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Originally Posted by Rumil
Saying the name of a 'Wizard' out loud was traditionally considered a bad move in some cultures, as it somehow focussed their attention on you, even at a considerable distance. I can't offhand think of anywhere where this is clearly stated in LoTR but might have been at the back of the Prof's mind when he was writing this?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nerwen
I think there is indeed meant to be a version of this belief in Middle-earth; look at the way the the Men of Gondor call Sauron "the Nameless One".
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I believe it came into vogue in the Dark Ages (circa the 10th Century):
ARTHUR:
Cut down a tree with a herring? It can't be done.
KNIGHTS OF NI:
Aaaaugh! Aaaugh!
HEAD KNIGHT:
Augh! Ohh! Don't say that word.
ARTHUR:
What word?
HEAD KNIGHT:
I cannot tell, suffice to say is one of the words the Knights of Ni cannot hear.
ARTHUR:
How can we not say the word if you don't tell us what it is?
KNIGHTS OF NI:
Aaaaugh!
HEAD KNIGHT:
You said it again!
ARTHUR:
What, 'is'?
KNIGHTS OF NI:
Agh! No, not 'is'.
HEAD KNIGHT:
No, not 'is'. You wouldn't get very far in life not saying 'is'.
Ummm...sorry, the thread was getting unnecessarily heavy.
But anyway, there are plenty of folk traditions against referring to the devil or god aloud (or speaking 'ill of the dead', for instance). There was a prohibition among the Israelites (and Jews afterwards) against speaking the real name of God (Tetragrammaton), and there have been similar superstitions elsewhere against speaking the real name of the devil (hence slang like Scratch, and Old Nick), and in Ireland, if one must speak of the Daoine Sidhe or the Faery Folk at all (which is not wise to do in any case), then one should say
"'gentry', or else daoine maithe, which in English means good people" according to Yeats.
I'm sure such traditions might have been considered by Tolkien and used in one form or another (such as the Noldor no longer saying the name 'Melkor' and only referring to him as 'Morgoth').