Tolkien's "Special" Words

[Starbrow]

Reck The Fall of Gondolin “Then Morgoth thought in his heart that his triumph was fulfilled, recking little of the sons of Feanor, and of their oath, which had harmed him never and turned always to his mightiest aid.” Meaning: Archaic. To take heed of or to have caution.

 

[Deimos]

Reck The Fall of Gondolin “Then Morgoth thought in his heart that his triumph was fulfilled, recking little of the sons of Feanor, and of their oath, which had harmed him never and turned always to his mightiest aid.” Meaning: Archaic. To take heed of or to have caution.

Reck is in common everyday use today in its negative form:
reckless ... Acting with a heedless disregard for probable outcomes; syn. Rash, foolhardy, thoughtless, careless, (that is, lacking caution )

 

[Eljorahir]

Reck The Fall of Gondolin “Then Morgoth thought in his heart that his triumph was fulfilled, recking little of the sons of Feanor, and of their oath, which had harmed him never and turned always to his mightiest aid.” Meaning: Archaic. To take heed of or to have caution.

Very good! I added it.

I see there's another example when the witch-king is scared off by that chicken:

'...a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn....Horns, horns, horns...'

 

[Eljorahir]

Today, I added lob and cob.

So, now I know of three alternate words for spider.

lob Flies and Spiders: "Lazy Lob and crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me. I am far more sweet than other meat, but still they cannot find me!”, [Old English Meaning: spider. Modern British Meaning: a dull heavy person, a lout.]

cob Flies and Spiders: "Lazy Lob and crazy Cob are weaving webs to wind me. I am far more sweet than other meat, but still they cannot find me!”, [One Meaning: spider.]

And the third, previously listed:
attercop Flies and Spiders: "Quite apart from the stones no spider has ever liked being called Attercop, and Tomnoddy of course is insulting to anybody.", [Meanings: spider, or an ill-tempered or spiteful person.]

Lob helps me understand the name Shelob.
Cob helps me understand the word cobwebs.
The cop in attercop is a linguistic relative of cob.

Sam and Shelob by John Howe

 

[Eljorahir]

Here's another cob for the collection. Apparently, a cob can be a swan or a spider.

cob (#2) Bombadil Goes Boating: "Old Swan of Elver-isle sailed past him proudly, gave Tom a black look, snorted at him loudly. Tom laughed: ‘You old cob, do you miss your feather? Give me a new one then! The old was worn by weather…’", [Definition: an adult male swan. Sometimes called a cob-swan.]

 

[Deimos]

OK, so I asked Gemini about the use of cob in cobweb and also for a male swan.
AI answer, verbatim (and a bit long, unless you like etymologies, which we do, Precious, yes we do):

While both words trace back to the same ancient Germanic root, cob (for a male swan) came to its current meaning via a completely different semantic branch than the cob- in cobweb.
Here is how the word evolved into the name for a male swan:

1. The Common Ancestor​

Both terms originate from the Old English cop (or coppe), meaning "top," "head," "crest," or "round lump."

• In cobweb, coppe meant "head/lump," which became an Old English name for a spider due to its rounded body shape.
• In the case of cob, the idea of "top" or "head" naturally extended to mean "leader," "chief," or "big/stout thing."

2. From "Leader" to "Bulky Object" (Middle English)​

By the Middle English period (14th century), the variant cobbe was used colloquially to describe a leader, a boss, or a notable, stout individual.
Over time, cob became a general prefix or noun for anything sturdy, thick, or roundly prominent (which is also where we get cobblestone, corn cob, and cob loaf).

3. Application to Animals​

Because cob referred to a big, sturdy creature or a dominant animal in a group, early modern English speakers began applying it to hefty male domestic animals.

• By the 15th and 16th centuries, a cob was used to describe a short, stocky, thick-set horse (a usage that survives in horse breeding today) or a prominent male animal.

4. The Male Swan​

By the mid-1600s, cob became specifically fixed as the name for the adult male swan.
This designation was likely driven by two distinct characteristics of male swans:

1. Size and Bearing: The male swan is noticeably larger, stockier, and carries himself with an aggressive, dominant posture (the "chief" or "leader" of the brood).
2. The Frontal Knob: The European Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) features a prominent black, rounded fleshy knob at the base of the upper bill. In breeding males, this knob swells significantly. The Old English meaning of cop/cob as a "round knob or head" made the term fitting for a bird characterized by a literal knob on its head.