04.02.2008, 21:22
Petit ajout (RC p. 16) :
Citation :4 (I: 13). Dunedain, the kings of Men that came over the Sea out of Westernesse - Dunedain 'Men of the West', from Sindarin dun 'west' + edain 'men' (singular Dunadan).
Westernesse is the name in the Common Speech for Numenor 'west-land' (see note for p. 15). Tolkien states in Nomenclature that it 'is meant to be western + ess an ending used in partly francized names of "romantic" lands, as Lyonesse, or Logres (England in Arthurian Romance). The name actually occurs in the early romance King Horn, of some kingdom reached by ship.' In a letter to Dick Plotz, 12 September 1965, Tolkien wrote that he had 'often used Westernesse as a translation. This is derived from rare Middle English Westernesse (known to me only in MS. C of King Horn) where the meaning is vague, but may be taken to mean "Western lands" as distinct from the East inhabited by the Paynim and Saracens' (Letters, p. 361).
