Pre-Númenórean

A word referring to Middle-earth in the years before the arrival of the Númenóreans. It does not appear to refer to a specific period so much as the relatively uncivilized condition of the Wild Men who remained in Middle-earth before coming under the influence of the Men of the West. For example, the ancestors of the Dunlendings are identified as a ‘pre-Númenórean’people. The most ancient place-names found in the later Númenórean Realm of Gondor were originated by its pre-Númenórean inhabitants.