Tolkien's "Special" Words

[Eljorahir]

I found another greatheart. Too bad. It detracts a bit from my Easter Egg theory.

Gandalf with sleepy Pippin on board:
"Away now, Shadowfax! Run, greatheart, run as you have never run before!..."

 

[Eljorahir]

Another word added to the list...

Taking a small liberty adding an extra “e” at the end of Pippin’s proper name, I thought it was notable that Pippin and Gandalf each have a pilgrim in their name.

peregrine (close to Peregrin) Minas Tirith: "I will vouch for him…He has passed through more battles and perils than you have, Ingold, though you be twice his height…His name is Peregrin… ", [Definition of peregrine: having a tendency to wander. From Latin peregrinus: wanderer, pilgrim. Note: perhaps it’s of interest that Pippin and Gandalf both have names containing pilgrim.]

Peregrin Took
(He’s the short hungry one.)

Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim
(He could just as easily be called the Grey Peregrine.)

The peregrine falcon
Etymology: from Medieval Latin falco peregrinus, literally, pilgrim falcon

 

[Eljorahir]

Going back once more to greatheart; I found one more use of the term in a peak hobbit moment, Theoden directed the term at Merry.

The Field of Cormallen:
"…a minstrel of Gondor stood forth…’Lo! Lords and knights and men of valour unashamed, kings and princes, and fair people of Gondor, and Riders of Rohan, and ye sons of Elrond, and Dunedain of the North, and Elf and Dwarf, and greathearts of the Shire, and all free folk of the West, now listen to my lay. For I will sing to you of Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom.’”,

Gandalf with sleepy Pippin on board:
"Away now, Shadowfax! Run, greatheart, run as you have never run before!..."

Theoden's farewell talk to Merry, forgiving his transgression:
"The old king smiled. 'Grieve not! It is forgiven. Great heart will not be denied..."

Now that I've found a website which allows for word-searching the books, I'm making good use of it. I think these are the only greathearts in LOTRs.

 

[Eljorahir]

I added one term to the list today.

apple of his eye Quote #1, The Uruk-hai: “’Nazgul, Nazgul,’ said Grishnakh, shivering and licking his lips…’You speak of what is deep beyond the reach of your muddy dreams, Ugluk…Nazgul! Ah! … You ought to know that they’re the apple of the Great Eye…’”, Quote #2, Minas Tirith: “But Gandalf…asked me to see to his horse—Shadowfax, a great steed of Rohan, and the apple of the king’s eye…”, [Archaic Definition: the pupil of the eye, or occasionally the whole eyeball. Modern Definition: something or someone that one cherishes above all others.]


Comment #1:
Maybe the Nazgul were the apple of Sauron’s eye using both definitions:

• They were his most useful servants, most cherished.
• They were his intelligence gatherers, figurative extensions of his actual eyes.

Comment #2:
I think when Pippin is peering into the Palantir in his lap, it could be said that he’s looking directly into the apple of Sauron’s eye.
edit: And also, Pippin has been the name of an apple variety for 500 years. 🍎 This moment could be titled A Tale of Two Apples. 😉

Comment #3:
Apple of his eye is used more literally (referring to an actual eye) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon drips a love potion droplet onto the eye of sleeping Demetrius:

Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.
When thou wakest, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.

 

[Eljorahir]

I added this one today.

Apparently, one could be unmarried and a husband at the same time.

husbandmen Minas Tirith: "Gandalf passed now into the wide land beyond the Rammas Echor…The townlands were rich, with wide tilthe…the herdsmen and husbandmen that dwelt there were not many…", [Medieval Meaning: small landowners occupied in agriculture. Note: The meaning of "husband" in this term is "master of house" rather than "married man".]

 

[Eljorahir]

I added three words today. Individually, there’s probably nothing surprising in the definitions. However, I thought they were interesting as a group.

Tolkien manages to use three different titles of service for Merry and/or Pippin as they rub elbows with the nobility: page, esquire, and knight.

page Minas Tirith: "’I will not hide from you, Master Peregrin,’ said Beregond, ‘that to us you look almost as one of our children…I thought it was the whim of our Lord to take him a noble page, after the manner of the kings of old, they say. But I see that it is not so, and you must pardon my foolishness.’", [Definition: a youth attendant on a person of rank especially in the medieval period.]

esquire The Passing of the Grey Company: "…laying his long old hands upon the brown hair of the hobbit, he blessed him. ‘Rise now, Meriadoc, esquire of Rohan of the household of Meduseld!’…’As a father you shall be to me,’ said Merry.", [There are many meanings. Two of which are: 1. A rank next below that of knight, and 2. An attendant on the person of the Sovereign.]

knight The Field of Cormallen: “For the present Merry and I are busy. We are knights of the City and of the Mark, as I hope you observe.", [Definition: a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state or representative for service to the monarch, or the country, especially in a military capacity.]

The Queen and the Page, by Marianne Stokes, 1896.

 

[Eljorahir]

I added fell (4th meaning of fell for the list) and shaw.

I couldn’t find Trollshaw or shaw by itself in the text of the story. I think it’s only on the map.

fell(4) Flight to the Ford: "’I am afraid we must go back to the Road here for a while,’ said Strider. ‘We have now come to the River Hoarwell, that the Elves call Mitheithel. It flows down out of the Ettenmoors, the troll-fells north of Rivendell…’", [British Definition: a high barren field or moor.]

shaw The Map: “Trollshaws”:

, [British Meaning: a strip of woodland which commonly forms a boundary between fields or the line of a road. In some areas, such as the Weald of south-eastern England, shaws may be the remnants of larger woods out of which fields were cleared many centuries ago, or they may have developed from narrower hedgerows which have become unmanaged.]


Fell-pungent, fell-hide, and fell-fierce, previously listed:

fell(1) The Battle of The Pelennor Fields: "A creature of an older world maybe it was...And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly...", [Definition: "Fell" has several definitions. In this quote the meaning is probably "sharp or pungent".]
fell(2) The Silmarillion, Of Beren and Luthien: "By the counsel of Huan and the arts of Luthien [Beren] was arrayed now in the hame of Draugluin, and she in the winged fell of Thuringwethil.", [Synonyms: skin, hide, pelt.]
fell(3) The Passage of the Marshes: "…Frodo and Sam staring at the sky…a black shadow loosed from Mordor; a vast shape winged and ominous. It scudded across the moon, and with a deadly cry went away westward, outrunning the wind in its fell speed.", [List of synonyms that could apply here: fierce, cruel, terrible, sinister, malevolent, deadly.]

 

[Deimos]

You couldn't find the the word "Trollshaw" or just the word "shaw" in the book?

 

[Eljorahir]

You couldn't find the the word "Trollshaw" or just the word "shaw" in the book?

Either one. Lately, I've been using this website for word searches within the stories. (It seems to be reliable, but of course it may not be perfect.):

test | Tolkien Glossary

A growing database of words in Tolkien's works. It will eventually include frequency, lemmatization, etymology, part-of-speech, grammatical role, semantic classification, collocations, speaker, and more.

glossary.digitaltolkien.com

 

[Eljorahir]

I couldn’t find Trollshaw or shaw by itself in the text of the story. I think it’s only on the map.

My ridiculously trivial observations from the Trollshaws…

Now I see: Tolkien uses Trolls’ wood in the story, and the index entry for Trolls’ wood has Trollshaws as a synonym in parentheses.

Flight to the Ford: “Frodo…recalled Bilbo’s account of his journey and the threatening towers on the hills north of the Road, in the country near the Trolls’ wood where his first serious adventure had happened.”

Comment #1:
It seems out of character for Tolkien to invent an interesting and apt name like Trollshaws then not use it directly in the story when the characters walk right through it. I’d almost think it was an oversight (if such a thing were thinkable).

Comment #2:
My old paperbacks from the 1980’s have the singular possessive Troll’s wood versus the plural possessive Trolls’ wood. I wonder if it was just a typographical error in the earlier printing.

 

[Deimos]

My ridiculously trivial observations from the Trollshaws…

Now I see: Tolkien uses Trolls’ wood in the story, and the index entry for Trolls’ wood has Trollshaws as a synonym in parentheses.

Flight to the Ford: “Frodo…recalled Bilbo’s account of his journey and the threatening towers on the hills north of the Road, in the country near the Trolls’ wood where his first serious adventure had happened.”

Comment #1:
It seems out of character for Tolkien to invent an interesting and apt name like Trollshaws then not use it directly in the story when the characters walk right through it. I’d almost think it was an oversight (if such a thing were thinkable).

Comment #2:
My old paperbacks from the 1980’s have the singular possessive Troll’s wood versus the plural possessive Trolls’ wood. I wonder if it was just a typographical error in the earlier printing.

Oh, I think it's entirely "thinkable" (possible) 😄 ...either theory: conscious decision not to use it, or just an oversight.
Writers discard things all the time, words, sentences, paragraphs, whole chapters.
I like both trollshaws and trollfells, so I'm content that he used at least one of them.

 

[Eljorahir]

Is anyone familiar with the phrase ‘go up in ships’?

Tolkien uses it in The Silmarillion:
Of the Mair: “…at times he [Osse] will rage in his willfulness without any command from Ulmo his lord. Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may love him, but they do not trust him.”

My search of the internets yielded no sign of this phrase. I’m sure I’ve heard this used in some old movie. I’ve checked the text of Captain’s Courageous, Moby Dick, Billy Budd, and Mutiny on the Bounty only to be left dry-docked.

Do you know of any book or movie that uses the term?

It seems to be a romanticized phrase for “going to sea”. But, why “go up”?

I suppose when boarding the old sailing vessels one had to climb an inclined gangway. Is that where the “go up” comes from?

If only I knew someone with some nautical experience. Maybe @Ent knows someone.

 

[Deimos]

Is anyone familiar with the phrase ‘go up in ships’?

Tolkien uses it in The Silmarillion:
Of the Mair: “…at times he [Osse] will rage in his willfulness without any command from Ulmo his lord. Therefore those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships may love him, but they do not trust him.”

My search of the internets yielded no sign of this phrase. I’m sure I’ve heard this used in some old movie. I’ve checked the text of Captain’s Courageous, Moby Dick, Billy Budd, and Mutiny on the Bounty only to be left dry-docked.

I looked everywhere --- from the masthead to the bilge (ugh...nasty) from the prow to the stern, port to starboard--- couldn't find that phrase.
Must be another peculiar "Tolkien-ism" .

 

[Eljorahir]

I looked everywhere --- from the masthead to the bilge (ugh...nasty) from the prow to the stern, port to starboard--- couldn't find that phrase.
Must be another peculiar "Tolkien-ism" .

Thanks for searching. Perhaps it was a wild herring chase after all.

I found something maybe of a similar character from a bible verse and a movie title:
"Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters..."

Compared to Tolkien's:
"...those who dwell by the sea or go up in ships..."
Maybe I saw the movie long ago and my brain connected the two phrases. Oh well, enough of that.

 

[Eljorahir]

Today, I added two boat parts and one truck to the list of words at the beginning of this thread.

Farmer Cotton’s use of “time of day” in the truck quote is also a little interesting. To me, the added “of day” makes it seems a little humorous, but maybe it’s just an unfamiliar idiomatic usage.

painter Flies and Spiders: "They tugged and tugged, and suddenly they all fell over on their backs…’It was tied after all,’ said [Balin], looking at the snapped painter that was still dangling from it.", [Definition: a line used for securing or towing a boat.]

thwart Bombadil Goes Boating: "…the King’s fisher perched on bow, on thwart the wren was singing, merrily the cockle-boat homeward they were bringing.…", [Definition: a part of an undecked boat that provides seats for the crew and structural rigidity for the hull. A thwart goes from one side of the hull to the other.]

truck The Scouring of the Shire (Farmer Cotton speaking): "…You see, your dad, Mr. Peregrin, he’s never had no truck with this Lotho, not from the beginning: said that if anyone was going to play the chief at this time of day, it would be the right Thain of the Shire and no upstart…", [Definition: close association or connection, involvement.]

The thwarts in this wooden dinghy are the three seats that go from one side of the hull to the other.

 

[Eljorahir]

Another day, another word added...

in this case, a bird-besmirching word:

varlet Bombadil Goes Boating (Tom taunts the King’s fisher {all in good fun, it seems}): "Talk less, Fisher Blue! Keep your kindly wishes! Fly off and preen yourself with the bones of fishes! Gay lord on your bough, at home a dirty varlet living in a sloven house, though your breast be scarlet.", [Definitions: a servant, a knight’s page, or a base unprincipled person.]

I wonder if Tolkien had this species in mind for the King’s fisher. It has the scarlet breast and a nice long blue feather to spare for Tom’s hat.

The “sloven house” might relate to the bird’s habit of sometimes nesting in a hole in the ground.

Red-breasted Paradise Kingfisher, native to New Guinea and surrounding islands

 

[Eljorahir]

Three words from Errantry have entered in the list today.
More tomorrow? Who can say?

dumbledor Errantry: "He battled with the Dumbledors, the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees, and won the Golden Honeycomb; and running home on sunny seas in ship of leaves and gossamer with blossom for a canopy, he sat and sang, and furbished up and burnished up his panoply.", [Meaning: bumblebee.]

hummerhorn Errantry: "He battled with the Dumbledors, the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees, and won the Golden Honeycomb; and running home on sunny seas in ship of leaves and gossamer with blossom for a canopy, he sat and sang, and furbished up and burnished up his panoply.", [Meaning: believed to be a name invented by Tolkien for a large wasp or hornet.]

morion Errantry: "He made a shield and morion of coral and of ivory, a sword he made of emerald, and terrible his rivalry…", [Definition: a type of open-faced combat helmet originally from Spain, used from the beginning of the 16th century to the early-17th century. The morion usually had a flat brim and a crest running from front to back.]

A Spanish conquistador comb morion, 16th century

A member of the Swiss Guard with a black morion in the Vatican

Captain: “Soldier! Why did you remove your helmet in the middle of the battle?”
Soldier: “I had a dumbledor and a hummerhorn in my morion!”
Captain: “OK. That’s a good excuse. Carry on.”

 

[Eljorahir]

Today I added two rather cinematic terms, both within the same quote.

“Special effects” first caught my attention (seeming [at first glance] out of place in the story—being a filmmaking term). Then, I also realized I didn’t know what a “set piece” was.


special effects A Long-expected Party: "The fireworks were by Gandalf…the special effects, set pieces, and flights of rockets were let off by him…There were green trees with trunks of dark smoke: their leaves opened like a whole spring unfolding in a moment, and their shining branches dropped glowing flowers down upon the astonished hobbits, disappearing with a sweet scent just before they touched their upturned faces…fountains of butterflies…eagles…sailing ships…flying swans…a forest of silver spears that sprang suddenly into the air with a yell like an embattled army, and came down again into the Water with a hiss like a hundred hot snakes…a red-golden dragon…”, [Meaning: illusions or visual tricks used in the theater, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world.]

set pieces A Long-expected Party: "The fireworks were by Gandalf…the special effects, set pieces, and flights of rockets were let off by him…There were green trees with trunks of dark smoke: their leaves opened like a whole spring unfolding in a moment, and their shining branches dropped glowing flowers down upon the astonished hobbits, disappearing with a sweet scent just before they touched their upturned faces…fountains of butterflies…eagles…sailing ships…flying swans…a forest of silver spears that sprang suddenly into the air with a yell like an embattled army, and came down again into the Water with a hiss like a hundred hot snakes…a red-golden dragon…”, [Meaning: compositions (as in literature, art, or music) executed in a fixed or ideal form often with studied artistry and brilliant effect. In film production, scenes or sequences of scenes whose execution requires complex logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money.]

Cecil B. DeGandalf displaying his special effects and set pieces

A little more on "set pieces" if you're interested (like I was)...

 

[Eljorahir]

One added today.

moonshine The Shadow of the Past: "’Oh, they’re both cracked,’ said Ted. ‘Leastways old Bilbo was cracked, and Frodo’s cracking. If that’s where you get your news from, you’ll never want for moonshine....’”, [One Definition: empty talk or nonsense.]

Tolkien uses the term moonshine only twice in the whole story. The second time (applying a more typical definition) is in the same chapter…

Gandalf describes Gollum’s origin story to Frodo:
“He found he could hide from daylight and moonshine, and make his way swiftly and softly by dead of night with his pale cold eyes, and catch small frightened or unwary things.”

 

[Eljorahir]

Two more added.

The stock in stock-still seems to be the same as the stock in Treebeard's "by stock and by stone".


stock-still The Breaking of the Fellowship: "Sam…stood gazing for a moment, stock-still, gaping. A boat was sliding down the bank all by itself.”, [Meaning: as motionless as a tree trunk or tree stump (stock).]

to a nicety The Council of Elrond (Gandalf speaking): "…let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice…Into his heart the thought will not enter…that having the Ring we may seek to destroy it…", [Definition: exactly, accurately.]