Word Choice in the Lay of Leithian

[VanimaEdhel]

I was reading The Lay of Leithian in The Lays of Beleriand today, and I came upon a passage:

'(...) But thee, I vow,
I will defend from perils fell
and deadly wandering into hell.' (Dairon, The Lay of Leithian in The Lays of Beleriand, Part V, lines 1305-1307)

I also noticed later:

'A marvellous thread, and wind therein
a potent magic, and a spell
I will weave within my web that hell
nor all the powers of Dread shall break.' (Lúthien, The Lay of Leithian in The Lays of Beleriand, Part V, lines 1469-1472)

When all other words chosen within the Lays were so well-chosen and canonical, for some reason the word "hell" stuck out to me. I looked up the derivation of the word, and it says:

Word History: Hell comes to us directly from Old English hel. Because the Roman Church prevailed in England from an early date, the Roman - that is, Mediterranean - belief that hell was hot prevailed there too; in Old English hel is a black and fiery place of eternal torment for the damned. But because the Vikings were converted to Christianity centuries after the Anglo-Saxons, the Old Norse hel, from the same source as Old English hel, retained its earlier pagan senses as both a place and a person. As a place, hel is the abode of oathbreakers, other evil persons, and those unlucky enough not to have died in battle. It contrasts sharply with Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes. Unlike the Mediterranean hell, the Old Norse hel is very cold. Hel is also the name of the goddess or giantess who presides in hel, the half blue-black, half white daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha. The Indo-European root behind these Germanic words is *kel-, "to cover, conceal" (so hell is the "concealed place"); it also gives us hall, hole, hollow, and helmet. (Search for "hell" on YourDictionary.com)

I was just wondering if anyone could explain why Tolkien chose the term "hell" in the tales? Middle Earth did not have the same concept of damnation that Christianity had, unless I missed a very important part of Middle Earth's history, but would they have used the word in a general sense conveying "darkness" and "evil" (assuming it would be in the Westron/Old English counterpart there)? From the history of the word, it appears that it was, in fact, taken from a fairly Christian idea of an inferno where cursed souls found torture unfathomable, which, unless you were captured by Melkor (which did not, in fact, really involve your soul as much as your physical being), you did not see as much of in Middle Earth. I hope I was fairly coherent in my question. I did not really know how to phrase it well.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 7:18 PM January 12, 2004: Message edited by: VanimaEdhel ]

[Finwe]

I think Tolkien meant "hell" in the general sense of a pit or a place full of flames and fumes, where you would be tortured and made to suffer, by flaming demons, wraiths, and other followers of the Dark Lord. There, your mind would be overthrown, and you would be broken both physically and mentally. In other words, Angband. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[The Dark Elf]

perhaps he ment the Void

[Maédhros]

I agre with Finwe, it has to be Angband. There are some Ainur who live outside Eä, and they could be in the Void. I know that Ilúvatar made a place for the Ainur in the beginning, but they could go to the Void I think.

[The Saucepan Man]

I would imagine that "hell" would be the modern translation of the Sindarin word Udûn, meaning "The Pit" or "The Underworld" in Westron, which was the name given to the First Realm of Morgoth (Utumno in Quenya).

In the Third Age, Udûn was also the name given in Gondor to the north-western region of Mordor lying beyond the Black Gate.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 6:36 PM January 14, 2004: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]