Spyke
sh.itjust.works

What should we call this being so powerful and mysterious as to be completely unaffected by the one ring?

Tom

113
lemmy.sdf.org

How about this really old talking tree guy?

Treebeard!

And the huge volcano mountain that is the source of the evil artifact?

Mount Doom, naturally

52

Human: "'Treebeard'? What a plain-sounding name. Ooh, 'Fangorn' sounds exotic!"

Elf: "'Fangorn'? What a plain-sounding name. Ooh, 'Treebeard' sounds exotic!"

32

To be fair, he has other, more exotic-sounding names. Tom Bombadil is the name the hobbits gave him.

33

Like how lob is an old name for spider. Shelob is just 'she-spider' or spider lady

10

There is a new version for the Hobbit in spanish, ilustrated and annotated that explains it this way

8
lemmy.world

He also called them mûmakil in elvish. In my mind, when the Hobbits call them oliphaunts it is because a long time ago someone talked about elephants, and over the years the correct pronunciation was lost.

51
aussie.zone

Other way around. Oliphants before elephants. When we call them elephants it's because a long time ago someone talked about oliphants etc.

51

Olifant is what they are called in Dutch, so it is likely is something like that in south African, where Tolkien was born.

7

The idea is that it's a translation, so some words are just modern ones used in place of what the 'real' ones are.

17
Thavronreply
lemmy.ca

I believe there's a whole section of one of the books devoted to the in world-calendars and their relation to the Gregorian one.

5

It sent me on a trip and in the end to Hittite 𒆷𒄴𒉺𒀸 (laḫpaš, “ivory”) 3700 years ago

I love etymology honestly and how it is all connected. I am really curious about onomatopoeias.

For example is ‘hmmm’ used in many unrelated languages just because it has a soothing vibration? Why do we have same onomatopoeias in cultures that never met?

Is there a language that is closest to interpreting the brain signals if we consider onomatopoeias to be a part of the language?

Perhaps some primitive pre language consisting of grunts without words. Then the evolution comes into play and animal communication.

4

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Tolkien wasn't always the most creative with names. | Spyke