The Huntsman of the Valar, spouse of Vána (S/29). His Quenya name is derived from his name in Valarin: Val. Arǭmēz, of unknown meaning (WJ/400). Its initial vowel changed from A to O, probably by association with the Quenya root √ROM “noise of horns” (WJ/400). The Elves interpreted his name as meaning “Horn-Blowing” or “Sound of Horns” because of his use of the great horn Valaróma (WJ/400; PM/358; PE21/82, 85).
Conceptual Development: This name dates back to the earliest Lost Tales, when ᴱQ. Orome was derived from the root ᴱ√OŘO “dawn” or ᴱ√ORO “steepness, rising” (QL/70-1). In The Etymologies, the name ᴹQ. Orome was derived directly from the primitive root ᴹ√(O)ROM “loud noise, horn blast” (Ety/ORÓM, ROM), though in a deleted entry it was derived instead from ᴹ√GOROM, an extension of ᴹ√GOR “violence, impetus, haste” (EtyAC/GÓROM).
In a list of roots written around 1959-60, Tolkien gave Arǭmēz as the primitive form of Oromë (PE17/138), though the idea that this was his Valarin name did not appear until the Quendi and Eldar essay from the same period (WJ/400).
This root first appeared as ᴹ√RAS “stick up (intr.)” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. rasse and N. rhas or rhasg “horn (especially on living animal, but also applied to mountains)” (Ety/RAS; EtyAC/RAS). It reappeared as ᴹ√RASA “stick up” on an rejected page of roots in the Quenya Verbal System from the 1940s (PE22/127). Finally, √RAS “horn” appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure of the early 1950s, but that was merely the last appearance of the root in Tolkien’s published writings. Q. rassë and S. rass “horn” continued to appear regularly as an element in mountain names in the 1950s and 60s.