It is not found as a compound form under “speech” – nor is any similar, like “whale speech” or “French speech”, so the meaning as “language of the birds” is JRRT original (or the similarly obscure invention of another, but raised into notice by JRRT).
This proper name qualified for our onomatopoeia tag. It hints that we have all heard and been surrounded by ancient raven-tongue our whole lives and have simply not the wit to hear this lingering remnant of the Third Age.
Tolkien himself writes in his Essay on Phonetic Symbolism about the origin of this name – and of his father’s
rook is no longer krāg or krāk or χrk from which it took its use.
Tolkien, J. R. R.. A Secret Vice: Tolkien on Invented Languages (Kindle Locations 1954-1955). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.
“Torchlight” is a less-common than 10,000 word – and “torch-light” is less common than the first 100,000. I am fascinated that both appear side by side in Chapter 9.
Two-word word, one word, or hyphenated are all acceptable in OED.
“ˈtorch-ˌlight, n.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2017, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/203510. Accessed 21 September 2017.
“Firework”, singular, is outside of The Hundred Thousand. OED tells us that in its meaning as “a pyrotechnic display” although the plural “fireworks” only is used now, the singular used to be used. Most instances in The Hobbit are of “fireworks” except one. The uninflected form could be the older form for the meaning just cited – or could be the form indicating other, obsolete meanings of “firework” (work done in fire, a furnace, and others). Of course… Tolkien uses it in paragraph 01.091 adjectivally, to describe the glare of the blue light on Gandalf’s staff. OED admits of no adjectival uses, except as the first element in some hyphenated word phrases. The word we know is tweaked so very gently off the rails – we can take nothing for granted, yet we do not know consciously that we have been alerted. Absolutely elegant.
“ˈfire-work | ˈfirework, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.
Although “wobbly” is among the Hundred Thousand, “wobble” is not. It always shows vulnerability and adds a laugh in this work.
Poor Bilbo was betrayed by a headcold noise while trying to hide among the barrel-guiding river people.
“snivel, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
Not Scottish but Irish in origin, I gave it the Scottish tag temporarily as “from within the United Kingdom, but alien”. It means, of course, “little smithers”, particles or atoms, and has not been observed as a singular in the wild.
“smithereens, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
“ˈsmithers, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
Slithering in The Hobbit is limited to stones and feet on stones.
From the word “scrimp” to meaning fastidious, to stylish, to a word of praise and, in food, deliciousness. The adverb “scrumptiously” is attested from the 1800s. I had rather wished that it was a word unique to Gollum, who uses it in an extraordinary blend of odd, alien, ridiculous, word-playful, and cannibalistically horrifying.
“scrumptious, adj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
“scrumptiously, adv.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
When it means scratching about with hands and feet, “scrabble” is largely a word to describe animal behavior and only human by association. Poor Gollum!
“scrabble, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 1 June 2015.
words that you were saying 