Tolkien vocabulary I (serious)

[Sparrow]

"Make (hide) into leather without use of tannin, esp. by soaking in solution of alum and salt."

A horrifying notion! Those barrow-wights are truly capable of unspeakable evil.

Perhaps taw is a bit of jibberish constructed by Tolkien for the use of Iarwain alone, although my guess would be that even if this were the case, there would be a bit of clever etymology behind it.

Tolkien also uses 'fell' as a noun in "Of Beren and Luthien" in The Silmarillion, describing Luthien 'in the winged fell of Thuringwethil,' in which I would assume 'fell' means something possessing the qualities and characteristics that 'fell' - as the adjective synonymous with 'cruel' and 'ferocious' - describe.

~Sparrow