[davem]

Originally Posted by Lalwende

Bucca means "male deer" or "he-goat" and appears to have been the name of a regional chieftain, as in the name Buckingham

I'm still holding out for the 'folkloric' explanation!

Buccas, also known as Buckaboos, are of two sorts, white buccas & black buccas. they are cornish sea sprites or demons. The word is connected with the English Puck, but a bucca is adicted more to malevolent mishchief than to the good natured sort. (From 'In Search of Lost Gods: A Guide to British Folklore, by Ralph Whitlock

My feeling still, is that Tolkien is attempting to recreate England's lost mythology, by constructing 'explanations' for half forgotten traditions - little people, who seem to disappear at will into the earth, etc.

the name "Brandreth" means "burnt clearing" in Old English. Does this suggest a burnt clearing in amongst their friends, the trees of the Old Forest? Maybe I'm imagining too much!

I know this is becoming a favoured explanation, but my problem with it is that the Brandybucks were already called by that name before they began their 'scorched earth' policy against the Old Forest. The name, imo, relates to the river - there's something about the 'elvish' river itself which earned it the name, & the Oldbucks changed their name to Brandybuck because of their geographical relationship to it. Does anyone know if the elvish name Baranduin pre existed the name Brandybuck? Obvioously in terms of Middle earth history it did, but did Tolkien invent the elvish name to give a derivation for the hobbit surname, or was it the other way around? Perhaps its as simple as a philologist wishing to show how an apparently 'nonsense' name like 'Brandywine' could have an interesting derivation, if pursued back to its origin'.

Originally Posted by FingolfinII

I'm not sure how Frodo sees this vision of Gandalf, but I certainly think you're on the right track with that special 'pyschic' bond Frodo has with Gandalf, as well as greater perception and vision than most other hobbits that I know of.

Of course, that version of the dream at Crickhollow was discarded, as in the end Tolkien changed the events of the story & had Gandalf imprisoned by Saruman rather than trapped in one of the Elf Towers by the Black Riders. Its interesting that the idea of Gandalf being imprisoned in some form of tower/castle survives, going through various manifestations - either trapped by Black riders in an Elf Tower, or by Giant Treebeard, or by Saruman - as if Tolkien 'knew' he'd been trapped by someone, somewhere, but had to work out the details. Of course, by the time of this dream Gandalf had already escaped from whatever prison it was to be - Gandalf escaped from Orthanc on Sept 18th & Frodo dreams this dream on the night of the 25th. I think iIremember reading somewhere in HoME, though, that originally Frodo was to dream of the event as it was actuallly happening, which would increase the strength of the 'psychic' link between them.