The wild lands of the East (LotR/1046), translated “Wilderland” (RC/779, PE17/78), a combination of rhovan “wilderness” and -ion “-land” (PE17/78). In notes on the Sindarin definite article from 1969, Tolkien instead said the initial element meant “large beast, especially applied later to the great red deer of the Vales of Anduin and western Mirkwood”, specifying that the translation “Wilderland” was used due to “wild, wildor being an archaic English word for wild animal, now preserved only in wilderness” (PE23/136).
Conceptual Development: A possible precursor to this name, rhofannor “Wilderness” appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s (EtyAC/RAB), with its final element being dôr. Its gloss was capitalized, but the name was not. In draft maps for the Lord of the Rings from the 1940s, this name was N. Rhovanion (TI/296) and Rhovannion with two n’s (TI/318). At one point in the drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices, it appeared as Róvannion with an initial R- instead of Rh- and a long ó (PM/214). In later writings, the form Rhóvannion with two n’s reappeared in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings (RC/14). It also appeared as Rhovannion in the aforementioned 1969 notes on the definite article, along with “more correct Sindarin” Rhovennian (PE23/136).
The primitive form of S. rhovan is attested in two different forms: ✶srāban < √SRAB (PE17/78) and ✶roban < √DROB or √SROB (PE17/99). Only the first of these could be the primitive of the attested Quenya cognate hravan.