Ioreth

[davem]

Originally Posted by Bb

do we know if Tolkien included any other hidden reference to a family member? Can we trace names of Tolkien's sons in LotR? of Edith? I could see doing this in The Hobbit, where discovery might increase children's glee, but why do it in LotR for just one child, particularly since the Letters suggest that it was Christopher who was the favoured child.

According to my little book of modern equivalents of Elvish names Chritopher (Lat. 'Christ bearer') would be something like 'Erugyl', John (Heb. 'God is gracious) would be 'Erufaelon' & Michael (Heb. 'Who is like God') would be 'Manhueru', so the theory starts to fall down right there

Another (possibly) interesting example: 'Arwen' has the same meaning as Patricia.

Thinking about it, I suppose this book might be quite useful for RPG's - if anyone was into the kind of 'in-jokes' I was referring to - you could include your friends (or enemies )in your posts in Elvish guise...

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I am not a great Elvish scholar, I have noticed that Tolkien often gives descriptive names for his female characters..

I think he does it with all his characters, male & female. I don't think there are any characters with names that don't relate to their characters, or make some comment about them.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by davem

I think he does it with all his characters, male & female. I don't think there are any characters with names that don't relate to their characters, or make some comment about them.

Hmm makes Elrond seem a bit chavvy, calls his daughter "princess" - it doesn't show a lot of insight really, not much different from the Romans calling their daughters "Prima, Secunda, Tertia" etc. And some characters definitely do better than others: Galadriel - "Radiantly garlanded maiden" Ioreth "old biddy".....