Once again, a peaceful word. Tonight while I sleep, I’ll reconsider whether every word-play word needs to be “low” or “high” (or both). I suspect not. You’ll hear more about how I work with this idea in a later method post, Word Fans. For now, I will continue as I have been doing.
Well, is it low or high? “Hush” is calming, but it’s also a word of caution. I like that it’s missing from Chapter 8 through 18. I’m going to label it “low”, but that does not satisfy: what I mean is that it’s a peaceful word for use in the Shire and among elves except when warning others not to notice a certain giant bear.
Trust Gloin to say exactly what he means.
Shivers down our spines? High-register word!
Owls, dwarves, and the goblins of Chapter 5 do it!
Etymologically we learn that this word could represent a hum or a throat-clearing noise. While elves are high, smelling them is as prosaic as it gets.
“h’m | hm, int.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
Like the visages of the gargoyles, gurgling frightens us!
Not only is a guffaw a kind of laugh, OED affirms that it is formed echoically from the sound of the laugh it names. Only giants do it in our work.
“guffaw, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
Although three of these grunts are everyday dwarvish and Beornish noises, in Chapter 8 they are of unknown Mirkwood origin.
While in other stories grumbling could be the warning sign of thunder, in The Hobbit it is always the sound of complaint and earns the “low” tag.
words that you were saying 