One of many names for the reclusive, mysterious race of Men who aided the Edain during the Wars of Beleriand, and later helped the Rohirrim on their ride to Gondor.
Their own word for themselves was Drughu, but the Elves adapted this into their own Sindarin language as Drû (from which the more common 'Drúedain' derives). From Sindarin, the word passed into Quenya, but again it was changed, and became Rú. From this comes the plural form 'Rúatani' ('Rú-Men') which is the direct Quenya equivalent of 'Drúedain'.
Notes
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The name that this people gave to themselves was Drughu, which was adapted by the Elves to fit the sounds of their own languages. In Sindarin this became Drû, with Edain added in recognition of their enmity to the Dark Lord, giving Drúedain. Rúatani represents the same process, but adapted to Quenya, and incorporating Atani as the Quenya equivalent of Edain.
In Sindarin (for complex etymological reasons) the whole name Drúedain could be translated as 'Wild Men', and we follow that simple interpretation for its Quenya version above, though strictly the name would be something like 'Wose Men' (where 'Wose' refers to one of the Wild Men).
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- Updated 2 September 2022
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