Author: lfsaldenbirch

Croak

lfsaldenbirch , , , ,

The OED uses frogs and ravens as the only exemplars of beings which make this sound in the first definition of “croak the noun” and “croak, the verb”.  Intrigued, I read onward.  Obsolete second meaning includes “forbode evil (like the raven)”, without note or explanation about this anthropomorphization, just one example to make the hair rise:

1609   Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. ii. 193   Would I could meete that roague Diomed I would croke like a Rauen, I would bode, I would bode.

Goblins’ singing is so laughable as to be called croaking, but crow and bird croaks are eerie – and perhaps the sounds of Roäc are truly ominous!

  • 04.018 The goblins began to sing, or croak,
  • 04.036 croaking, jibbering and jabbering;
  • 11.008 and again the harsh croak of a bird.
  • 11.011 followed ever by croaking crows above them,
  • 15.014 he croaked
  • 15.022 croaked Roäc,

“croak, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.

Creak

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

Ominous wind through the trees, funny dwarven racket, creak of a gate into an unknown household, thin creaking, funny voices of very scary spiders.  The register of creaking depends entirely on context, but tends toward the scary, adventurous, and high.

  • 01.123 and the pine-trees on the Mountain creaking
  • 02.039 and creaking
  • 07.032 and the hobbit pushed open the heavy creaking gate
  • 07.097 The great door had creaked
  • 08.081 Their voices were a sort of thin creaking
  • 09.056 He heard the creak of the water-gate being hauled up,
  • 09.065 creaked and fretted.
  • 12.027 and blowing while the ropes creaked,

Cough

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

In contrast with the dwarves who are strutting about in Laketown in the previous paragraph, Bilbo

sneezed and coughed, and he could not go out, and even after that his speeches at banquets were limited to ‘Thag you very buch.’

while some coughs are deadly serious, these are funny and “low”.

  • 10.039 and coughed,

Chuckle

lfsaldenbirch , , , ,

In Chapter 4, goblins chuckle who have taken Thorin & Company prisoner.  In Chapter 12, it is Smaug who chuckles at Bilbo’s riddling titles for himself.  The rest of the time, we have beneficent chuckles.  I think we must tag this one both “low” (as in comfortable, homey chuckling) and “high” (as in dangerous, adventurous).  OED tells us it’s an echoic word; other words are called imitative and still others are onomatopoetic.  For now I am calling them all onomatopoeia, and perhaps my understanding will grow; I will share the difference with you as soon as I know it, Word Fans!

  • 04.017 and chuckled
  • 06.015 that he just chuckled inside
  • 07.069 and burst into a chuckling laugh:
  • 07.121 he chuckled.
  • 07.123 he chuckled fiercely to himself.
  • 08.126 and chuckling to himself.
  • 12.058 and he chuckled

“chuckle, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 22 May 2015.

Chat & Chatter

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

It turns out that “chat” is the “onomatopoeic abbreviation of chatter”, and “chatter” is itself onomatopoeic.  I find this connection between Gollum and the Master of Laketown eerily satisfying.

  • 05.022 and chats with it a bitsy,
  • 14.030 but the Master ground his chattering teeth.

“chat, v.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 22 May 2015.