The Warg and Warg Rider Appreciation Thread

[Sharkû]

Except for the word wargs, that was complete gibberish. Tolkien or closed, please.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Seriously, we at the Appreciation Thread know all too well that Tolkien wrote little of Wargs and the Warg Rider. That is why we take it upon ourselves to keep the ball in motion, so to speak.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Greetings Eomer and all Warg Lovers. This is Fordim, first time poster, long time listener to this thread.

While I do genuinely admire your determination to win for the mighty warg a more honourable place within the legendarium, I am afraid that I must nail the wolf skin to the door on this debate by turning to that source of all human knowledge (in English at least) – the Oxford English Dictionary.

‘Warg’ is simply an archaic word for wolf. So far, so good (if you’re a warg or a warg fan). But when we get into the etymology of the word we find that ‘warg’ comes from the Old English wear or wearh which means: “A felon, outlaw, villain.” The full etymology of the word is depressing reading if you are a subscriber to this thread:

OE. wear, wearh = OS. warag, OHG. warc, warch criminal, felon (whence Frankish Law Latin vargus outlaw), MHG. warc monster, ON. varg-r outlaw, hence wolf (Sw., Norw. varg, wolf, mod.Icel. vargur fox), Goth. *warg-s (attested by the compound launawargs unthankful person, and the derivatives ga-wargjan to condemn, wargia condemnation):OTeut. *waro-z.

Probable cognates outside Teut. are Lith. vârgas misery, vargti to be wretched, OPrussian wargs suffering (n.), evil, bad (adj.), Lettish wahrgs ill, OSl. vrag (Russian vrag) enemy.

As you can see, the root forms of the word are all grouped around ideas of criminality, outlawry and even outright monstrosity. Even the cognates are connected with conditions that are far from happy.

To be 'warg' is to be bad.

[SamwiseGamgee]

Greetings Fordim, and well met!
Your search to the very roots of the fairest language on this world is honourable, and I tip my hat to it, but I feel you miss the ironic stance that the good Professor took. To use a word such as warg, knowing as he would its full meaning, I believe he attempted to baffle and mislead academics and scholars. 'How so?' I hear you ask. Well, allow me to explain.
I feel that Tolkien was showing that by becoming too bogged down and concerned with detail one can often be misled even to the wrong conclusion. I think, and I'm pretty sure that on this thread I'd get plenty of agreement, that if one looks at the bigger picture then wargs are clearly heroic, noble and great (spot the tautology!) beasts worthy of our respect!

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

'Fairest language on this world'? I guess you're entitled to your opinion, Samwise.

Greetings Fordim and many thanks for presenting this information to the Thread. It was certainly a fascinating discovery for me to see the origins of the word warg.

However, I am inclined to believe that this is another example of Tolkien's subtle humour. Does not Gamgee literally mean 'half-wit'? Draw your own conclusions from that.

[Mithalwen]

Err I think Samwise means halfwise and Hamfast means stay-at-home..... Gamgee is a kind of lint or cotton-wool covered in gauze ....

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Ah, my mistake Mithalwen and thank you for pointing it out. You are, of course, correct.