Encyclopedia of Arda: Iarwain Ben-adar

The name used among the Elves for the being known to the Hobbits as Tom Bombadil. It is approximately equivalent to 'oldest and fatherless', though actually iarwain seems to mean 'old-young': that is, though truly ancient, Tom still appeared relatively young in years.

Notes

1	The race to which this being belonged - if any - is a difficult and unresolved question. For a fuller treatment of this issue, see the entry for Tom Bombadil.
2	In general form, iarwain looks to be translatable as 'oldest', and indeed the phrase 'Iarwain Ben-adar' is apparently translated by Elrond as 'oldest and fatherless' in the text of The Lord of the Rings (in The Return of the King II 2, The Council of Elrond), so a meaning of 'oldest' seems a natural assumption. However, Tolkien himself gives the meaning as 'old-young', so perhaps Elrond was concerned to give this unusual term a straightforwardly comprehensible translation, rather than straying into the explanation it would otherwise have needed.
3	The Elvish prefix ben- means 'without', and adar is 'father', so the name 'Ben-adar' literally means 'without a father'. The adar element of this name is fairly common in other names, too. It appears as atar, for example, in Ilúvatar 'Father of All' and Atanatári 'Fathers of Men'.

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Iarwain Ben-adar

Oldest and Fatherless

Notes