The northern parts of 'Water', the Great Sea (somewhat conjectural)¹

A word used by the Wild Men who lived in Drúadan Forest in Anórien. Our only example of it is in a comment by the headman Ghân-buri-Ghân, who referred to a time when Tall Men appeared from 'Water'. Ghân's awkward phrasing can probably be taken to mean that he was translating words and grammar from his own language into the Common Speech. His intended meaning is clear, however: he referred to the time when Númenóreans (the 'Tall Men') arrived in Middle-earth from their island kingdom across the Great Sea, or 'Water' as Ghân termed it.

The first Númenóreans arrived in Middle-earth (or 'Tall Men came up out of Water') in the year II 600. In context, though, Ghân-buri-Ghân seems to have in mind a rather later generation of Númenóreans: Elendil and his companions, who were swept across the Sea in II 3319 to land in Middle-earth. Ghân's point was that his people had occupied the lands at the feet of the White Mountains from a time before the Dúnedain established their land of Gondor.