Tolkien's "Special" Words

[Eljorahir]

And now, a word from Ham...

pantechnicon Farmer Giles of Ham: "All the rest he bound on the back of Chrysophylax in boxes and bags, till he looked like a royal pantechnicon. There was no chance of his flying, for his load was too great, and Giles had tied down his wings.”, [Meaning: originally a heavy furniture removal van drawn by horses and used by the British company The Pantechnicon for delivering and collecting furniture which its customers wished to store.]

An original pantechnicon at the Milestones Museum of Living History in Hampshire

Chrysophylax all loaded up like a pantechnicon
Drawing by Pauline Diana Baynes

 

[Eljorahir]

All five of today's words come from the same sentence. Byre (barn) was previously listed.

Tolkien: '...wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green...'
translation: '...wide tilled fields and many orchards, and homesteads there were with grain kiln and granary, pen and barn, and many small brooks rippling through the green...'


fold Minas Tirith: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.”, [Definition: a pen or enclosure for domestic animals, especially sheep.]

garner Minas Tirith: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.”, [Definition: a storehouse for corn, granary.]

oast Minas Tirith: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.”, [Definition: a usually conical kiln used for drying hops, malt, or tobacco.]

rill Minas Tirith: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.”, [Definition: a very small brook.]

tilth Minas Tirith: “The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner, fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green from the highlands down to Anduin.”, [Definition: cultivated land.]

A traditional oast at Frittenden, Kent

A garner (granary) sitting on staddle
stones, at the Somerset Rural Life Museum

Sheep near a dry stone sheepfold, one
of the oldest types of livestock enclosure

 

[Eljorahir]

I love a good serendipitous find. In yesterday's photo the garner just happened to be resting on staddle stones.
So, (if I'm not taking too many liberties) the "founding settlement" of hobbit culture is given a name which means to place on a foundation.

staddle At the Sign of the Prancing Pony: "There were also many families of hobbits in the Bree-land; and they claimed to be the oldest settlement of Hobbits in the world…They lived mostly in Staddle…", [Definition: the base of a stack of hay or corn. Etymology: from old English stathel--to place on a foundation (literal and figurative); to fix, establish, found.]

A garner resting atop staddle stones.

 

[Vorondil]

What about Pippin? You can't leave him out:

Pippin.
1: a crisp tart apple having usually yellow or greenish-yellow skin strongly flushed with red and used especially for cooking
2: a highly admired or very admirable person or thing.

I wonder which one Tolkien had in mind when he gave Pippin his nickname.

 

[Eljorahir]

What about Pippin? You can't leave him out:

Pippin.
1: a crisp tart apple having usually yellow or greenish-yellow skin strongly flushed with red and used especially for cooking
2: a highly admired or very admirable person or thing.

I wonder which one Tolkien had in mind when he gave Pippin his nickname.

Interesting. Also, I think Pippin tells Treebeard that people sometimes call him Pip. And...
one British definition of 'pip': a feeling of irritation or annoyance
Pippin does play an important role in irritating and annoying Gandalf.

Then, there's peregrine: having a tendency to wander.

I suppose the 'wandering' doesn't really have any particular meaning for Pippin over the other hobbits. However, the' irritating and annoying' might be a good fit for him.

 

[Eljorahir]

pippin has been added. Until now, I did not know of the apple by this name nor the other definition of the word. Thanks @Vorondil . I did manage to find a quote where Pippin was being admired, but I couldn't think of any Pippin/apple connections in the book. However, movie Pippin does have some run-ins with apples. I wonder if they used pippin apples?

pippin The Grey Havens: "Merry and Pippin…’Lordly’ folk called them, meaning nothing but good; for it warmed all hearts to see them go riding by with their mail-shirts so bright and their shields so splendid, laughing and singing songs of far away…”, [Definitions: a highly admired or very admirable person or thing, a crisp tart apple having usually yellow or greenish-yellow skin strongly flushed with red and used especially for cooking.]

 

[Eljorahir]

Today, I added one term to the list.

high sea The Grey Havens: "...And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed on into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water.", [Definition: the open part of a sea or ocean especially outside territorial waters, usually used in plural. (Use of this term dates to the 12th century.)]

I’m finding Tolkien’s use of “High Sea” in this solemn moment for Frodo to be really quite delightful. I think it’s a double entendre:
Meaning #1: He’s sailed beyond the territorial waters of Middle-earth (according to the dictionary definition above.)
Meaning #2: He’s literally on a high sea since he’s taking the Straight Road and leaving the surface of the Earth.

Another thought: even the simple word "into" is perhaps notable. Normally, I think it would be said that a ship is sailing on or onto the high seas, not in or into. Use of "into" here is consistent with Frodo having left the surface of the ocean, and he's now in a fundamentally different sea.

(I've always found it difficult to get a firm handle on what's really happening with Frodo's final journey. It's probably meant to be fuzzy and ethereal and not something that's meant to be perfectly clear.)

 

[Deimos]

...

(I've always found it difficult to get a firm handle on what's really happening with Frodo's final journey. It's probably meant to be fuzzy and ethereal and not something that's meant to be perfectly clear.)

'Zactly. Try not to over analyze it.
It isn't universally true, but it is true for some of us (moi included) : loss of enjoyment of Tolkien's works increases in direct proportion to the effort expended in analyzing them.

 

[Eljorahir]

It isn't universally true, but it is true for some of us (moi included) : loss of enjoyment of Tolkien's works increases in direct proportion to the effort expended in analyzing them.

The engineering part of my brain really wants to convert your statement into an equation. So, just for fun, what you're saying is...

ΔE = -kA

where,
ΔE is the change in enjoyment of Tolkien’s works
A is the effort spent in analysis of Tolkien’s works
and k is the proportionality constant

For me, the opposite of your statement is true. This thread represents a substantial effort on my part toward analyzing Tolkien's work. And, so far, it has only enhanced my enjoyment of the stories. My equation is the same as yours except for the minus sign:

ΔE = kA



Edit: Of course, I do take your point (I think as you intended): trying to nail down with certainty whether Frodo's ship sailed off into outer space, or did it fade away into another realm, or what would a ship of men sailing alongside Frodo's ship have observed along the way: these would be fruitless analyses. It's best left as a mysterious event.

 

[Deimos]

The engineering part of my brain really wants to convert your statement into an equation. So, just for fun, what you're saying is...

ΔE = -kA

where,
ΔE is the change in enjoyment of Tolkien’s works
A is the effort spent in analysis of Tolkien’s works
and k is the proportionality constant

For me, the opposite of your statement is true. This thread represents a substantial effort on my part toward analyzing Tolkien's work. And, so far, it has only enhanced my enjoyment of the stories. My equation is the same as yours except for the minus sign:

ΔE = kA



Edit: Of course, I do take your point (I think as you intended): trying to nail down with certainty whether Frodo's ship sailed off into outer space, or did it fade away into another realm, or what would a ship of men sailing alongside Frodo's ship have observed along the way: these would be fruitless analyses. It's best left as a mysterious event.

First , I like your equation as it 'zactly represents what I said..... Bravo! ... *polite applause*
However... “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

What you are doing is NOT analyzing Tolkien. You are "looking up words" (as we always phrased it in grade school) for which you do not know the definitions. It is very important to know the meanings of words, to fully appreciate a story, any story.
A very wise man (my mentor, now residing on the far side of eternity) told me to "always have a dictionary at hand when sitting down to read, regardless of the genre of the material. It should be right there next to your cup of tea."

I *ahem* 😇 already knew the definitions of about 95% of the words in your list.
But there is still that 5% which I did not know. And had you not chased down the meanings I would have had to do it.
To be fair, I had more or less accurately guessed meanings of those few from context and/or by familiarity with the root of the word.
But there will always be words to look up and, tho' he is gone, I would not disappoint my mentor, so the dictionary is on the side table by my cup of tea.
(The 20 vol OED is in another room )

Analyzing Tolkien is the activity on this forum and other JRRT related sites in which members ( I do not exempt myself) discuss, argue, question (at times not quite coming to blows) about how many Maiar can dance on the head of a wizard's staff.

Sometimes I enjoy it (I really enjoy it bunches when I win the argument😁) but I often come away drained by it.
"...Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."
Rather, I should just sit back and simply enjoy the journey through his enchanting world of Middle Earth that the Professor has so kindly made possible.

 

[Eljorahir]

First , I like your equation as it 'zactly represents what I said..... Bravo! ... *polite applause*
However... “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

What you are doing is NOT analyzing Tolkien. You are "looking up words" (as we always phrased it in grade school) for which you do not know the definitions. It is very important to know the meanings of words, to fully appreciate a story, any story.
A very wise man (my mentor, now residing on the far side of eternity) told me to "always have a dictionary at hand when sitting down to read, regardless of the genre of the material. It should be right there next to your cup of tea."

I *ahem* 😇 already knew the definitions of about 95% of the words in your list.
But there is still that 5% which I did not know. And had you not chased down the meanings I would have had to do it.
To be fair, I had more or less accurately guessed meanings of those few from context and/or by familiarity with the root of the word.
But there will always be words to look up and, tho' he is gone, I would not disappoint my mentor, so the dictionary is on the side table by my cup of tea.
(The 20 vol OED is in another room )

Analyzing Tolkien is the activity on this forum and other JRRT related sites in which members ( I do not exempt myself) discuss, argue, question (at times not quite coming to blows) about how many Maiar can dance on the head of a wizard's staff.

Sometimes I enjoy it (I really enjoy it bunches when I win the argument😁) but I often come away drained by it.
"...Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh."
Rather, I should just sit back and simply enjoy the journey through his enchanting world of Middle Earth that the Professor has so kindly made possible.

A most-excellent reply. Many thanks.

 

[Eljorahir]

Today I added three words to the list.

Apparently, the phrase "my liege" can be spoken from the subject to the lord or from the lord to the subject (as in Denethor's usage). In the movies, as far as I can remember, it seems like it's always spoken by the subject.

glen Minas Tirith: "And there where the White Mountains of Ered Nimrais came to their end he saw, as Gandalf had promised, the dark mass of Mount Mindolluin, the deep purple shadows of its high glens, and its tall face whitening in the rising day.”, [Definition: a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides.]

liege Minas Tirith: "’Now tell me your tale, my liege,’ said Denethor, half kindly, half mockingly. ‘For the words of one whom my son so befriended will be welcome indeed.’”, [Definitions: 1. a loyal subject, or 2. a feudal superior to whom allegiance and service are due.]

salver Minas Tirith: "…men came bearing a chair and a low stool, and one brought a salver with a silver flagon and cups, and white cakes. Pippin sat down, but he could not take his eyes from the old lord….”, [Definition: a tray especially for serving food or beverages.]

Glendun, one of the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland

sterling silver salvers produced in the 1730s

Don't go to Camelot. I hear it's a silly place.

 

[Server Room Gremlin]

Apparently, the phrase "my liege" can be spoken from the subject to the lord or from the lord to the subject (as in Denethor's usage). In the movies, as far as I can remember, it seems like it's always spoken by the subject.

liege Minas Tirith: "’Now tell me your tale, my liege,’ said Denethor, half kindly, half mockingly. ‘For the words of one whom my son so befriended will be welcome indeed.’”, [Definitions: 1. a loyal subject, or 2. a feudal superior to whom allegiance and service are due.]

I've also heard "liege lord" used to describe the superior. To me it sounds like 'the lord to whom I owe allegiance'.

 

[Eljorahir]

"liege lord"

It took a little hunting, but I knew it was in there somewhere...

'As for me,' said Imrahil, 'the Lord Aragorn I hold to be my liege lord, whether he claim it or no. His wish is to me a command...'

 

[Eljorahir]

Tonight, I added three words to the list.

For some reason I mistakenly thought the corsairs were the ships themselves. (I'll blame it on Pappy Boyington.) Now I see they are the people aboard the ships.

corsair Minas Tirith (Beregond speaking to Pippin): "There is a great fleet drawing near to the mouths of Anduin, manned by the corsairs of Umbar in the South.”, [Definition: pirate, one who commits robbery on the high seas.]

embrasure Minas Tirith: "They put all into a wicker basket and climbed back into the sun; and Berogond brought Pippin to a place at the east end of the great out-thrust battlement where there was an embrasure in the walls with a stone seat beneath the sill.”, [Definition: an opening with sides flaring outward in a wall or parapet of a fortification usually for allowing the firing of weapons.]

heath Queer Lodgings: "The wind was on the withered heath, but in the forest stirred no leaf: there shadows lay by night and day, and dark things silent crept beneath.”, [Definition: an extensive area of rather level open uncultivated land usually with poor coarse soil, inferior drainage, and a surface rich in peat or peaty humus.]

Embrasures at Mdina, Malta

An action between an English ship and vessels of the Barbary corsairs

Vought F4U-1A Corsair, BuNo 17883, of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, the commander of VMF-214, Vella Lavella, end of 1943

 

[Eljorahir]

Three words have been added today:

folde The Muster of Rohan: "On into the shadow they road…twelve leagues …they camped…And then on again through the Folde; and through the Fenmarch…”, [Old English Definitions: the land, dry ground, the earth as a dwelling place of man.]

girth The Muster of Rohan: "Already the companies were preparing to start: men were tightening girths, looking to saddles, caressing their horses…”, [Definition: a band or strap that encircles the body of an animal to fasten something (such as a saddle) on its back.]

jerkin The Muster of Rohan: "’No mail have we to fit you,’ said Eowyn, ‘nor any time for the forging of such a hauberk; but here is also a stout jerkin of leather, a belt, and a knife…’”, [Definition: a man's short close-fitting jacket, made usually of light-coloured leather, and often without sleeves, worn over the doublet in the 16th and 17th centuries.]

Tightening the girth, or cinch, of a western saddle.

Jerkin worn by a British soldier at the Battle of the Somme, World War I

 

[Eljorahir]

I added only one word to the list today but included a little of my charred speculation regarding its use:

brand The Siege of Gondor: "Denethor laughed bitterly. ‘…why should I sit here in my tower and think, and watch, and wait, spending even my sons? For I can still wield a brand.’ He stood up and cast open his long black cloak, and behold! he was clad in mail beneath, and girt with a long sword, great-hilted in a sheath of black and silver.", [Meanings: a sword, a piece of burning wood, or a piece of charred wood.]

Why would Denethor be the only character in the story (I think) to refer to his sword as a brand?

Three thoughts:

• He’s covered in a long black cloak. The same color as a charred piece of wood, perhaps? (One meaning of brand.)
• Very soon Denethor is going to grab a torch and “thrust the brand amid the fuel”.
• He’s about to be on fire becoming a brand himself.

So, in summary: Denethor is dressed like a brand, girt with a brand, about to grab a brand, and about to be on fire like a brand. It’s almost too much! Is Tolkien’s use of brand a bit of dark foreshadowing or just a coincidence?

Edit: At minimum, I think it's a great example of a double entendre; he says he can still wield a brand (sword), but he's going to be wielding a brand of a different sort.

 

[Eljorahir]

Two more words have been added.

Looks like I missed one in Beleriand: I had to repair back to Gondolin to repair the list with repair. (Special Words Trivia: The repair quote is an excerpt from what I think may be Tolkien’s longest sentence.)

repair The Fall of Gondolin, The Original Tale: “…but Tuor said, for thus was he bidden by Ulmo who had feared the reluctance of Turgon: ‘Then am I bidden to say that men of the Gondothlim repair swiftly and secretly down the river Sirion to the sea, and there build them boats and go seek back to Valinor…’”, [Definition: the act of causing oneself to go.]

surcoat The Siege of Gondor: "…Pippin soon found himself arrayed in strange garments…Above the mail was a short surcoat of black, but broidered on the breast in silver with the token of the Tree…", [Meaning: an outer garment that was commonly worn in the Middle Ages by soldiers. It was worn over armor to show insignia and help identify what side the soldier was on. In the battlefield the surcoat was also helpful with keeping the sun off the soldier and their armor which helped prevent heat stroke and heat exhaustion. The name derives from French meaning "over the coat", a long, loose, often sleeveless coat reaching down to the feet.]

The classic knight's surcoat is on the left; the knight on the right has a different style, possibly a jupon

(I really wish I knew why these knights have such unusual items on top their helmets. I mean: is that a dog with only two oversized legs, or what?!)

 

[Deimos]

I added only one word to the list today but included a little of my charred speculation regarding its use:

brand The Siege of Gondor: "Denethor laughed bitterly. ‘…why should I sit here in my tower and think, and watch, and wait, spending even my sons? For I can still wield a brand.’ He stood up and cast open his long black cloak, and behold! he was clad in mail beneath, and girt with a long sword, great-hilted in a sheath of black and silver.", [Meanings: a sword, a piece of burning wood, or a piece of charred wood.]

Why would Denethor be the only character in the story (I think) to refer to his sword as a brand?

Three thoughts:

• He’s covered in a long black cloak. The same color as a charred piece of wood, perhaps? (One meaning of brand.)
• Very soon Denethor is going to grab a torch and “thrust the brand amid the fuel”.
• He’s about to be on fire becoming a brand himself.

So, in summary: Denethor is dressed like a brand, girt with a brand, about to grab a brand, and about to be on fire like a brand. It’s almost too much! Is Tolkien’s use of brand a bit of dark foreshadowing or just a coincidence?

Edit: At minimum, I think it's a great example of a double entendre; he says he can still wield a brand (sword), but he's going to be wielding a brand of a different sort.

From the OED....(excerpted)
"Brand" can be used in the sense of "weapon", typically a sword. The example given is "the flaming brand" of the archangel in Milton's Paradise Lost.**

Milton ref'd Sacred Scripture: "[God] drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He placed the cherubim [the "archangel"], and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." --Gen 3:24
Paradise Lost was written mid 17th C. so of course Tolkien was familiar with it and its archaic words and phrasing.
No surprise that he (Tolkien) used "brand" for sword.
It is also how we come by the verb "to brandish" which means to wave a weapon around, or something that can be used as a weapon, as in brandishing a hammer or a pitchfork. They aren't weapons per se, but if someone is worked up and starts brandishing, say, a pair of scissors, those scissors are now a weapon.


** Paradise Lost, Book 12, lines 632-644
High in Front advanc't,
The brandisht Sword of God before them blaz'd
Fierce as a Comet; which with torrid heat,
And vapour as the Libyan Air adust, [ 635 ]
Began to parch that temperate Clime; whereat
In either hand the hastning Angel caught
Our lingring Parents, and to th' Eastern Gate
Led them direct, and down the Cliff as fast
To the subjected Plaine; then disappeer'd. [ 640 ]
They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late thir happie seat,
Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate
With dreadful Faces throng'd and fierie Armes:

 

[Deimos]

Today I added three words to the list.

Apparently, the phrase "my liege" can be spoken from the subject to the lord or from the lord to the subject (as in Denethor's usage). In the movies, as far as I can remember, it seems like it's always spoken by the subject.
....
liege Minas Tirith: "’Now tell me your tale, my liege,’ said Denethor, half kindly, half mockingly. ‘For the words of one whom my son so befriended will be welcome indeed.’”, [Definitions: 1. a loyal subject, or 2. a feudal superior to whom allegiance and service are due.]

"Liege", "my liege", "Liege lord" when used as a direct address is always directed upward; that is, from an inferior (or subordinate) to one's superior.
It is never directed downward, never spoken as an address by a superior to an inferior.
That Denethor addressed Pippin (ruler to subject) as "my liege" is explained in the text...."my liege,’ said Denethor, half kindly, half mockingly"
Denethor was gently mocking Pippin.