rhu-

prefix. rhu-

pref. rhu- (SRUGU) << og- (OKO). >> rhugar

rhu-

prefix. evil-

og-

rhu-

pref. rhu- (SRUGU) << og- (OKO). >> ogol, ogron, rhu-. This gloss was rejected.

rhu

east

*(as in Rhudaur ”Eastwood”, name of a realm: rhu- + taur ”wood”)*.

rhûn

place name. East

Name of the region in the east and also part of the title of the Sea of Rhûn (LotR/1045), it is simply rhûn “east” used as a name.

Conceptual Development: On draft maps for the Lord of the Rings from the 1940s, the name of the sea was N. Rhûnaer “Eastern Sea” (TI/307), also appearing as Rúnaer >> Rhúnaer in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices (PM/198). A similar form N. Rúnaeluin appears in the drafts of the final chapters of the Lord of the Rings, and might be a variation of this name (SD/65, 71 note #9).

rhûn

noun. east, east, [N.] eastern; †rising

The Sindarin word for “east”, cognate of Q. rómen (LotR/1116, 1123). It was ultimately derived from the root √RŌ/ORO “rise” (Ety/RŌ), and so likely originally meant “rising” as in “rising sun” (PE22/35).

Conceptual Development: The word N. rhûn “east” appeared in The Etymologies from the 1930s along with ᴹQ. rómen, 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.

rûn

noun. east

rhûn

east

(?na Thrûn) (maybe primarily ”the East” as a region), also amrûn (sunrise, orient, uprising). The term ✱Rhúven (?na Thrúven) is maybe primarily ”east” as a direction; the final element means ”way”. This word is spelt ”rhufen” in the source (LR:384 s.v. RŌ), but it would seem that f here represents v. –