Belladonna Took - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh · 12-13-2003, 08:07 AM

I think it's more than likely that Tolkien intended the connection that Estelyn's spotted. He certainly knew plenty of German, and was particularly interested his family's name and history. I think there's a clearly intentional double, possibly even treble meaning here: there's the typically hobbitish use of a floral name that sounds nice without any concern for (or knowledge of) its real meaning, parodied in belladonna being a poisonous plant. Allied with this we have the Italian meaning ('beautiful lady'), which is an appropriate one for a daughter's name; and then we have the typically Tolkienish linguistic joke, referring to the Tookish penchant for 'foolhardy' adventuring.

I think that this is an excellent example of how significant a name can be in Tolkien's writing. He can often be caught making sly professional in-jokes, such as in calling his most famous dragon Smaug, which means '[he/she/it] crawled through a hole' in an assumed primitive Germanic dialect. Sometimes he's more obvious, such as in the name of another dragon: Chrysophylax Dives, which is Latin for 'rich money-lover'.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 9:12 AM December 13, 2003: Message edited by: The Squatter of Amon Rûdh ]

12-13-2003, 08:07 AM	#4
The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Spectre of Decay Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Bar-en-Danwedh Posts: 2,178	I think it's more than likely that Tolkien intended the connection that Estelyn's spotted. He certainly knew plenty of German, and was particularly interested his family's name and history. I think there's a clearly intentional double, possibly even treble meaning here: there's the typically hobbitish use of a floral name that sounds nice without any concern for (or knowledge of) its real meaning, parodied in belladonna being a poisonous plant. Allied with this we have the Italian meaning ('beautiful lady'), which is an appropriate one for a daughter's name; and then we have the typically Tolkienish linguistic joke, referring to the Tookish penchant for 'foolhardy' adventuring. I think that this is an excellent example of how significant a name can be in Tolkien's writing. He can often be caught making sly professional in-jokes, such as in calling his most famous dragon Smaug, which means '[he/she/it] crawled through a hole' in an assumed primitive Germanic dialect. Sometimes he's more obvious, such as in the name of another dragon: Chrysophylax Dives, which is Latin for 'rich money-lover'. <font size=1 color=339966>[ 9:12 AM December 13, 2003: Message edited by: The Squatter of Amon Rûdh ] __________________ Man kenuva métim' andúne?