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
Dúnadan
noun. Man of the west, Númenórean
dúnadan
proper name. Man of the West
Cognates
- Q. Núnatani “Western Men” ✧ PE17/018; WJI/Dúnedain; WJ/386; WJI/Núnatani
Element in
- S. ai na vedui Dúnadan “Ah! at last, Dúnadan!” ✧ LotR/0209; PE17/016
- S.
Emyn Hen Dúnadan“Hills of the Eye of the Dúnadan” ✧ PM/186 (Emyn Hen Dúnadan*)Elements
Word Gloss dûn “west” Adan “Man (as a species)” Variations
- dún-adan ✧ LotR/0233
- Dún-adan ✧ PE17/016
- Dún·adan ✧ PE17/018
drúadan
noun. wild man, one of the Woses
adan
noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)
ai na vedui dúnadan
Ah! at last, Dúnadan!
Elements
Word Gloss ai “hail!, hail, [ᴱN.] cry of pain or woe, [G.] oh!” na “to, towards, at” medui “end, final, last” Dúnadan “Man of the West” Variations
- Ai na vedui Dúnadan! ✧ Let/448; LotR/0209; PE17/016
adanath
noun. men
adanadar
noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men
drû
noun. wild man, Wose, Púkel-Man
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
Dúnadan
man of the west
(Númenórean) Dúnadan (i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).
Dúnadan
man of the west
(Númenórean) Dúnadan (i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386)
Dúnadan
rean
Dúnadan (i Núnadan) (Man of the West), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386)
dúnadan
man of the west
(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).
dúnadan
man of the west
(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386)
dúnadan
númenórean
(i Núnadan) (Man of the West), 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 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:
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”.
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).
thalion
dauntless man
(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”.
Sindarin term for a “Man of the West”, the descendants of the Elf-friends of Beleriand and Númenor (LotR/233). This name is a combination of dûn “west” and Adan “Man” (SA/andúnë, adan; PE17/18).
Conceptual Development: In an early version of Glorfindel’s greeting to Aragon, this term was N. Torfir (TI/61), and throughout the Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the most common term for “High Men” was ᴹQ. Tarkil (TI/84, WR/310). It was not until very late in the drafts that the terms Dúnadan/Dúnedain appeared (WR/363 note #6).