we wonders, precious, we wonders *gollum*

Who ever decided that the story of Rabbi Loew and his Golem was a recent story has got it completely wrong. Whats more, it was not the story that introduced the idea of the Golem. That has been in Jewish mythology for thousands of years. The story about Rabbi Loew just happens to be the most popular.

Its good that you have just decided that Gollum has nothing to do with the Golem legend but the fact is Tolkien would have known all about Gollems seeing as the legend has been around for so long and one of his main passtimes was researching the mythoilogy and language of other cultures hence the creation of his various languages.

Please next time you say something, make sure there is at least a hint of truth to it.

[Assasin]

They gave him that name because of his cough. He always goes, ***gollum, gollum*** when he coughs.

[ohtatyaro]

I have a question: who are 'they'? he was alone in a cave, right? So 'they' are people of his village? Or Bilbo, whom he talked to first of all of the later folks?

[Assasin]

I think it was the people in his village... but that's just what I think. There was a murderer in the "village" and the chased him out.

[Finwe-89]

Smeagol, when he had the Ring, his mind got poisend. Cause of the Ring, he also lost him self, and got a slipetted personality ( if I say it right ). That means that he got two personalities ( it happens in reallife too, only not with the Ring of course ). Cause Smeagol lost it, Gollum came. But not right away. It started with the name ''Gollum, Gollum, Gollum''. Later, Gollum took over the mind of Smeagol and shared it with Smeagol. So the name Gollum just came out of nowhere. Or Tolkien meant something with it... But I don't think any one knows

[Glirdan]

I'd have to agree with HerenIstarion. I believe that seeing how gollum only had a rag around his waist, he probably developed a cold, and therefor the noise he makes is probably his way of coughing. But there are a lot of other really good suggegstions. They were so good that I'd have to agree whit all of them, except Imladris's idea (dont take this offensively please???) because Gollum only laughed when Frodo came into his life and probably before he left his village. But, again, a lot of the idea's are really good.

[Eruanna]

As previously stated the golem legends have been in Jewish and Eastern European myths and legends for countless centuries. Whilst I do not doubt that Professor Tolkien had heard of these legends I don't think that these were the origins of Gollum's name.
The name is just the representation of the sound:

"And when he said gollum he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat."

Then in LotR:The Uruk-Hai, Pippin is trying to convince Grishnák that he has the Ring:

Then suddenly in the darkness he made a noise in his throat gollum, gollum.

Note the small case 'g' as it appears in the text of both The Hobbit and LotR.


As to the significance of Gollum's swallowing habit. A nervous 'tick'? A dry cough brought on by his habitat or diet? A physical manifestation of his 'swallowing' his guilt over the murder of his cousin? We will probably never know. But it is fun to speculate even so.