Andúnië

Short version. Andúnië means "sunset" in Quenya, one of J.R.R. Tolkien's sub-created Elvish tongues. If your interest in things Tolkien is shallow or nonexistent you may want to skip the following.

Long version. Some notes on pronunciation are in order, as Tolkien's use of diacritics is idiosyncratic. The acute accent (ú) does not in general represent stress (even though in this case it does coincide with the accented syllable), but rather that the vowel sound in question is to be lengthened. The double dot (ë) symbolizes dieresis—i.e., it indicates that the i and e do not form a diphthong, but instead are pronounced separately. Finally, the nd form a single consonant sound (as in and), hence should not be split across syllables. The complete pronunciation is thus and-oo-nee-e, with a as in father, oo long as in zoo, ee as in knee, and single e as in get.

Quenya was the language of the Noldorin Elves who returned in exile to Middle-earth from Aman before the first rising of the Moon. There they found the Grey-elves of Beleriand, long-sundered kin who spoke Sindarin, the other major tongue of the Eldar. Over the course of three ages Quenya became the language of high ceremony, analogous to the Latin of our own experience, though it was often also preserved in place-names as well.

The Exiles came in pursuit of Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, to avenge the theft of the silmarils of Fëanor. Three Houses of Men joined with the Eldar in the War of the Jewels; and after the ruin of that great war the Valar, who under Iluvatar the One were guardians of Arda, granted to these faithful Men the island continent of Númenór: the Land of the Gift, closest of all mortal lands to the Uttermost West. The first Númenórean king was Elros, who unlike his brother Elrond took on the Doom of Men and became mortal.

For many of their long generations the Númenóreans kept their proper reverence for the Valar. Yet in spite of their great gifts their fear of death grew, and they envied the changelessness of the Elves, whose home of Tol Eressëa in the Undying Lands lay just over the western horizon. Even so, a faithful remnant long dwelt in Andúnië, the great port city of the region of Andustar in the northwest of Númenór. The last scion of the Lords of Andúnië to see his ancestral home was Elendil the Tall, of the line of Elros, who with seven ships fled the judgment of Iluvatar upon the rebellious Númenóreans.

Elendil with his sons established Arnor and Gondor, the Númenórean realms in exile, and joined with the remaining Elves of Middle-earth in the Last Alliance against Morgoth's disciple Sauron. An age later the sole heir to this royal line was Aragorn II, who after the War of the Ring took the name Elessar as the returned King.

Interesting as all this may be (ahem), it does not address why I chose andúnië for a domain name. "Sunset" has a certain poignance, and resonates with those of conservative temperament who see in the drama of history the bitter fruit of seeds sown with the Fall. We are called to preserve all that we are able: to "fight the long defeat," as Tolkien says through Galadriel. Yet even if our labors prove in vain—if indeed the night does fall—there is Hope beyond hope, that all will again be made whole in the Parousia.

On a less profound note, I call a certain port city in the northwest of a continent my hometown; though aside from a common abundance of natural beauty and resources, the analogy of that region with Andustar may not be all that convincing.