They are also called the Men of the West and the Men of Westernesse (direct translations of the Sindarin term) and comes from dûn and adan. The Quenya name was Núnatan (pron. [ˈnuːnatan]), pl. Núnatani (pron. [nuːˈnatani]). The Westron name for Dúnadan was simply Adûn, "westerner", but this name was seldom used.
Sindarin
dúnadan
proper name. Man of the West
Dúnedain
Dúnedain
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)
dúnadan
man of the west
(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386)
morgul
sorcery
(i vorgul), pl. morgyl or mergyl (i morgyl/i mergyl for archaic ✱mörgyl), 3) durgul (i dhurgul), pl. durgyl (i nurgyl). [Or pl. dyrgyl, i nyrgyl? However, the pl. Dúnedain rather than ✱✱Dýnedain would suggest that u does not have to be umlauted in the pl. when it occurs in the first part of a compound, and durgul incorporates dur- "black, dark", dur-gûl implying "dark lore/knowledge".]. The word also appears with the elements reversed: guldur (i nguldur = i ñuldur), pl. guldyr (in guldyr = i ñguldyr), or possibly pl. gyldyr (in gyldyr = i ñgyldyr).****
Dúnadan (pl. Dúnedain)
noun. west(ern) man
(n-)dûn (“west”) + adan (“a man from one of the three houses of the Edain”)
thangail
noun. shield-fence, a battle formation of the Dúnedain
ónen i-estel edain
I gave Hope to the Dúnedain
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).