MiddleEarthBlog: On the meaning of names

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Saturday, May 12, 2012

On the meaning of names

 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.

  SMAUG; The name of the Dragon in the hobbit.Professor Tolkien explained the meaning in a letter to the editor of The Observer (1938)  In this letter Tolkien says that the name Smaug is a “pseudonym—the past tense of the primitive Germanic verb Smugan, to squeeze through a hole: a low philological jest” , referring to the passage in The Hobbit 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.”

 ORC: 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 orc 'demon', but only because of its phonetic suitability...'
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien No 144, dated 1953
 SMEAGOL: The original name of Gollum the evil and traitorous creature of both THE HOBBIT and LORD OF THE RINGS .His people are related to the hobbits and lived by rivers and especially by the river Anduin where the one ring was discovered by Deagol friend of Smeagol.Tolkien gave the Old English word smygel, meaning "burrow", as a basis for the name, with its spelling altered to resemble "Déagol"; the word is also related to the Hobbit-language word smial, which also means "burrow" related to the fact Smeagol was always looking into holes and burrows.
  ARAGORN; The origins of this name was originally thought to be Tree King but that really didn't make sense and it remained a mystery for a long time until Sir Christopher Tolkien found a passage in a book that was sent to him. Here is an excerpt: and his father gave him the name Aragorn a name used in the House of Chieftans but Iorwen stood by and said 'Kingly Valor' so that name is interpreted. So it is interpreted as meaning Kingly Valor.He was also known by the Elves as Estel (hope) and also as Elessar ( Elf Stone).
  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, the Wanderer (1886) by Georg von Rosen (1843-1923)

"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.

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