rûn

noun. east

n. #east. Q. rómen.

rûn

noun. east

rhûn

noun. east

rhûn

noun. east

n. east. Q. hrō- uprising, sunrise, east. >> amrûn

rhûn

place name. East

The great inland sea of the East (LotR/1045), which is simply rhûn “east” used as a name.

Conceptual Development: On draft maps for the Lord of the Rings from the 1940s, this name 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).

Elements

Word	Gloss
rhûn	“east, east, [N.] eastern; †rising”

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.

Cognates

• Q. rómen “east, uprising, sunrise” ✧ LotR/1123; PE17/018; PE17/074; PE17/088; SA/rómen

Derivations

• √(S)RŌ “east”

Element in

• S. amrûn “sunrise, east, (lit.) of the uprising” ✧ PE17/122
• S. Rhudaur “?East Forest”
• S. Rhûn “East”
• S. Rhúnedain “*Easterlings” ✧ PE17/018
• S. rhúnen “eastern” ✧ SA/rómen
• S. Rúnavar ✧ PE17/139
• S. Rúnedhel ✧ PE17/141
• S. Rúneglon

Variations

• Rhûn ✧ PE17/074
• rûn ✧ PE17/088
• rún ✧ PE17/139; PE17/141

amrûn

noun. east, orient

amrûn

noun. east

_n. _east. Q. orrō uprising, sunrise, east. >> rhûn

rhuven

noun. east

rûn

adjective. polished, burnished, smoothed by polishing

Derivations

• √RUN “rub, grind, smooth, polish, rub, grind, smooth, polish; [ᴹ√] flat of hand or sole of foot”

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. –

rhu

east

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