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08-08-2011, 09:49 PM
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Wisest of the Noldor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: ˙˙˙ssɐןƃ ƃuıʞooן ǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ
Posts: 6,694
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Oh, right, I didn't get the point of your enquiry.
What the others have said: literally the phrase is just a more colourful way of saying: "...are the harm or trouble." But I'd say Mith is also right that it's really a euphemism for "...are the devil" (which you probably wouldn't be allowed to say in a kid's book of that time). And it *is* an actual, documented expression. Quote:
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"Even Nerwen wasn't evil in the beginning." –Elmo. |
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08-09-2011, 02:18 AM
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#2 |
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Pilgrim Soul
Join Date: May 2004
Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle...
Posts: 9,461
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Well done Nerwen ...there in perhaps the most obvious place all the time... I wonder if it was one of "his" definitions though I have a vague idea Tolkien worked on a different part of the alphabet at the OED...
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“But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.”
Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace |
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08-11-2011, 02:36 PM
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#3 |
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Spectre of Decay
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Bar-en-Danwedh
Posts: 2,178
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Strangely enough, this exact line is quoted by Tom Shippey as an example of Tolkien's 'of course...' style of narration in The Hobbit. I should have checked my old 1950s Concise Oxford: these modern dictionaries are poor efforts.
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