Professor Tolkien had a great knowledge of the languages of the world especially archaic ones and from this knowledge he brought about the names we are so familiar with in his books. Here are a few of their names and their etymology.
The name of the Dragon in the hobbit.Professor Tolkien explained the meaning in a letter to the
editor of
,
to squeeze through a hole: a low philological jest” ,
referring to the passage in
in which the company is
looking at the map of the Mountain, and Gandalf explains that Smaug
could not possibly have used the hidden passage to the lower halls,
“because it is too small.”
The bogeyman of Tolkiens tales,they were captured Elves who through long and slow processes of the darkest magic by Melkor were transformed into the race of Orcs. An abomination meant to pervert Erus original design of the Elfs as beings of beauty and wisdom. .the word is as far as I am concerned actually derived from Old English
GANDALF: Gandalf the Grey and eventually Gandaf the White was one of the Wizards of the tale and the Good one as opposed to Sarunam the evil one. His duty was to encourage others to act when the time and necessity callled for it. The
Old Norse name
Gandalfr incorporates the words
gandr meaning "wand", "staff" or (especially in compounds) "
magic" and
álfr "
elf". The name
Gandalf is found in at least one more place in Norse myth, in the semihistorical
Heimskringla, which briefly describes
Gandalf Alfgeirsson, a legendary Norse king from Eastern Norway and rival of
Halfdan the Black.
"Odin disguised as a Traveller" from 1914.
The name "Gandolf" occurs as a character in
William Morris' 1896 fantasy novel
The Well at the World's End. Morris' book is a multi-part 'magical journey' involving
elves, dwarves and kings in a pseudo-
medieval landscape which is known to have deeply influenced Tolkien.
The wizard that was to become Gandalf was originally named
Bladorthin.
Tolkien later assigned this name to an ancient king who had ordered some spears from the dwarves.
Lastly,
after the proofs of this book had been revised I received a letter from
Mr Christopher Gilson in which he referred to a brief but remarkable
text associated with Appendix A that he had seen at Marquette. This was a
curious chance, for he had no knowledge of the book beyond the fact
that it contained some account of the Appendices; while although I had
received a copy of the text from Marquette I had passed it over without
observing its significance. Preserved with other difficult and
disjointed notes, it is very roughly written on a slip of paper torn
from a rejected manuscript. That manuscript can be identified as the
close predecessor of the Appendix A text concerning the choice of the
Half-elven which I have given on pp. 256-7. The writing on the verso
reads:
and his father gave him the name Aragorn, a name used in
the House of the Chieftains. But Ivorwen at his naming stood by, and
said ‘Kingly Valour’ (for so that name is interpreted): ‘that he shall
have, but I see on his breast a green stone, and from that his true name
shall come and his chief renown: for he shall be a healer and a
renewer.’
Above this is written:
‘and they did not know what she meant, for there was no green stone to be seen by other eyes’ (followed by illegible words); and beneath it:
‘for the green Elfstone was given to him by Galadriel’.
A large X is also written, but it is not clear whether this relates to
the whole page or only to a part of it. Mr Gilson observes that this
text, clearly to be associated with work on the Tale of Aragorn and
Arwen (see p. 263), seems to be the only place where the name Aragorn is
translated; and he mentions my father’s letter of 17 December 1972 to
Mr Richard Jeffery (Letters no. 347), who had asked whether Aragorn
could mean ‘tree-king’….
and
his father gave him the name Aragorn, a name used in the House of the
Chieftains. But Ivorwen at his naming stood by, and said ‘Kingly Valour’
(for so that name is interpreted): ‘that he shall have, but I see on
his breast a green stone, and from that his true name shall come and his
chief renown: for he shall be a healer and a renewer.’
Above this is written:
‘and they did not know what she meant, for there was no green stone to be seen by other eyes’ (followed by illegible words); and beneath it:
‘for the green Elfstone was given to him by Galadriel’.
and
his father gave him the name Aragorn, a name used in the House of the
Chieftains. But Ivorwen at his naming stood by, and said ‘Kingly Valour’
(for so that name is interpreted): ‘that he shall have, but I see on
his breast a green stone, and from that his true name shall come and his
chief renown: for he shall be a healer and a renewer.’
Above this is written:
‘and they did not know what she meant, for there was no green stone to be seen by other eyes’ (followed by illegible words); and beneath it:
‘for the green Elfstone was given to him by Galadriel’.
SAURON: This is a hard one and seems to have many answers and I can't find a direct quote from Professor Tolkien concerning how he came up with the name.Aragorn mentions that Sauron means abominable.Others theorize it means abhorrent.The name Sauron means 'The Abhorred' or 'The Abominable'. The Appendix
to The Silmarillion states the source of the name as: thaur
- 'abominable, abhorrent' in Sauron (from Thauron), [Sindarin] Gorthaur.
The
Etymologies broadens this reference; the entry THUS- yields
the Quenya saura foul, evil-smelling, putrid; it appears to relate
to THU- puff, blow, breath. THU-, however, is mostly associated
with Manwë, also known as Súlimo, God of the 'winds';
it also appears to relate to THUR- fence, hedge in, secrete.So take your pick either way it's a really cool name for a bad guy.
SAURAMAN: Saruman is one of several characters in the book illustrating the
corruption of power; his desire for knowledge and order leads to his
fall, and he rejects the chance of redemption when it is offered. The
name
Saruman means "man of skill";
[1] he serves as an example of technology and modernity being overthrown by forces more in tune with nature.
SHELOB: From what I have read Professor Tolkien was bitten by a large spider as a child ( Tarantula?) and therefore was an acknowledged arachnaphobe and from this fear came Ungoliant the great spider who was so ravenous that in the end she devoured herself.The last of her children was Shelob the terrible spider Gollum leads Frodo to in hopes she will devour his body but leave the precious ( ring ) alone so that he may recover it. As Tolkien admitted in a letter to his son, Shelob "is of course only 'she + lob'," -
lob being an archaic
English word for spider, influenced by
Old English loppe or "spider". The word is not related to "cob" nor "cobweb".
Old English attercoppe (meaning "spider") is derived from
atter meaning "poison" and
coppe meaning "head"; Tolkien used "attercop" as well as "cob" and "lob" in
The Hobbit,
where Bilbo Baggins sings songs taunting the giant spiders in Mirkwood:
"Attercop, Attercop, Old Tomnoddy" and "Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob"
I would like to give credit to Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Of Arda and others in gathering this information. I hope it is helpful.If you find yourself with a lazy, rainy day like I find myself with today crank up Google and go searching for character names and see what you discover. It is both entertaining and fun well to me it is.