S. Arwen f. “Noble Maiden”
Beloved of Aragorn and first queen of reunited Gondor and Arnor (LotR/973). Her name was translated “Noble Maiden” in one of Tolkien’s letters (RC/205). The initial element of her name is the prefix ar(a)- “noble” and its final element is the suffixal form -wen of gwend “maiden”, common in female names. Its Quenya and Sindarin forms are identical (PE17/56).
Conceptual Development: Arwen’s name did not emerge until late in the Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s. She was first named N. Ellonel, but this was revised to Finduilas >> Amareth >> Emrahil before Tolkien finally settled on Arwen (SD/66).
References ✧ LotR/352; LotRI; MRI; PMI; RC/205; RSI; SD/66; SDI1/Amareth, Arwen; TII; UTI; WJ/369; WJI; WRI
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Elements
| ar(a)- | “noble, royal, high” | |
| gwend | “maiden” | soft-mutation |
Element In
N. Ellonel f.
References ✧ SD/66; SDI1/Amareth, Ellonel, Emrahil
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