Thank you all for your responses!
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Originally Posted by Anguirel
However, Tolkien seems to have far preferred the Saxon legend to Celtic stories. I suppose, though, that that would not prohibit him from borrowing from them; the Elves often seem not unlike Welsh or Irish figures, living under the hills or in the woods.
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Not just preferred, I think. I believe there is a letter (which I cannot find now) where Tolkien states his dislike of celtic stories and myths. He also (again, I cannot find it in the letters at this moment) liked the Welsh language very much, if I am not mistaken.
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Originally Posted by Eruanna
Tolkien suggests that there are elemental forces in M.E. Boromir's body is given into the keeping of a river;
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If I am not mistaken, burial by sending a warrior out to sea in his boat with his weapons was part of the heroic tradition. It is in Beowulf. But I wonder: are there any instances in Middle earth of hostile water forces? (I can think of one in The Silm).
davem, that is an intriguing description of Guendolena from
The Mystic Life of Merlin. I have never been able to find a copy of Geoffry of Monmouth's History of Britian but of course I'm sure Tolkien would have known it.
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Originally Posted by Mark 12_30
The power of Song weaves into all this, too, with Goldberry; did the cailleachs sing much?
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That might clearly be something to track down. I haven't read any really reliable versions of the old tales, just modern summaries. But song is certainly a significant aspect of Goldberry and you are right that it is song which wins Frodo over even before he sees the lily lady.
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Originally Posted by Nilpaurion Felagund
Because of this, now I think Goldberry has something to do with Uinen, whose hair is spread throughout the waters of Middle-earth.
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What I find fascinating about the story of Uinen is how she manages to restrain Ossë when Melkor almost seduced him, and arrange Ulmo's pardon for him.
To tell the truth, what really intrigued me about the name
Cally Berry is simply the name, "berry" rather than all the attributes of the hag and maiden and water sprites. Having been given 'the berries' all my time here about my nick I was tickled to find some tangible link with old mythologies and not just juicy fruit. I took my nick from Goldberry for an RPG character and in fact once had "Bethberry" call to her mother to intervene with Uinen to calm wild waters in that game.
Besides Cally Berry, though, there is one other possible "respectable" (meaning less available to Downer's scalliwag teasing) source for the name berry.
According to the
Oxford English Dictionary , berry is an Old English variant of "barrow", with the meanings "mound, hillock, or barrow", now obsolete except in dialect. There is also a now obsolete Renaissance meaning as "gust or blast of wind" and a Middle English use " to beat or thrash" as in thrashing corn.
EDIT: cross posting with
Lal. A siren song certainly beckons to Frodo!