385; UTI/Rú
  • Bs. Oghor-hai “Wose-folk” ✧ UTI/Oghor-hai

Element in

Elements

WordGloss
Drû“Wose”
Adan“Man (as a species)”

Variations

  • druadan ✧ PE17/099
Sindarin [LotRI/Drúadan Forest; PE17/099; PM/324; PMI/Drúedain; UT/319; UT/385; UTI/Drúadan Forest; UTI/Drúedain; UTI/Oghor-hai; UTI/Rú; WJI/Druedain] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Druadan

noun. wose

n. wose, wild man.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:99] < (S)ROB, (D)ROB + ?. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

Dúnadan

noun. Man of the west, Númenórean

Sindarin [LotR/I:XII, WJ/378, S/390] dûn+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

adan

noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)

Sindarin [LotR/A(v), S/427, PM/324, WJ/387, Letters/282] Q. atan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

drúath

noun. the people of the Drû, the Woses

Sindarin [UT/385] Group: SINDICT. Published by

drû

noun. wild man, Wose, Púkel-Man

In PE/11:31, an older Gnomish word drû, drui meant "wood, forest", and in PE/13:142, the early Noldorin word drú was assigned the meaning "dark". Drû pl. Drúin later came to be used for the name of the Woses, with other derivatives (Drúadan, etc.). "Wose" is actually the modernization of an Anglo-Saxon word wasa only found in the compound wudu-wasa "wild man of the woods", cf. UT/385 sq. In the drafts of the "Ride of the Rohirrim" in WR/343-346, the Woses first appeared as "the dark men of Eilenach". Though internally said to derive from drughu in their own tongue, Tolkien's choice for the Sindarin name of the Woses was apparently influenced by earlier meanings assigned to this word

Sindarin [UT/385] MS *druγ, Dr druγu. Group: SINDICT. Published by

drû

proper name. Wose

A Sindarin word for “Wose”, a loan word from the Wose’s name for themselves: Drughu (UT/385).

Conceptual Development: In his Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien considered making this word a native Sindarin adjective “savage, wild” derived from the root √DROB, a variant of √SROB from which rhaw “wild” was derived (PE17/99). These roots would produce the Q. cognate (h)róva instead of better established Q. (h)ráva “wild”, so I personally prefer the later derivation of Drû as a loan word from Wos. Drughu.

Cognates

  • Q. hráva “wild, savage, wild, savage, [ᴹQ.] untamed” ✧ PE17/099
  • Q. “Wose” ✧ UT/385; UTI/Drúath; UTI/Rú

Derivations

  • Wos. Drughu “Wose”
  • DROB “*wild” ✧ PE17/099

Element in

  • S. Drúadan “Wose, (lit.) Wild-man” ✧ PE17/099; UT/385; UTI/Drúedain
  • S. Drúnos “a family of the Drû-folk” ✧ UT/385
  • S. Drúwaith “the wilderness of the Drû-folk” ✧ UT/385

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
D)ROB > drû[drōb] > [drōv] > [drūv] > [drū]✧ PE17/099

Variations

  • drû ✧ PE17/099
Sindarin [PE17/099; UT/385; UTI/Drúath; UTI/Drúedain; UTI/Rú] Group: Eldamo. Published by

adanath

noun. men

Sindarin [MR/373] Group: SINDICT. Published by

adanadar

noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men

Sindarin [MR/373] adan+adar. Group: SINDICT. Published by

dîr

noun. man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix

A word for “man” as a male person, attested only as an element in compounds or as (archaic?) ndir (PE17/60). This word likely refers to male individuals of all races including Elves, Men, Dwarves and so forth, much like its Quenya cognate Q. nér. This word must have been derived from the primitive subjective form ✶ndēr of the root √N(D)ER “male person”, where the ancient long ē became ī, and the initial cluster nd- became d-, though the ancient cluster would still be reflected in mutated forms, such as in i nîr “the man” rather than ✱✱i dhîr.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest precursor to this word is (archaic) G. †drio “hero, warrior” with variants driw, driodweg and driothweg, a cognate of ᴱQ. nēr (GL/22). This Gnomish word was derived from primitive ᴱ✶n’reu̯, where the initial nr- became dr-. At this early stage, the root was unstrengthened ᴱ√NERE (QL/65), as reflected in (archaic) ᴱN. nîr “hero, prince, warrior-elf” in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s (PE13/164).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root became ᴹ√DER “adult male, man” of any speaking race and the derived form was N. dîr (Ety/DER). However, in this document Tolkien said:

> EN †dîr surviving chiefly in proper names (as Diriel older Dirghel [GYEL], Haldir, Brandir) and as agental ending (as ceredir “doer, maker”) ... In ordinary use EN has benn [for “man”] (properly = “husband”).

Thus in the scenario described in The Etymologies, dîr “man” was archaic and used only as an element in names or as a suffix. In ordinary speech it was replaced by N. benn, which used to mean “husband” but now meant “man”, while the word for “husband” became N. hervenn (Ety/BES). It is unlikely Tolkien imagined this exact scenario in later Sindarin, however, since the 1930s root for benn was ᴹ√BES “wed”, but by the 1960s the root for husband/wife/marry words had become √BER.

Neo-Sindarin: Since the status of N. benn is questionable given ᴹ√BES >> √BER, many Neo-Sindarin writers prefer to use S. ✱dîr as the Sindarin word for man. I am of the opinion that both dîr and benn are acceptable for “man, male person”. This is because I prefer to retain ᴹ√BES as the root for “marry, wed”, since it is the best basis for attested husband/wife words in (Neo) Sindarin.

Derivations

Element in

Variations

  • ndir ✧ PE17/060
Sindarin [PE17/060] Group: Eldamo. Published by

dúnadan

man of the west

(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).

adan

man

(pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.

rhavan

wild man

(?i thravan or ?i ravanthe lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). – The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:

rhavan

wild man

(non-Edain human) rhavan (?i thravan or ?i ravan the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:

rhavan

wild man

(non-Edain human) rhavan (?i thravan or ?i ravan the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). Also (of a Drúadan) drû (i dhrû), pl. drúin (in drúin), coll. pl. drúath (UT:385). Also compounded as Drúadan (i Dhrúadan), pl. Drúedain (in Drúedain). Cf. also Û-

rhavan

wild man

(?i thravan or ?i ravanthe lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). Also (of a Drúadan) drû (i dhrû), pl. drúin (in drúin), coll. pl. drúath (UT:385). Also compounded as Drúadan (i Dhrúadan), pl. Drúedain (in Drúedain). Cf. also

bôr

trusty man

(boron-) (i vôr, construct bor) (steadfast man, faithful vassal), pl. *b**ŷr* for older beryn, i meryn (archaic böryn, i möryn). In ”Noldorin”, the older pl. forms were berein, beren.

firion

mortal man

(pl. firyn).

curunír

man of craft

(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.

dîr

man

1) (adult male of any speaking race) dîr (dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”. 2) (mortal human as opposed to Elf) Adan (pl. Edain; the coll. pl. Adanath is attested). The word Adan came to be used primarily of a member of the Three Houses of the Edain, not of the mortal race of Men in general.

dîr

man

(dír-, also agentive ending -dir or -nir; with article, i nîr, hard mutation as in o ndîr), no distinct pl. form except with article (i ndîr); coll. pl. díriath. Also benn (i venn, construct ben), pl. binn (i minn). The latter is in archaic language used = "husband" (the etymological meaning). The ending -we in names may also express ”being, man, person”.

thalion

dauntless man

(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”.