Tolkien vocabulary I (serious) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Pitchwife · 03-21-2011, 02:08 PM

Let's not forget eyot "small island", another favourite word of the Professor's, which is a curious linguistic bastard, consisting of OE eg "island" (which still survives in such place-names as Bardsey, Orkneys) with a French diminutive suffix tagged on.

Interestingly, the already much discussed fey "doomed to die" has a cognate in German feig, which originally had the same meaning as in English and is still so used in the Nibelungenlied, but has shifted to meaning "timid, cowardly, craven" in Modern German - quite the opposite of Tolkien's fey. Diachronic semantics is a funny thing.

Morthoron · 03-21-2011, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Interestingly, the already much discussed fey "doomed to die" has a cognate in German feig, which originally had the same meaning as in English and is still so used in the Nibelungenlied, but has shifted to meaning "timid, cowardly, craven" in Modern German - quite the opposite of Tolkien's fey. Diachronic semantics is a funny thing.

Fey is also synonymous with 'netherworldly', 'supernatural' or 'of the faeries', as in Morgan le Fay (or the alternate le Fey), from the French fée or fairy.

Mithalwen · 03-21-2011, 02:59 PM

Parakeet, Hammond and Scull's Lord of the Rings - A readers companion includes explanation of unusual vocabulary as well as many useful references and insights. It has pagination for 3 and single volumes but superficially your pages do seem different however given that the notes follow the text and are divided into identically named chapters it should still work.

I wonder if it is just because I have been reading Tolkien so long that most of these words don't seem strange? Maybe not in all cases though some may be specifically British usage... like fell in the geographical sense. Brake is used locally to me to refer to gorse thickets.

03-21-2011, 02:08 PM	#1
Pitchwife Wight of the Old Forest Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall Posts: 3,329	Let's not forget eyot "small island", another favourite word of the Professor's, which is a curious linguistic bastard, consisting of OE eg "island" (which still survives in such place-names as Bardsey, Orkneys) with a French diminutive suffix tagged on. Interestingly, the already much discussed fey "doomed to die" has a cognate in German feig, which originally had the same meaning as in English and is still so used in the Nibelungenlied, but has shifted to meaning "timid, cowardly, craven" in Modern German - quite the opposite of Tolkien's fey. Diachronic semantics is a funny thing. __________________ Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI

03-21-2011, 02:59 PM	#3
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Parakeet, Hammond and Scull's Lord of the Rings - A readers companion includes explanation of unusual vocabulary as well as many useful references and insights. It has pagination for 3 and single volumes but superficially your pages do seem different however given that the notes follow the text and are divided into identically named chapters it should still work. I wonder if it is just because I have been reading Tolkien so long that most of these words don't seem strange? Maybe not in all cases though some may be specifically British usage... like fell in the geographical sense. Brake is used locally to me to refer to gorse thickets. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace