From the time of the first Kings of Númenor, it had been tradition for the ruler to take a royal name in the Quenya tongue. This tradition stood until the latter half of Númenor's third millennium, when King Ar-Adûnakhôr defied it. He was the first King to take a name in the native Adûnaic language of the Númenóreans, though a Quenya translation of the name was also recorded.
Ar-Adûnakhôr was succeeded by his son, who inherited the Sceptre in the name of Ar-Zimrathôn. Like his father, a Quenya version of his name was also recorded: Tar-Hostamir, where hostamir appears to mean 'collector of jewels'.
Notes
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Hostamir is not directly translated by Tolkien, but we can be confident that the second element -mir is the common 'jewel, gem' seen in many names. The initial Hosta- probably comes from the Quenya word for a large number or a collection. This interpretation implies that Tar-Hostamir was famous for hoarding gemstones, a biographical fact that's not confirmed elsewhere, but matches with the known avaricious natures of several other later Kings of Númenor.
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- Updated 20 June 2011
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