Surprisingly few instances of the word hole, a Germanic word related to hollow. (“Hole, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, December 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7802432469.)

Yet, we already have Air-hole: click for a brief discussion of its hyphennatedness or not.

And Hobbit-hole: naturally a JRRT-invented word, complete with hyphen in its translation from Westron, therefore its own separate word.

And Key-hole: click for discussion of its hyphen. Do you see what I see? Did JRRT indeed use keyhole and key-hole as separate words? If you write the paper, send me the link!

There’s Porthole: not hyphenated.

And Rabbit-hole: hyphenated or not, click for discussion and reference.

And finally Smoke-hole, hyphenated just so in OED.

So, were air-hole and key-hole and rabbit-hole hyphenated in The Hobbit to evoke earlier spellings, earlier times? or to indicate translation artifacts?

• 1.001 In a hole
• 1.001 Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole,
• 1.001 nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole
• 1.109 but Smaug could not creep into a hole that size,
• 1.110 It seems a great big hole to me,’
• 2.029 in my nice hole by the fire,
• 2.110 that the trolls must have a cave or a hole
• 4.034 Take them away to dark holes full of snakes,
• 4.036 The sparks were burning holes
• 5.004 would have brought on him out of dark holes
• 5.008 and after all if their holes are nice cheery places
• 5.022 in their holes
• 5.036 in a hole
• 5.038 And empty holes it fills.
• 5.087 in a hole
• 6.050 near Mr. Baggins’ hole at home,
• 6.053 like a rabbit that has lost its hole
• 6.100 in his own little hole at home.
• 7.045 and the hole above it,
• 7.116 and setting them at last chasing one another out of the hole
• 8.001 Soon the light at the gate was like a little bright hole far behind,
• 8.004 who liked holes to make a house
• 9.038 to close holes
• 9.049 roll-roll-rolling down the hole!
• 11.032 A hole appeared suddenly about three feet from the ground.
• 11.037 He put it to the hole.
• 11.038 from the hole
• 12.020 Could there be a draught from that little hole?
• 12.021 in vain at the little hole,
• 13.056 timeless hole?’
• 13.058 Don’t call my palace a nasty hole!
• 15.028 There were holes
• 18.051 and hidden in the deepest holes they could find;