- Cities and buildings
- Fields, plains and deserts
- Forests
- Hills and mountains
- Islands and promontories
- Lands, realms and regions
- Rivers and lakes
- Seas and oceans
Take the Free mydiscprofile Personality Test to discover your core personality and your ideal job. Which personality type are you? |
Dates
Location
First appeared in Hildórien, and spread westward and southward throughout Middle-earth
Race
Pronunciation
fee'rimarr (where 'rr' emphasises that the final r sound should be pronounced)
Meaning
'Mortals', a reference to the Gift of Men, death, possessed by this people
Other names
The Afterborn, The Aftercomers, Apanónar, Atani, Big Folk, Big People, The Children of the Sun, Engwar, The Followers, The Heavy-handed, Hildor, The Inscrutable, Men, The Mortals, The Night-fearers, The Second People, The Secondborn, The Self-cursed, The Sickly, The Strangers, The Usurpers, The Younger Children of Ilúvatar
|
A name used among the Elves for mortal Men, and indeed this name is commonly translated as 'Mortals'. When the Elves first encountered Men, they did not at first understand what manner of beings these were, imagining that they might be people of their own kind descended from the Avari, or possibly even some kind of Orc. As they came to understand that Men were in fact the Younger Children of Ilúvatar (as they themselves were the Elder) the Elves devised names for Men that reflected the nature of that people. As the Elves were not themselves subject to ageing or death, at first it seemed remarkable to them that Men should live such short lives, and should suffer old age and sickness. At first, the immortal Elves had no immediate word for 'mortal' in their vocabulary. They therefore devised a new term based on the verb firië, meaning 'breathe out' or 'expire', to describe this new phenomenon. Thus Men became known as Fírimar, a word literally meaning 'those apt to die', but usually translated as simply 'Mortals'. This word first appeared in Quenya, but a Sindarin equivalent was also devised, which was Firebrim.1 Notes
For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2014, 2023. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Axiom Discovery aptitude and skill testing.Axiom Discovery gives you comprehensive online aptitude testing covering core skills across a wide range of disciplines. |