Quenya 

lér

man

**lér noun "man" (NI1; hypothetical Q form of PQ dēr; the form actually used in Quenya was nér)

nér

man

nér (1) (ner-, as in pl. neri) noun "man" (adult male elf, mortal, or of other speaking race) (MR:213, VT49:17, DER, NDER, NI1, VT45:9; see also WJ:393)

nér

noun. man

Quenya [PE 22:124] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

vëo

man

vëo noun "man" (WEG; etymologically connected to vëa "manly, vigorous"; the more neutral word for "man" is nér. According to VT46:21, Tolkien indicated that vëo is an archaic or poetic word.) Tolkien at a later point defined the word as "living creature" (PE17:189). Cf. variant wëo, q.v.

Sindarin 

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

Sindarin [UT/385] MS *druγ, Dr druγu. Group: SINDICT. Published by

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

Variations

  • ndir ✧ PE17/060
Sindarin [PE17/060] Group: Eldamo. Published by

adanadar

noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men

Sindarin [MR/373] adan+adar. Group: SINDICT. Published by

drúadan

noun. wild man, one of the Woses

Sindarin [UT/385] drû+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

adanath

noun. men

Sindarin [MR/373] Group: SINDICT. Published by

adan

noun. man, one of the Second People (elvish name for men)

Sindarin [LotR/A(v), S/427, PM/324, WJ/387, Letters/282] Q. atan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

Dúnadan

noun. Man of the west, Númenórean

Sindarin [LotR/I:XII, WJ/378, S/390] dûn+adan. Group: SINDICT. Published by

forodrim

northmen

Forodrim (a coll. pl.); NORTHMEN, NORTH-FOLK (also used of the area where they live) Forodwaith (UT:14)

forodrim

northmen

(a coll. pl.);

forodwaith

northmen, north-folk

(UT:14)

firion

mortal man

(pl. firyn).

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.

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”.

curunír

man of craft

(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath.

rhavan

wild man

(?i thravan or ?i ravanthe lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhevain (?idh revain) (WJ:219). – The following terms apparently apply to ”men” of any speaking race:

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.

thalion

dauntless man

(hero), pl. thelyn. Also used as an adj. ”dauntless, steadfast, strong”. 

dúnadan

man of the west

(i Núnadan), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386).

Nandorin 

beorn

noun. man

The shift of e to eo is strange and has no direct parallels, but compare eo from i in meord "fine rain" (< primitive mizdê). Normally final becomes in Nandorin (see golda), but here it is simply lost instead of producing *beorna. C.f. meord the other word where we might have expected to see a final -a (in that case from ); it may be that final vowels are lost in words that would otherwise come to have more than two syllables. - The shift of primitive s to r in besnô > beorn may be ascribed primarily to the blending with ber(n)ô, but r from z is seen in meord < mizdê; perhaps the s of besnô first became z and then r. Such developments are common in Quenya.

Nandorin [H. Fauskanger (LR:352)] besnô "blend with" ber(n)ô "valiant man, warrior". Published by

Primitive elvish

ndē̆r

noun. man

Derivations

  • N(D)ER “male (person), man”

Derivatives

  • S. dîr “man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix”
Primitive elvish [PE19/102] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

forodrim

noun. Northmen

Noldorin [Ety/392] forod+rim. Group: SINDICT. Published by

forodrim

collective name. Northmen

A term for the “Northmen” appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s, a combination of forod “north” and the class-plural suffix -rim (Ety/PHOR).

Elements

WordGloss
forod“north”
-rim“group plural”
Noldorin [Ety/PHOR] Group: Eldamo. Published by

forodwaith

noun. Northmen

Noldorin [Ety/382, Ety/398, X/EI] forod+gwaith. Group: SINDICT. Published by

forodwaith

noun. the lands of the North

Noldorin [Ety/382, Ety/398, X/EI] forod+gwaith. Group: SINDICT. Published by

forodweith

noun. Northmen

Noldorin [Ety/382, Ety/398, X/EI] forod+gwaith. Group: SINDICT. Published by

forodweith

noun. the lands of the North

Noldorin [Ety/382, Ety/398, X/EI] forod+gwaith. Group: SINDICT. Published by

dîr

noun. man, referring to an adult male (elf, mortal, or of any other speaking race)

Noldorin [Ety/354, Ety/352] Group: SINDICT. Published by

benn

noun. man, male

Noldorin [Ety/352, VT/45:9] "husband". Group: SINDICT. Published by

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Edain

bar

noun. man

Element in

  • Ed. halbar “chieftain” ✧ WJ/238

Qenya 

atan

noun. Man

Element in

veo

noun. man

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶wegō “man; warrior” ✧ Ety/WEG
    • ᴹ√WEG “(manly) vigour” ✧ Ety/ING; Ety/WEG

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶wegō > veo[wegō] > [weɣō] > [weo] > [veo]✧ Ety/WEG
Qenya [Ety/WEG; EtyAC/WEG] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Ossriandric

beorn

noun. man

A noun for “man” that developed from the blending of primitive ᴹ✶besnō “man” and ᴹ✶berō “valiant man, warrior” > ber(n)ō (Ety/BER, BES). The simplest explanation is that ᴹ✶besnō > beznō > bernō, where first the [[dan|[s] voiced to [z] before the nasal [n]]] and then the resulting [[dan|[z] becoming [r]]]. The similarity of this word to ᴹ✶berō could have led it to develop into ber(n)ō as well. From there, the [[dan|[e] broke into the diphthong [eo] before the liquid [r]]] and then the final vowel vanished.

Cognates

  • Ilk. ber “valiant man, warrior” ✧ Ety/BER
  • ᴹQ. venno “husband” ✧ Ety/BES

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶berō “valiant man, warrior” ✧ Ety/BES
    • ᴹ√BER “valiant” ✧ Ety/BER; Ety/BES
  • ᴹ✶besnō “husband” ✧ Ety/BES
    • ᴹ√BES “wed” ✧ Ety/BER; Ety/BES

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶ber(n)ō > beorn[bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn]✧ Ety/BES
ᴹ✶besnō > beorn[besnō] > [beznō] > [bernō] > [beornō] > [beorn]✧ Ety/BES
Ossriandric [Ety/BER; Ety/BES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Old Noldorin 

benno

noun. man

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. venno “husband” ✧ Ety/BES

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶besnō “husband” ✧ Ety/BES
    • ᴹ√BES “wed” ✧ Ety/BER; Ety/BES

Derivatives

  • N. benn “man, male, †husband” ✧ Ety/BES

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶besnō > benno[besnō] > [besno] > [benno]✧ Ety/BES
Old Noldorin [Ety/BES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

dēr

noun. man

Derivations

  • ᴹ√(N)DER “adult male, man; bridegroom” ✧ Ety/NDER; Ety/NĪ¹; PE18/035

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. nér “man, adult male” ✧ Ety/NĪ¹; PE21/69

Element in

Variations

  • der ✧ Ety/NDER
  • dér ✧ EtyAC/NDER
  • nēr ✧ PE18/035
  • der- ✧ PE21/55
  • dēr/dĕr- ✧ PE21/55
  • ndēr ✧ PE21/64
  • nĕrĕ ✧ PE21/69
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/NDER; Ety/NĪ¹; EtyAC/NDER; PE18/035; PE21/55; PE21/58; PE21/60; PE21/64; PE21/65; PE21/69] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

man

masculine name. Man

Changes

  • ManwMan ✧ PE13/104

Cognates

  • Eq. Manwe ✧ GL/18; LT1A/Manwë; PE13/104

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MANA “*good (moral)”

Element in

Variations

  • Manw ✧ PE13/104 (Manw)
Gnomish [GL/18; GL/20; GL/43; GL/56; GL/68; LT1A/Manwë; PE13/104; PE15/26] Group: Eldamo. Published by