rána

noun. Moon, (lit.) Wayward

Another name of the Moon (usually Q. Isil), translated as “Wayward” (S/99). This name is a derivative of the root √RAN “wander” (UT/242), with a primitive form ✶rānā (VT48/7).

Conceptual Development: The name ᴱQ. Rána appears as a name of the moon in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/192), though at this early stage its precise meaning and etymology were unclear. In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, ᴹQ. Rana appeared with a short a, with the translation “Wayward” (LR/240). The name also appeared with a short a in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√RAN “wander, stray” from primitive ᴹ✶Ranā (Ety/RAN). The long á was restored in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (MR/130).

In some later notes, Tolkien said that Rána was the name of the spirit of the Moon rather than the Moon itself (VT42/13). Elsewhere this spirit was named Tilion, so this was probably a transient idea. In the indexes of The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien translated Rána as “Wanderer”, but the source of that translation is unclear.

Rána

the wayward, the wanderer

Rána place-name "the Wayward, the Wanderer", a name of the moon (MR:198, MC:221, Silm); genitive Ráno in the phrase Ráno tië "the path of the Moon" (VT47:11). See also ceuran-, ránasta. According to one late source, Rána is not properly the Moon itself but is rather the "name of the spirit (Máya) that was said to abide in the Moon as its guardian" (VT42:13). The Etymologies gives Rana with a short vowel (RAN). In the pre-classical Tengwar system there presupposed, Rana was also the name of tengwa #25 (VT45:10), which letter Tolkien would later call Rómen instead.