The usual Sindarin word for “Man” as a species, borrowed from Q. Atan after the Sindar first encountered the men of the west (PE17/18). It often appeared in its plural form Edain “Men” (LotR/1061; PE17/117; WJ/219). Like in Quenya, this word was biased towards considering the houses of the Elf-friends and their descendants as the “true Men”, but the proper term for such men was a Dúnadan “Man of the West”, and strictly speaking Adan applied to all kinds of Men, such as the Rhúnedain “✱Easterlings” (PE17/18) or the Drúedain “Woses” (UT/385). Unlike English, this word has no association with the male gender, and originally meant “the Second”, referring to Men as the second-born children of Eru. For a further discussion of its conceptual development, see the entry for Q. Atan “Man”.
Sindarin
adan
noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)
adan
'the Second'
adan
noun. Man (as a species)
Cognates
- Q. Atan “Man, (lit.) the Second (People)” ✧ LotR/1034; LotR/1128; LotRI/Atani; LotRI/Edain; PE17/018; PM/324; SI/Atani; SI/Atani; UTI/Atani; UTI/Edain; WJ/219; LRI/Atani; MR/007; WJI/Atani
Derivations
- Q. Atan “Man, (lit.) the Second (People)” ✧ WJ/387
Element in
- S. Adanedhel “Elf-man” ✧ SA/adan
- S. Adanel
- S. adaneth “(mortal) woman”
- S. Aradan “*Noble-man” ✧ SA/adan
- S. Arthedain “*Realm of the Edain”
- S. Drúadan “Wose, (lit.) Wild-man” ✧ PM/324; UT/385; UTI/Drúedain
- S. Dúnadan “Man of the West” ✧ Let/282; PE17/018; PM/324; SA/adan
- S. Edenedair “Fathers of Men”
- S. Edennil “Friend of Men”
- S. Elladan “Elf-man” ✧ Let/282
- S. Eradan
- S. i glinn hen agorer Edain mi Velerian, ach hí in Ellath îr ed epholar “*this song Men made in Beleriand, but now the Elves alone (?remember) it” ✧ VT50/14; VT50/14
- S. Nern in Adanath “Legendarium of the Fathers of Men” ✧ MR/373
- S. ónen i-Estel Edain “I gave Hope to the Dúnedain” ✧ LotR/1061; PE17/117
- S. os i Veleglinn i edain agorer vi Veleriann “*from the Great Song that men made in Beleriand” ✧ VT50/18
- S. Rhúnedain “*Easterlings” ✧ PE17/018
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources Q. Atan > Adan [atan] > [adan] ✧ WJ/387 Q. Atan > Edain [atani] > [edeni] > [edein] > [edain] ✧ WJ/387 Variations
- adan ✧ PE17/018; PE17/127; PM/324; SA/adan; UT/385; UTI/Drúedain
adanath
noun. men
Dúnadan
noun. Man of the west, Númenórean
adanadar
noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men
drúadan
noun. wild man, one of the Woses
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
- S. Borondir “?Steadfast-man”
- S. Brandir “*Noble Man”
- S. condir “mayor, *(lit.) chief-man”
- S. curunír “wizard, wizard, [N.] man of craft”
- S. dagnir “slayer, bane”
- S. Dírhael “*Wise Man”
- S. dírnaith “wedge-shaped battle-formation, (lit.) man-spearhead”
- S. Emeldir “Manhearted, *Manly-mother”
- S. Haldir
- S. Handir
- S. Hathaldir
- S. Hatholdir “*Axe-man”
- S. herdir “master”
- S. Lindir
- S. Othrondir “?Stronghold Man”
- S. randir “wanderer, wandering man, pilgrim” ✧ PE17/060
- S. Thorondir “*Eagle-man”
Variations
- ndir ✧ PE17/060
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
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.
dúnadan
man of the west
(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).
rhavan
wild man
(?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:
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”.
firion
mortal man
(pl. firyn).
thalion
dauntless man
(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”.
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.
curunír
man of craft
(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.
pl1. Edain n. 'the Second', the Second Kindred, the Men. It was a loan from Q. Atan, pl1. Atani. For a long time, this word therefore referred only to the three "houses" or kindreds of the "Elf-friends" and always tended to refer primarily to them. ónen i·Estel Edain 'I gave the "Hope" (to) Men'.