Unabridged-Oxford, how do I love thee? Let me trace the etymology of the ways...
Good points, Stephanos, all well-considered. I can hardly argue with the interchangeable use of "leaguer" and "siege" by Tolkien -- I meant to distinguish his useage from how I normally think of a "siege": "Encirclement and blockade of a town or fortress by an army determined to capture it." - Webster's II New Riverside; "A military blockade of a city or fortified place to compel it to surrender." -
www.m-w.com.
Since the Noldor had no hope of either capturing Angband or compelling Morgoth to surrender, there's an element of the modern conception of "siege" that's missing -- but as your etymological notes deftly show, a more passive reading of the word is certainly possible.
Your take on "leaguer" vis a vis Gondolin is certainly interesting, but since, as you point out, it's no fun if we agree, I'll nitpick a little and see if I can back up my reading with a few parallel useages:
Quote:
But seeing the assault upon Tilion the Valar were in doubt, fearing what the malice and cunning of Morgoth might yet contrive against them. Being unwilling to make war upon him in Middle-earth, they remembered nonetheless the ruin of Almaren; and they resolved that the like should not befall Valinor. Therefore at that time they fortified their land anew, and they raised up the mountain-walls of the Pelóri to sheer and dreadful heights, east, north, and south. Their outer sides were dark and smooth, without foothold or ledge, and they fell in great precipices with faces hard as glass, and rose up to towers with crowns of white ice. A sleepless watch was set upon them, and no pass led through them, save only at the Calacirya: but that pass the Valar did not close, because of the Eldar that were faithful, and in the city of Tirion upon the green hill Finarfin yet ruled the remnant of the Noldor in the deep cleft of the mountains. For all those of elven-race, even the Vanyar and Ingwë their lord, must breathe at times the outer air and the wind that comes over the sea from the lands of their birth; and the Valar would not sunder the Teleri wholly from their kin. But in the Calacirya they set strong towers and many sentinels, and at its issue upon the plains of Valmar a host was encamped, so that neither bird nor beast nor elf nor man, nor any creature beside that dwelt in Middle-earth, could pass that leaguer. - The Silmarillion, Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor
For Turgon took great liking for the sons of Galdor, and spoke much with them; and he wished indeed to keep them in Gondolin out of love, and not only for his law that no stranger, be he Elf or Man, who found the way to the secret kingdom and looked upon the city should ever depart again, until the King should open the leaguer, and the hidden people should come forth. - ibid., Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin
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[ July 23, 2002: Message edited by: Mister Underhill ]