Gandalf's Symbol--an Elvish letter???

[Child of the 7th Age]

There was an earlier question about Tolkien's symbol. Now, I'd like to know about Gandalf's symbol that appears in the letter he left for the hobbits in the chapter entitled "Strider."

It's a straight vertical line, with two separate branches sticking out to the right plus four dots, one on each side--top, bottom, right, and left. Look in the chapter to see it. Is this an Elvish letter? I think so, but would appreciate some help.

[piosenniel]

Child -

The symbol is a cirth:

from Encyc. of Arda

Dates: Predate the beginning of the First Age
Origins: First devised by Rúmil of Tirion1
Meaning: From Old Norse rún, meaning a magical symbol2
Other Names: Cirth


A system of writing based on angular shapes that could easily be carved into wood or stone. Originated by Rúmil and greatly developed by Daeron of Doriath to represent Sindarin words, runes came to be used widely by races other than the Elves, and especially by the Dwarves.

You can also read about them in ROTK, Appendix E

The particular one you mentioned was the rune representing 'G'. I don't know why it has the 4 dots arranged around it - other than for effect, or possible that it is meant to stand alone as his initial.

[Aldagrim Proudfoot]

In the Chapter Unexpected Party, the rune is mentioned too, on the fireworks boxes. It says it is an Elvish "G". It also says the Hobbit children said the rune was "G for Grand!" How did they know it was a G?

[Child of the 7th Age]

Thanks Pio for your help. You can always count on an Elf to know about runes and things!

As to why the hobbits knew the rune, that is a good question. It suggests a level of familiarity by the hobbits with things Elvish which the book as a whole doesn't imply. I would guess that Bilbo had told this to the children in his stories. Their parents probably wouldn't have known, but the children remembered. Bilbo certainly preferred the company of younger ones, rather than his own peers.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[akhtene]

Is it that cirth had the same function as Latin alphabet in modern times? Latin letters are known to people who use other characters in their native languages. Some of them have long ago become just symbols. As cirth runes were used a lot for inscriptions, couldn't they be familiar to different peoples of M-E at least by sight?

[Sarin Elfarmour]

the hobbit children recognized the G rune because it was used by most of the "speaking peoples" of ME at one time or another, Bilbo was learned in writings he himself might have taught them