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Tolkien's "Special" Words

On another forum I learned the word they use in Oz (Down Under**) for a busybody, a wonderfully visually evocative word: stickybeak
**Don't know if it's used throughout Oz or only in some places.
 
Deimos said:
On another forum I learned the word they use in Oz (Down Under**) for a busybody, a wonderfully visually evocative word: stickybeak
**Don't know if it's used throughout Oz or only in some places.
Click to expand...
It seems the beak in stickybeak is the same as the nose in nosey-parker. Just learned that from this Australian dude:
 
Deimos said:
Uhhhh ... didn't i just say that in my post? 😉
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Maybe it was implied (sometimes I can be a little slow on the uptake), but I don't believe you stated "beak = nose" in your post.
 
Jimmy Durante: someone I know only from imitations, cartoons and references in other shows. And, of course his starring role in Frosty the Snowman. Impressive beak.
 
Eljorahir said:
Jimmy Durante: someone I know only from imitations, cartoons and references in other shows. And, of course his starring role in Frosty the Snowman. Impressive beak.
Click to expand...
I think he was (and still is) the definitive [real life**] exemplar of "beak= nose" 😄

** Fictional characters with a Durante-like beak: Mr Magoo and Milhouse van Houten


 
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Today's words:

mort Farmer Giles of Ham: "’We’ll make the old worm do the carting.’ ‘Mercy on us!’ said the dragon, who overheard these words as he came out of the cave for the third time with the biggest load of all, and a mort of rich jewels like green and red fire.", [Definition: a great quantity or number.]

sop Farmer Giles of Ham: "The poor farmer had barely time to swallow a sop in a draught of wine before he was off on the road again.", [Definition: a piece of food dipped or steeped in a liquid. (akin to sup, supper, soup, sip.]

tithe-barn Farmer Giles of Ham: "Chrysophylax remained long in Ham…He was housed in the tithe-barn, with the leave of the parson, and there he was guarded by the twelve likely lads.", [Definition: a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the village church or rectory, and independent farmers took their tithes there.]

Yum! A sop for supper….
 
Two words for today:

see Farmer Giles of Ham: "The parson became a bishop, and set up his see in the church of Ham, which was suitably enlarged.", [Definitions: a seat of a bishop’s authority or a cathedral town. See can also mean specifically the bishop’s official throne or cathedra. The word see is derived from Latin sedes, which in its original or proper sense denotes the seat or chair that, in the case of a bishop, is the earliest symbol of the bishop's authority.]

envoy Farmer Giles of Ham: "Envoy” appears only as the title of the last chapter of the book, [Definition: variant of envoi, the concluding part of a literary work, especially a short stanza concluding a poem written in certain verse forms (e.g. the ballade or sestina); (occasionally in extended use) an author's concluding words, dedication, etc.]

The seat or cathedra (see) of the Bishop of Rome in the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
 
I read Leaf by Niggle for the first time today and found three words for the list.

I’m finding Tolkien’s use of daubing very thought-provoking. Definition #1 is nothing special. However, the archaic definition is very appropriate for the story. Niggle’s picture seems to be a false exterior for something much more important…something which I can’t quite identify after only one reading.

daubing Leaf by Niggle: "’Niggle’s picture!’…’He tried to tell you long ago,’ said the man, ‘but you would not look…This is what you and your wife used to call Niggle’s Nonsense, or That Daubing.’…’you might have caught the glimpse, if you had ever thought it worth while to try.’", [Definition 1: a crude picture. Definition 2 (archaic): something having a false exterior.]

footler Leaf by Niggle: "’…silly footler.’…’Footler,’sighed Atkins. ‘Yes, poor little man, he never finished anything. Ah well, his canvases have been put to better uses, since he went.’", [Definition: one who foolishly wastes time.]

quickset hedge Leaf by Niggle: "One day Niggle was busy planting a quickset hedge, and Parish was lying on the grass near by, looking attentively at a beautiful and shapely little yellow flower growing in the green turf.", [Chiefly British Definition: a type of hedge created by planting live whitethorn (common hawthorn) cuttings directly into the earth. Once planted, these cuttings root and form new plants, creating a dense barrier. The technique is ancient, and the term quickset hedge is first recorded in 1484. The use of the word quick in this context is an archaic one, specifically meaning living or alive and has nothing to do with the speed of growth of the hedge.]
 
I always find these sentences about the man, his cat, Shelob, and Sauron to be confusing. Does Sauron call Shelob his cat? Or, does the hypothetical man call his cat his cat? I really don’t know for sure.

Anyway, hopefully I’m on the right track with own, a somewhat atypical usage of the word…

own Example 1) Shelob’s Lair: “If now and again Shelob caught them [orcs] to stay her appetite, she was welcome: he could spare them. And sometimes as a man may cast a dainty to his cat (his cat he calls her, but she owns him not) Sauron would send her prisoners that he had not better uses for: he would have them driven to her hole, and report brought back to him of the play she made.”
Example 2) Children of Hurin, Turin Among the Outlaws: “There before the Nirnaeth many men had dwelt in scattered homesteads; they were of Haleth’s folk for the most part, but owned no lord…”, [Synonym: acknowledge. As in: ‘I own that I misjudged him.’]

The cat doesn’t own the man.
Shelob doesn’t own Sauron.
The homesteaders don’t own a lord.
I suppose, after taking the oath, Pippin owned Denethor as his lord.
 
Daubing...Indeed Tolkien could have meant both meanings. Daubing is typically a trait of amateur painters . Like any activity it takes some time to develop technique; i.e. to get "good at it". I know this from experience as I observed my aunt (when I was 12) who had just begun painting classes, and her work slowly improved over 10 years from cartoonish oils to stunning watercolors of wildlife suitable for art gallery auctions. To call an artist's painting "daubing" is to belittle it.
 
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There's "bewuthered" from The Hobbit, a word that I've frequently used since I discovered it. My guess is that it's a combination of bewildered and something else. I have no idea what else though 😂
 
Elbereth Gilthoniel said:
There's "bewuthered" from The Hobbit, a word that I've frequently used since I discovered it. My guess is that it's a combination of bewildered and something else. I have no idea what else though 😂
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Interesting. I don't see bewuthered in the dictionary. However, I'd bet "wuther" is the key.

Wuther: to blow with a dull roaring sound.

So "bewuthered" might be associated with being stuck in a roaring windstorm. I checked the story where Bilbo and friends are seeking shelter from the storm and the activities of the stone giants, but I could not find "bewuthered".

Do you know what chapter it's in?
 
It's in An Unexpected Party: "Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered -- this was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered."

So, this is describing Bilbo's frustration and confusion about his rather awkward Wednesday.

Interesting about "wuther". Perhaps it means Bilbo was blown about mentally and didn't know what to think?
 
"Wuther"... cf. "Wuthering Heights" with which Tolkien was certainly familiar.

Cambridge dictionary: "Wuthering" or "whithering" comes from the Old Norse and means roaring like the wind on a stormy day.
Used to describe a wind that is blowing very strongly or a place where the wind blows very strongly.

So, Bilbo felt "blown about" by unexpected events.
One can feel blown about by expected events, but it's the unexpected ones that are really "bewuthering" 😄
 
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Elbereth Gilthoniel said:
There's "bewuthered" from The Hobbit
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Thanks Elbereth. I added bewuthered to the list after tweaking the definition a bit with some extra bits that seemed to be applicable from the Oxford English Dictionary definition(s).

bewuthered An Unexpected Party: "Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered—this was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered. He pulled open the door with a jerk, and they all fell in, one on top of the other. More dwarves, four more!", [Definition of wuther: a rage as the wind on a stormy day, a rush, or a violent or impetuous movement.]

The "violent or impetuous movement" also describes nicely Bilbo's jerking open of the door and causing a four-dwarf pileup.

by Alan Lee:
 
It seems that fillets go way back:

fillet The Steward and the King: “A hush fell upon all as out from the host stepped the Dunedain in silver and grey; and before them came walking slow the Lord Aragorn…his head was bare save for a star upon his forehead bound by a slender fillet of silver.", [Definition: in classical antiquity a fillet was a very narrow band of cloth, leather or some form of garland, frequently worn by athletes. It was also worn as a sign of royalty and became symbolized in later ages as a metallic ring which was a stylized band of cloth.]




Crown of Nubkheperre Intef, pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty
(15th century BC)



Relief of Amenhotep III, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, wearing a fillet crown



A fillet from Ben-Hur
 
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