n. a wild beast. Q. hrăvan.
Sindarin
rhaw
noun/adjective. wild; wild beast, wild, [N.] untamed; [S.] wild beast
rhovan
a wild beast
rhovan
noun. wilderness; wild beast, large beast
lavan
noun. animal (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds)
lavan
noun. animal
A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”.
Conceptual Development: ᴱN. lafn was mentioned as a cognate to ᴱQ. lama “animal” in the Early Qenya Phonology from the 1920s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶labna (PE14/70).
rhovan
noun. wilderness
eriador
wilderness
(a region in Middle-earth), pl. eriadyr if there is a pl.
gwaith
wilderness
(i ’waith) (also meaning manhood, manpower, troop of able-bodied men, host, regiment, people, region), no distinct pl. form except when marked as pl. by article (in gwaith).
lavan
animal
(quadrupedal mammal) lavan, pl. levain (WJ:416)
lavan
animal
pl. levain (WJ:416)
loss
wilderness
(construct los; pl. lyss). (Note: homophones mean ”flower” [more commonly loth] and ”fallen snow”.)
rhovannor
wilderness
- rhovannor (?i throvannor or ?i rovannor the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhovennyr (?idh rovennyr) (VT46:10); 2) Eriador (a region in Middle-earth), pl. eriadyr if there is a pl.; 3) gwaith (i **waith) (also meaning manhood, manpower, troop of able-bodied men, host, regiment, people, region), no distinct pl. form except when marked as pl. by article (in gwaith). 4) loss (construct los; pl. lyss). (Note: homophones mean ”flower” [more commonly loth**] and ”fallen snow”.)
rhovannor
wilderness
(?i throvannor or ?i rovannor – the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhovennyr (?idh rovennyr) (VT46:10)
This word appeared as rhaw(f) in notes from the late 1960s with Quenya cognates Q. hráva “wild” and Q. hravan “wild beast”, all derived from the root √S-RAB “wild” (PE17/78). In this document rhaw(f) served as the basis for Rhovanion “Wilderland”. In notes from 1969, rhaw (< rhawf) reappeared with the gloss “wild beast” and a peculiar plural form i·rhaw (PE23/139). Elsewhere Tolkien said words with the diphthong au became oe in the plural (PE17/25), such as noeg plural of naug “dwarf” (UT/100). The [[s|loss of final f [v] after the u-diphthong au]] is the usual Sindarin development.
Conceptual Development: N. rhaw appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶rāba “wild, untamed” under the root ᴹ√RAB (Ety/RAB). Christopher Tolkien glossed this word as “wilderness” in The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road (LR/382), but in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne indicate this gloss actually applied to N. rhofan (VT46/10), meaning the adjective likely had the same meaning as its primitive form: “wild, untamed”. In The Etymologies, the primitive r unvoiced to rh as was typical for Noldorin, and it seems in the 1960s Tolkien revised the root for this word to √S-RAB so that the Sindarin form would still begin with rh.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I assume this word can be used as both an adjective “wild, untamed” or a noun “wild beast”, but I would assume its plural form is rhoef to be consistent with Sindarin plurals appearing elsewhere, with the final -f preserved in the plural since it no longer followed a u-diphthong.