Pronounciation
Faramir is pronounced 'Fara'meer.'

Dictionary
"I have always felt that a good dictionary gave a meaning of Faramir.  In the standard dictionary, "far" means great or very much.  "Amir" is a Persian word meaning King.  Faramir equals very much a king."Lady Nan

This translation would reinforce Pippin's thoughts that Faramir was as "one of the Kings of Men born into a later time, but touched with the wisdom and sadness of the Eldar Race."

Translation
"The -mir ending of Faramir's name is almost certainly 'jewel' or 'precious thing', but Fara- is much more difficult to translate. The Elvish root far- means 'sufficient' or 'adequate', so it may be that the brothers Boromir and Faramir have names related to their father's attitude toward them. As Denethor's favourite son, Boromir was perhaps the 'faithful jewel', while the less favoured Faramir was merely the 'sufficient jewel'. These speculations, of course, belong to the realm of guesswork, since Tolkien makes no definitive statement about the name's origins." - The Encyclopedia of Arda

Reference
In an excerpt from The History of Middle Earth: The War of the Ring, Tolkien had Faramir say:

"The names we have given to places, and still give to women and men, are of Elvish sort... Many of these we we still take from tales of the old days: such as Mablung and Damrod, and mine own."

It's true: our Faramir is infact Faramir II. The other 'Faramir' in Middle Earth was the youngest of the two sons of King Ondoher of Gondor (who you will see mentioned in the appendices of Return of the King). When Ondoher and his eldest son, Artamir, rode off to war, Faramir was bound by law to stay in Gondor as heir to the King, but instead rode with them in secret and perished in battle along with them.

The only other Faramir, of course, is a Took - Pippin's son - whom he named after the Captain he came to love.

 

Return

<!--webbot bot="HTMLMarkup" endspan -->