Quenya
rána
noun. Moon, (lit.) Wayward
Cognates
- S. Raun “Moon”
Derivations
Element in
- Q. ceuran “new-moon”
- Q. imbi Menel Cemenyë menë Ráno tië “between Heaven and Earth goes the path of the Moon” ✧ VT47/11
- Q. Ranalinquë “*Moon-grass”
- Q. ránasta “lunar month”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ran- > Rána [rāna] ✧ SA/ran √ran- > Rána [rāna] ✧ UT/242 √RAN > Rána [rāna] ✧ VT42/13 Variations
- Rana ✧ MR/376; MRI/Rána
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 Tirion, 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.