Rúmil

rúmil

Rúmil masc. name, genitive Rúmilo (WJ:398)

rúmil

masculine name. of Rúmil

The famous Elvish sage of Tirion, creator of the first system of letters, the Sarati (S/63, WJ/396). He was also the author of the Ainulindalë (MR/8) and other scholarly works. The meaning of his name is unclear.

Conceptual Development: This character first appeared in the earliest Lost Tales, where ᴱQ. Rúmil was the door warden of Mar Vanwa Tyaliéva (LT1/46-7), but even at this early stage he was identified as a sage (LT1/65). In Silmarillion drafts and notes from the 1930s, ᴹQ. Rúmil was described as the Elf-sage of Valinor and he wrote the first part of the Annals of Valinor as well as the Ainulindalë (LR/116, 156). He also wrote the linguistic works on which the Lhammas was based (LR/167).

J.R.R. Tolkien never explained the etymology of this name, but Christopher suggested that the earliest forms of this name might have been related to G. rûm “secret, mystery” (LT1A/Rúmil). A similar name Rumel appeared in a list of “ancient compounds” in some linguistic notes from the early 1930s (PE21/33), but without any further indication of its meaning.

-o

of goodness

-o (1) genitive ending, as in Altariello, Oromëo, Elenna-nórëo, Rithil-Anamo, Rúmilo, Lestanórëo, neldëo, omentielvo, sindiëo, Valinórëo, veryanwesto, q.v. In words ending in -a, the genitive ending replaces this final vowel, hence atto, Ráno, Vardo, vorondo as the genitive forms of atta, Rána, Varda, voronda (q.v.) Following a noun in -ië, the ending can have the longer form -no, e.g. *máriéno "of goodness" (PE17:59, but contrast sindiëo "of greyness" in PE17:72). Where the word ends in -o already, the genitive is not distinct in form, e.g. ciryamo (q.v.) = "mariner" or "mariners". Pl. -ion and -ron, q.v.; dual -to (but possibly -uo in the case of nouns that have nominative dual forms in -u rather than -t). The Quenya genitive describes source, origin or former ownership rather than current ownership (which is rather covered by the possessive-adjectival case in -va). The ending -o may also take on an ablativic sense, "from", as in Oiolossëo "from (Mount) Oiolossë" (Nam), sio "hence" (VT49:18). In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the genitive ending was -n rather than -o, cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren "Annals of Valinor" becoming Yénië Valinórëo (MR:200).