Silmarillion - Chapter 12 - Of Men

[Bêthberry]

One point in this chapter has always intrigued me: the various names given to the race of men by the elves:

Originally Posted by "Of Men", para 2

The Atani they were named by the Eldar, Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the After-born, Engwar, the Sickly, and Fírimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavy-handed, the Night-fearers, the Children of the Sun.

It seems to me that none of these names suggest a particularly positive or strong attachment to the second children. Rather, these names sound like those of a first born possibly jealous of the next-born. The first set of names characterises men as coming later in a chronology while the later names certainly highlight what was supposed to be the special gift of men, their mortality. The third set of names are especially contrary and most clearly show a suspicion or fear the Edain had for the Atani, regarding them very much as "other."

What the chapter does not give us is how these various names developed, particularly the time frame in which they occurred. Does this progression of names suggest in itself the eventual estrangement of men and elves which we are told is the triumph of Morgoth? The latter characterisations become veritable foreshadowings of some of the stories to follow; it appears the Second Born are to be doom-ridden. At least from the Elves' point of view.

Perhaps the "of men little is told in these tales" refers more to the nature of The Silm as the story told from elven perspective?