Tolkien and the 'other' N-word ;)

[Earendilyon]

Originally Posted by Angry Hill Troll

It seems actually quite a good and fun way to build up one's vocabulary.

If you want to learn new, archaic, obscure or obsolete words, you should read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson!
You'll learn zillions of new words that way (Or forget them right away after looking in the dictionary, of course )

[Celebuial]

Originally Posted by Earendilyon

If you want to learn new, archaic, obscure or obsolete words, you should read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson!

Yes that is a great way to learn new words but you have to be strong... I found it very hard to make it through the first half of the first book: it was just a re-shuffling of Tolkien. After a while though it did turn into his own story-which is very good.

I'm not sure that the words I learned where quite as interesting as the ones I learned from Tolkien though. I mean they were in my dictionary whereas quite a lot of the Tolkien ones where impossible(well really hard) to find.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Well, before Tolkien I didn't know what either a barrow or a downs was...

[Kath]

Well, before Tolkien I didn't know what either a barrow or a downs was...

Living where I do, only a few miles away from both a barrow and a downs I was aware of those words We visited them a few years back, after I'd read the books, and it was great fun imagining the Wights and Bombadil and the poor little Hobbits.

[Lalwendë]

The strange thing for me when reading Tolkien for the first time was how many of the odd words I was entirely familiar with. I had grandparents who spoke dialect, not mere accent, but a true dialect with its own vocabulary, and Tolkien makes extensive use of dialect in his work. He used the West Midlands dialect, but it's not that far removed from the dialect of where I grew up. I laughed when Tolkien used the word 'Attercop' because knew exactly what that meant, though I tended to pronounce it attercrop. I also knew exactly who a gaffer was and whereabouts yonder might be found.

[Earendilyon]

Originally Posted by Celebuial

Yes that is a great way to learn new words but you have to be strong... I found it very hard to make it through the first half of the first book: it was just a re-shuffling of Tolkien. After a while though it did turn into his own story-which is very good.

I'm not sure that the words I learned where quite as interesting as the ones I learned from Tolkien though. I mean they were in my dictionary whereas quite a lot of the Tolkien ones where impossible(well really hard) to find.

I never considered the Chronicles a reshuffling of Tolkien, not even the 1st half of the 1st book. Everyone his/her own opinion, of course

IMHO, the rare and weird words SRD strews around in his books are les 'usable' in everyday life, I think. In my impression, Tolkien uses archaic synonyms of more 'regular' words than does SRD.
Another impression I sometimes get when reading the Chronicles is, that SRD put in those words to just show he knows his OED, to show how erudite he is. Tolkiens rare and obsolete words fit better in the overall feel and style of the story.

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

The strange thing for me when reading Tolkien for the first time was how many of the odd words I was entirely familiar with. I had grandparents who spoke dialect, not mere accent, but a true dialect with its own vocabulary, and Tolkien makes extensive use of dialect in his work. He used the West Midlands dialect, but it's not that far removed from the dialect of where I grew up.

The impression I get from dialects (at least here in the Netherlands) is the fact that they tend to keep words that have become archaic or obsolete in the "official" language. Dialects seem to preserve older forms more likely than the standard language of a country. (Which may be the cause of dialects being considered backwards or even stupid.)

[Cailín]

It doesn't have much to do with words I am actually learning, but Elvish resembles Irish and Welsh so closely sometimes, I am becoming more and more frustrated I cannot read it.

I always thought Elvish mostly resembled Finnish and Tolkien did not appreciate Celtic languages, but I guess I was wrong.

[Alcarillo]

Originally Posted by Cailín

I always thought Elvish mostly resembled Finnish and Tolkien did not appreciate Celtic languages, but I guess I was wrong.

Not entirely wrong, Cailín. Sindarin is the language that sounds like Welsh, and Quenya is the language that sounds like Finnish. They're both beautiful languages.

Before I read Tolkien I didn't know what argent, or sable, or chalcedony meant, and some words I hadn't even heard of before. Bilbo's song in Many Meetings had some wonderful words, like habergeon and carcanet and flammifer, great vocabulary-filling words that sound old and noble. I always thought that Tolkien's poetry included some of his loveliest language.

[littlemanpoet]

From Farmer Giles of Ham: blunderbuss

[Glirdan]

No new words on this end, besides all the Elven words that is. I'm normally a very good English student. I started reading at a young age and learned a lot of words then. I continued to read throughout the years and learned new words in those books. Now a days, I don't really don't know a word, and if I don't know a word, I try and match the definition to the context in which it is used. Or I ask my parents.

Originally posted by that crazy Balrog Gotmog
One word that I remember is Alas. I thought it sounded real cool...

Oh yes. One of my favorite words, along with retribution. Love them. I think alas would probably have been the only word I didn't know, but that was still a few years ago.