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Tomnoddy

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“Tomnoddy” means a foolish or stupid person and Tolkien says right there in the text that it’s an insult.  We’re tagging it as “low”.  Trivia, Tom-Noddy is also a local name for a the puffin (Fratercula arctica).  Notice something that Tolkien does now and then?  He has made a compound word out of a hyphenated one (click here for our discussion of making hyphenated words out of two singles).  There are more examples which we will be interested in later, and these feed my theory of Tolkien reminding us that he is merely translating from Bilbo’s Westron writings.

  • 08.097 Old Tomnoddy,
  • 08.097 Old Tomnoddy can’t spy me!
  • 08.098 and Tomnoddy of course is insulting to anybody.

“Tom-noddy, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.

Scone

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Scones, which can apparently be baked or griddle-cooked, have been attested since the 1500s.  The word probably comes from other Low German languages and indicates the fineness of the flour.

  • 01.047 on a round of buttered scones,

“scone, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 13 May 2015.

Bewuther

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This beautiful word is a Tolkien back-formation from a rare spelling of the obsolete verb “whither”: to make a blustering sound or rage about in the manner of the wind.  “Be-whither” – surround with confusing sounds and rush of energy – becomes “bewuthered”.  Magnificent!  Thanks to Alert Reader Grace who pointed out “Wuthering Heights” to the good of this entry!

“Bewuther” comes just as Gandalf raps on Bilbo’s door in Chapter 1 to introduce the last dwarves and incidentally obscure the mark he had made previously on that door.

[01.048] Bilbo rushed along the passage, very angry, and altogether bewildered and bewuthered – this was the most awkward Wednesday he ever remembered.

Not only are we just getting to know our prosaic little protagonist, but he’s having an awkward Wednesday.  We’re thoroughly in the Children’s Story mode where things are more funny than scary.  Tolkien plays with the sounds of the words because he’s telling the story out loud.  He has invented a word which we absolutely understand as much because of its form as its context.  “Be-” suggests that the feeling of bewutherment is an intense one.  The W sound alliterates with “bewildered”, allowing us to assume that “wuthering” has as much to do with being lost as “wildering”.

  • 01.048 and bewuthered –

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

Benight

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“Benight” uses be- in its capacity as a Maker of Verbs with the sense of surround.

  • 06.026 so that they often caught people benighted near their gates.

The derivative adjective “benighted”carries the metaphorical connotation of having been morally corrupted.  Tolkien uses it here, however, in its old meaning.  Goblins caught travellers who had become surrounded by night.  The OED tells us that this meaning is obsolete, although we find it perfectly understandable.

“benighted, adj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 7 May 2015.

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.

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.

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.