Several people had this name in Tolkien’s legendarium: (1) the second son of Tar-Amandil (UT/208, 210), (2) a lord of Andúnië and uncle of lady Inzilbêth (UT/223) and (3) the 10th and final king of the combined kingdom of Arnor (LotR/1038). The name was a compound of ëar “sea” and the suffix -(n)dur “-servant”. Tolkien translated the name as “Mariner” (Let/386), but a more exact translation might be “✱Servant of the Sea”.
Quenya
ëarendur
noun. (professional) mariner
eärendur
masculine name. Mariner, *(lit.) Servant of the Sea
Eärendur (King of Arnor)
Eärendur (King of Arnor)
Eärendur is a Quenya name meaning "Servant of the Sea", and is a combination of the word ëar meaning "sea", and the suffix -ndur meaning "devotion to, friend of". It is unlikely that Eärendur himself was devoted to the sea: it is more likely that he was named after one of the two previous Eärendurs.
Eärendur (Lord of Andúnië)
Eärendur (Lord of Andúnië)
Eärendur (son of Tar-Amandil)
Eärendur (son of Tar-Amandil)
A word for a “(professional) mariner” as a compound of ëar “sea” and -(n)dur “servant” in a draft letter from 1967 (Let/386). The suffix -(n)dur is often used for those who work on something in a professional capacity; compare ornendur “tree-keep, forester, woodsman” (NM/20). Thus ëarendur refers to people who work on the sea as their job. This word may be contrasted with Eärendil “Lover of the Sea”.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. yarendila “like a sailor” and ᴱQ. yarendilyon “sailor” based on ᴱQ. Yarendl, a dialectical variant of ᴱQ. Earendel often used to mean “mariner” (QL/105). In the 1910s, ᴱQ. Earendel was not yet derived from the word for “sea”, so this association must have come from the fame of Earendel as a sailor, not from the meaning of the name itself.