Why did Tolkien reverse the more common traditional genders assigned to the sun and moon?

Question

In most cultures throughout history, from ancient Rome to China, from the Americas to Africa, there has been a general trend (although there have been plenty of exceptions) in assigning a gender to the sun and moon. Especially in cultures most familiar to Westerners, the sun is usually male, and the moon is usually female. For instance, the sun is associated with male deities such as Ra, Horus, Apollo, etc, and the name itself- Sol - is masculine; the moon is generally associated with goddesses, and the name is explicitly feminine- Luna. I am not sure why the sun is usually conceived of as male, but the belief that the moon is feminine apparently stems from the perceived connection between moon cycles and menstruation.

In Lord of the Rings, however, people (and Elves, and Dwarves, and Hobbits) consistently refer to the sun as "she" or "her", and to the moon as "he" or "him". I doubt that Tolkien was making a statement about gender equality, but I haven't the foggiest idea as to why he chose to reverse the most common traditional gender assignments for the sun and moon. Does he say anything about this in his writing?

Answer 1

It seems that in germanic languages, notably German, the sun/moon genders are "reversed" like that, as sumelic commented.

Die Sonne (sun, female) Der Mond (moon, male)

In other words, your assumption that male sun / female moon is somehow "general rule" doesn't hold up. And you don't even need to look at some exotic place.

Answer 2

Another point to this (and maybe the cause why people of Middle-Earth refer to sun and moon in this way) is that in Middle-Earth mythology, the sun (which is a fruit of Laurelin, the golden tree) is guided through the sky by Arien (a female maia) and the moon (a fruit of Telperion, the silver tree) by Tilion (a male maia).

This is described in The Silmarillion (or in summary here on Wikipedia).

Answer 3

As already answered, there are indeed cultures that have personified the sun and moon as female and male, respectively, and languages that have given them female and male names, respectively.

To be a bit more specific than the answer already given, the language that Tolkien would have been thinking of most when deciding how Westron worked (the language that is always "translated" into English) is Anglo-Saxon.

In Anglo-Saxon, sunne (from which the Modern English word sun is derived) is feminine, and mona (from which the Modern English word moon is derived) is masculine.

In keeping with Tolkien's idea that the LOTR should be an alternative folklore for the English-speaking peoples, and in his general use of language (e.g. calling the world "Middle Earth", as the Angles and Saxons did), he has Westron being a predecessor of English, and so feminine sun and masculine moon is the obvious choice.