Author: lfsaldenbirch

Befoul

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To make foul or dirty, this instance of “be-” forms the verb out of the adjective “foul”.  In the 13 and 1400s, this word slowly replaced “befile”, an interesting formation of be-defile.

  • 13.043 and though all was befouled and blasted

I note that the filth that one is covered with when befouled often refers to metaphorical moral filth.  All in this passage has been befouled by Smaug’s coming and goings – and also his malice?  More on the malice of dragons in Legard.

“befoul, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 7 May 2015.

Legard, Sara. “Essential Dragons Beyond Tolkien’s Middle Earth”.  Mythmoot II Proceedings.  Mythgard Institute. Web.

Befall

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This use of “be-” intensifies the verb; I am pleased to note that in this use, “befall” takes an indirect object, that least visible of Modern English cases.  This use of befall is not archaic although others (which have more to do with inheritances or actual objects on one’s head) are listed as obsolete!

  • 08.129 They wondered what evil fate had befallen him,

Fate doesn’t just fall on someone, but crashes all down around; here the dwarves wonder about Thorin when he is separated from them In Mirkwood.

“befall, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 7 May 2015.

Bebother

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Our Mr. Baggins, dignified even in his indignance, uses one of the most magnificent words of the book right up front in Chapter 1.

  • 01.059 Confusticate and bebother these dwarves!’

“Bother” we all understand as “annoy” in our present use of English.  It also has an obscure meaning.

To bewilder with noise; to confuse, muddle; to put into a fluster or flutter.

The dwarves have definitely annoyed Bilbo, in exactly this obscure specific way, with which I am certain Tolkien was familiar.  To this word he has added be-.  “May the dwarves become bothered.  May bothering surround them.”  “Bebother” as a verb has no entry in the OED, but the adjective “bebothered” is attested there for the mid-1800s.  Tolkien invented this word – back-forming it from “bebothered” – deducing a word that must have existed but for which no evidence is found.  Creative deduction like this of what are often called “asterisk words” is the chief tool of the philologist

As a Chapter 1 word, “bebother” goes far to setting tone and illustrating some of Bilbo’s character.  I imagine him stamping his hairy foot, eyes squinted and head shaking.  At about four feet tall and moving toward being “on his dignity”, he seems to be in a dudgeon which cannot really be … high.  I am listing “bebother” as a funny word both for the image and for sound of it, a little startle of humour when we  hear something as unexpected as Wednesday afternoon parties.

“bother, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 7 May 2015.

More art

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The unaccented “be-” prefix comes through our Old English heritage and stands for “about” with many prepositions generalizing to “at or near”  (before, behind, below) and with be- verbs carrying many different meanings of “about” (begird uses the “around” meaning and “bespatter” uses “all-over”).  The OED‘s entry on the be-prefix is absolutely inspiring and I recommend it to anyone who loves the words so much that they are reading a concordance blog.  Among other things,

the force of be- passes over to an object, … Hence it is used to form transitive vbs. on adjectives and substantives

Görlach teaches us that in the 1500s one could add or subtract “be-” as an intensifier or causative just about anywhere one wished.  The OED says further that be- remains “a living element” and may be added even now when appropriate to meaning.  If a living element, then do I count the archaism or obsolescence of the stem?  or of the be-be’d word?  I was once tempted to lemmatize be- words to the form without the prefix.  In doing so, we would lose such beauties as “begone” and “benighted”.  Since we are keeping these, I’ll use the OED‘s classification for the full word, if there is one.  Again, I learn how much of the artist’s touch is required in this work.

Behold, we begin here today.

“be-, prefix.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 7 May 2015.

Görlach, Manfred. Introduction to Early Modern English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Print.

Zig-zag

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“Zig-zag” is first attested in English as a garden path layout in 1712.  Its earliest appearance is in German (zickzack), indicating a proper path toward a siege so that the defenders don’t have a clear shot at the besiegers.  In The Hobbit, the term describes the path into well-hidden and well-fortified Rivendell.

  • 03.012 in the dusk down the steep zig-zag path

OED reports that it can be two words, one word, or hyphenated.

“zigzag, n., adj., and adv.”. OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.

Yammer

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It turns out that goblins and wolves yammer, as do dwarves in their presence.  Yammer, yelling or shouting, has an earlier obsolete meaning in the Oxford English Dictionary – specifically to make that noise in mourning and lamentation.  Yammering in The Hobbit occurs only in the context of goblins and wolves.

  • 04.021 Batter and beat! Yammer and bleat!
  • 04.022 and more than one of the dwarves were already yammering
  • 04.036 The yells and yammering,
  • 06.065 and yammering
  • 06.082 The wolves yammered

“yammer, v.”.  OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.

Wade

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Wade, a word whose root is found in both old Germanic languages and in Latin, used to be a strong verb in Middle English, “wade, wode, wad”.  “Swim” is among The Ten Thousand, but I note here that there’s no robust distribution difference between “wade” and “swim” in the text – there’s only one occurrence of “swim” after Chapter 9, just as there is none of “wade” after that point.

  • 05.011 Still he did not dare to wade out into the darkness.
  • 07.117 and shallow enough for me to wade
  • 08.012 and we daren’t try to wade or swim.’
  • 09.062 and waded ashore,

“wade, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.

Vagabond

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“Vagabond” comes from French and Latin vagus “wander”, and is related thus to “vague”.  “Wandering vagabond” is not quite redundant, however.  “Vagabond” has an unsavory connotation of lack of occupation or means, and is how the raft-elves describe the dwarves to the Master of Lake-town.

  • 10.031 wandering vagabond dwarves

“vagabond, adj. and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.

Ugh

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This imitative interjection sounds just like what it means.  It doesn’t show up after Chapter 8.

  • 05.010 Ugh! (of the icy cold water in Gollum’s lake)
  • 05.051 Ugh!’ he said, (of a cold, clammy fish)
  • 07.035 Ugh! here they are!’ (Beorn of Gandalf and Bilbo)
  • 08.110 Ugh! (spiders responding to being cut by Sting)

“ugh, int. and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.

Tablet

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Such an everyday thing as a tablet to write on can be found only in Chapter 1, our gateway from our world into the fantastical one of The Hobbit.

  • 01.024 unless he put them down on his Engagement Tablet:

“tablet, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.