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Bêthberry · 03-28-2004, 06:42 PM

My fellow linguistic, fantasy, and Tolkien enthusiasts,

It could well be that we have erred in our understanding of this term 'swoon tread.' If we excavate the etymology of 'swoon' we are left with a possible link to the most important act of Arwen in LOTR.

'swoon' is a modern form of the archaic 'swound' or, perhaps, s'wönd in Sindarin. Through the natural loss of sibilants at the end of words (commensurate with the Great Vowel Shift) , this could likely have been swûnds' the common interjection of "God's wounds". However, this raises the distinct possibility of a scribal transcription error from the Sindarin. Rather than God's wounds we more properly should have gon, S for 'commander,' wounds.

Here we clearly have a case wherebye the banner Arwen prepared for Aragorn was sewn with threads offering a talismanic protection against the commander's wounds.

Consequently, we must therefore have here irrefutable if not undeniable evidence for a banner thread.

03-28-2004, 06:42 PM	#8
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	A philological confusion My fellow linguistic, fantasy, and Tolkien enthusiasts, It could well be that we have erred in our understanding of this term 'swoon tread.' If we excavate the etymology of 'swoon' we are left with a possible link to the most important act of Arwen in LOTR. 'swoon' is a modern form of the archaic 'swound' or, perhaps, s'wönd in Sindarin. Through the natural loss of sibilants at the end of words (commensurate with the Great Vowel Shift) , this could likely have been swûnds' the common interjection of "God's wounds". However, this raises the distinct possibility of a scribal transcription error from the Sindarin. Rather than God's wounds we more properly should have gon, S for 'commander,' wounds. Here we clearly have a case wherebye the banner Arwen prepared for Aragorn was sewn with threads offering a talismanic protection against the commander's wounds. Consequently, we must therefore have here irrefutable if not undeniable evidence for a banner thread. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.