rómen, Rómen noun "east" (RŌ, MEN, SA:men), "uprising, sunrise, east" (SA:rómen); also name of tengwa #25 (Appendix E). Possessive form rómenwa (PE17:59).Variant hrómen, PE17:18. Rómenna, a place in the eastern part of Númenor, is simply the allative "eastward" (SA:rómen), cf. also rómenna in LR:47, 56. Ablative Rómello "from the East" or "[to one] from the East", hence Tolkien's translation "to those from the East" in his rendering of Namárië (Nam, RGEO:67, PE17:59; Romello with a short o in VT49:32). Masc. name Rómendacil "East-victor" (Appendix A; cf. Letters:425). Masc. name Rómestámo, Róme(n)star "East-helper" (PM:384, 391; probably ?Rómenstar must always become Rómestar, but Tolkien cited the form as Róme(n)star to indicate the connection with rómen "east")
Quenya
Rómë
east
róme
noun. east
rómen
east
rómen
noun. east, uprising, sunrise
The Quenya word for “east”, cognate of S. rhûn (LotR/1123). In inflected or compounds forms, the final n was usually dropped as was generally the case with Quenya direction words, for example in the ablative from Rómello “from the East” (LotR/377). It was ultimately derived from the root √RŌ/ORO “rise” (PE17/63, Ety/RŌ). It originally meant “rising direction”, that is ro- + men, and was thus connected to the rising sun.
Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales the word for “East” was ᴱQ. oronto (LT1/85), a word that also appeared in the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s, with the gloss “rising (of the sun)” (QL/70). On the same page Tolkien gave the word ᴱQ. óre “the dawn, Sunrise, East” (QL/70), so the connection between “East” and “sunrise” was a very early idea.
The word ᴹQ. rómen “east” appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s along with N. rhûn, both derived from ᴹ√RŌ (Ety/RŌ). At the time, there were no problems with this equivalence, since [[n|initial [r] was unvoiced]] in Noldorin. Tolkien went on to use both these forms in The Lord of the Rings.
Unfortunately, Tolkien later abandoned the unvoicing of initial r in Sindarin, making these two forms problematic. Tolkien considered modifying the Sindarin form to rûn (PE17/88) or the Quenya form to hrómen (PE17/18). The latter was probably derived from an s-strengthened form of the root ᴹ√SRŌ (PE22/127), where the initial sr- would become voiceless [r] in both Quenya and Sindarin. Ultimately, though, he left both forms alone. Perhaps he decided the s-strengthening of the root was a Sindarin-only variant.
Cognates
Element in
- ᴺQ. forrómen “northeast”
- Q. Rómendacil “East-victor, East-slayer” ✧ LotR/1044
- Q. Rómenna “Eastwards” ✧ SA/rómen
- Q. Rómestámo “East-helper” ✧ PM/385
- Q. sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar! “now lost, lost to those from the east is Valimar!” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar! “now lost is, [to one] from the East lost, Valimar!” ✧ RGEO/59
Elements
Word Gloss ro- “uprising, sunrise, east” men “way, way; [ᴹQ.] place, spot” Variations
- Rómen ✧ LotR/1044; PE17/059; SA/men
- hróme(n) ✧ PE17/018
- Róme ✧ PE17/059
- Rōme(n) ✧ PE17/063
- Róme(n) ✧ PE17/074; PE17/125
- Róme- ✧ PM/385
hrómen
east
hrómen noun "east", variant of the more common Rómen, q.v. (PE17:18)
hró-
prefix. east
hróme(n)
noun. east
róna
east
róna adj.? "east" (RŌ). Compare hróna.
róna
adjective. east
Ambalar
east
Ambalar noun "East" (MC:221; this is "Qenya")
Rómë noun "east", variant of Rómen (PE17:59). Possessive romeva (read rómeva?), genitive rómeö (Ibid.)