Words and Names in Tolkien's Work

[Pitchwife]

LadyBrooke, thanks for reviving this thread! I can't believe I've overlooked this before - and now I hardly know where to begin...

First, I vaguely recall a passage in Letters where Tolkien explained that the name Sauron had nothing to with large prehistoric reptiles and that his imagination didn't work that way. On the other hand, his early Qenya vocabulary contained several obvious borrowings from Finnish (as Thinlómien and Aganzir have shown), and even some blatant puns (such as the root *saha- 'be hot', from which is derived Sahóra 'the South'; BoLT I p. 248). Later, as he refined his languages more and more, he seems to have expunged most of the punning elements - but that need not keep us from speculating about strange, funny or even illuminating coincidences.

witena gemot: 'assembly of the wise'

which is where Joanne Rowling's Wizengamot comes from - and that was a court of law, too, like the Icelandish þing.

atar'father' seems to be borrowed from Irish athar of the same meaning.

As for Galadhon, I think the -on element is probably just a male suffix, so the name would translate roughly as 'Tree Guy'.

If Elmo comes up next, there's St Elmo's fire (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire). As this tends to be rather on the bluish than the reddish part of the spectrum, it would fit the el- element (meaning 'star'; -thil in Galathil also means light of a white or silver, rather than golden, colour).

To conclude with some rather humorous musings:

The word ainu resembles a lot the Finnish word ainoa and the slang form ainut, which mean 'only, single, sole'. Since the Ainur once (except for Ilúvatar) were the only ones existing and inhabiting Arda, I find it no weird at all that they might be respectfully named The Only Ones [my emphasis, P.].

Does anybody remember the new wave band of that name from the late 70s/early 80s (e.g. Another Girl Another Planet)? Now at last I know what the Music of the Ainur sounded like!

In the German version of LotR, Rivendell is translated as 'Bruchtal' (~'broken dale'); and there is a town named Bruchsal in my part of the country. Whenever I pass it on the motorway (which is about every second weekend), I find myself thinking 'next exit to Rivendell'...