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

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.

Dúnadan

noun. Man of the west, Númenórean

dúnadan

proper name. Man of the West

Sindarin term for a “Man of the West”, the descendants of the Elf-friends of Beleriand and Númenor (LotR/233). This name is a combination of dûn “west” and Adan “Man” (SA/andúnë, adan; PE17/18).

Conceptual Development: In an early version of Glorfindel’s greeting to Aragon, this term was N. Torfir (TI/61), and throughout the Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, the most common term for “High Men” was ᴹQ. Tarkil (TI/84, WR/310). It was not until very late in the drafts that the terms Dúnadan/Dúnedain appeared (WR/363 note #6).

Cognates

• Q. Núnatani “Western Men” ✧ PE17/018; WJI/Dúnedain; WJ/386; WJI/Núnatani

Element in

• S. ai na vedui Dúnadan “Ah! at last, Dúnadan!” ✧ LotR/0209; PE17/016
• S. Emyn Hen Dúnadan “Hills of the Eye of the Dúnadan” ✧ PM/186 (Emyn Hen Dúnadan*)

Elements

Word	Gloss
dûn	“west”
Adan	“Man (as a species)”

Variations

• dún-adan ✧ LotR/0233
• Dún-adan ✧ PE17/016
• Dún·adan ✧ PE17/018

drúadan

noun. wild man, one of the Woses

adan

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

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

adanath

noun. men

adanadar

noun. man, one of the Fathers of Men

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

• ✶ndē̆r “man”
  • √N(D)ER “male (person), man”

Element in

• S. Borondir “?Steadfast-man”
• S. Brandir “*Noble Man”
• S. condir “mayor, *(lit.) chief-man”
• S. curunír “wizard, wizard, [N.] man of craft”
• S. dagnir “slayer, bane”
• S. Dírhael “*Wise Man”
• S. dírnaith “wedge-shaped battle-formation, (lit.) man-spearhead”
• S. Emeldir “Manhearted, *Manly-mother”
• S. Haldir
• S. Handir
• S. Hathaldir
• S. Hatholdir “*Axe-man”
• S. herdir “master”
• S. Lindir
• S. Othrondir “?Stronghold Man”
• S. randir “wanderer, wandering man, pilgrim” ✧ PE17/060
• S. Thorondir “*Eagle-man”

Variations

• ndir ✧ PE17/060

guldur

noun. (dark) sorcery

morgul

noun. black arts, sorcery, necromancy

Dúnedain

Dúnedain

They are also called the Men of the West and the Men of Westernesse (direct translations of the Sindarin term) and comes from dûn and adan. The Quenya name was Núnatan (pron. [ˈnuːnatan]), pl. Núnatani (pron. [nuːˈnatani]). The Westron name for Dúnadan was simply Adûn, "westerner", but this name was seldom used.

Dúnadan

man of the west

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

Dúnadan

man of the west

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

dúnadan

man of the west

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

dúnadan

man of the west

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

dúnadan

númenórean

(i Núnadan) (Man of the West), pl. Dúnedain (i Ndúnedain) (WJ:378, 386)

curunír

man of craft

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

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”. 

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”.

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.

gûl

sorcery

1) gûl (i ngûl = i ñûl, o n**gûl = o ñgûl, construct gul) (magic, necromancy, evil knowledge), pl. guil (in guil** = i ñguil) (Silm:App, MR:250, WJ:383), 2)

gûl

sorcery

(i ngûl = i ñûl, o n’gûl = o ñgûl, construct gul) (magic, necromancy, evil knowledge), pl. guil (in guil = i ñguil)  (Silm:App, MR:250, WJ:383)

firion

mortal man

(pl. firyn).

rhavan

wild man

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

morgul

sorcery

morgul (i vorgul), pl. morgyl or mergyl (i morgyl/i mergyl for archaic *mörgyl), 3) durgul (i dhurgul), pl. durgyl (i nurgyl). [Or pl. dyrgyl, i nyrgyl? However, the pl. Dúnedain rather than **Dýnedain would suggest that u does not have to be umlauted in the pl. when it occurs in the first part of a compound, and durgul incorporates dur- "black, dark", dur-gûl implying "dark lore/knowledge".]. The word also appears with the elements reversed: guldur (i nguldur = i ñuldur), pl. guldyr (in guldyr = i ñguldyr), or possibly pl. gyldyr (in gyldyr = i ñgyldyr).

morgul

sorcery

(i vorgul), pl. morgyl or mergyl (i morgyl/i mergyl for archaic ✱mörgyl), 3) durgul (i dhurgul), pl. durgyl (i nurgyl). [Or pl. dyrgyl, i nyrgyl? However, the pl. Dúnedain rather than ✱✱Dýnedain would suggest that u does not have to be umlauted in the pl. when it occurs in the first part of a compound, and durgul incorporates dur- "black, dark", dur-gûl implying "dark lore/knowledge".]. The word also appears with the elements reversed: guldur (i nguldur = i ñuldur), pl. guldyr (in guldyr = i ñguldyr), or possibly pl. gyldyr (in gyldyr = i ñgyldyr).****

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 -ô becomes -â 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 -ê); 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.

gûldur

noun. sorcery

Cognates

• S. guldur “black arts, sorcery”

Variations

• gūldur ✧ PE17/079

ndē̆r

noun. man

Derivations

• √N(D)ER “male (person), man”

Derivatives

• S. dîr “man, man, [N.] adult male; agental suffix”

durgul

noun. sorcery

Cognates

• Ilk. durgul “sorcery”

Derivations

• ᴹ√ÑGOL “wise, wisdom, be wise” ✧ Ety/ÑGOL

Elements

Word	Gloss
dûr	“dark”
gûl	“magic”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√ÑGOL > dur(n)gul > durgul	[durŋgul] > [durŋgul] > [durgul]	✧ Ety/ÑGOL

forodrim

noun. Northmen

forodwaith

noun. Northmen

forodweith

noun. Northmen

forodwaith

noun. the lands of the North

forodweith

noun. the lands of the North

benn

noun. man, male

dîr

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

morgul

noun. sorcery

Cognates

• Ilk. morgul “sorcery”

Element in

• N. Imlad Morghul “Vale of Morghul”
• N. Minas Morgol “Tower of Sorcery”
• N. Duin Morghul