Quote:
Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc
On absolutely serious note, I have been always wondering whether the choice of instrument had something to do with him being fat. You know, a drum is round, makes the sort of deep sound, so in general the connotations might sort of go together... what do you think?
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I had a similar thought when studying the first chapter of
The Hobbit for
Music in Middle-earth, but I found an interesting bit of information in
The History of the Hobbit:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by John Rateliff
'bombur' means drum in Old Norse
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Tolkien must certainly have known that and I assume he used the name deliberately.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Boromir88
I forget what were the other instruments...clarinets, flutes, Thorin's harp?
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Yes, and fiddles and viols as well.
Also, playing the drum need not have indicated clumsiness - he would actually have been the one responsible for keeping time so that all musicians would stay together.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth..
.'