It’s an adverb, adjective, pronoun, and noun? Hardworking word, and I think we should breathe life back into it!
“yonder, adv., adj., pron., and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 19 May 2015.
The OED tells us that “yore” is archaic and I note that Tolkien only used it poetically in the work.
“yore, adv. (and adj.).” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 19 May 2015.
I am surprised to see this word classed as archaic by the OED, but it’s their call. This interjection expressing grief is related to the word “lassitude” and the obsolete “a-” interjection particle indicates admiration, surprise, or invocation.
“a, int.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
“alas, int. and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
I’ve been looking forward to this one ever since I saw “accursed” used as an example a few words ago. It could be “a-” prefix 1, the unemphasized form of “on-“, implying motion onward and therefore adding intensity – Old English “oncursie”. It could be an occurrence of “a-” prefix 3, the unemphasized form of a completely different preposition spelled “on-” which formed verbs, adverbs, and prepositions with the meaning “onto”. Or… in classical Latin, the “ad-” prefix before C or QU changed to “ac-” for mouth-ease reasons, as in accumulare. The doubling of the C was applied to a number of words beginning with the sound regardless of the word’s origin.
We do have “bless” in a previous entry, so I’m pleased to see a form of “curse” here as well. I wonder about the two different ways we saw “bless” used. Does Thorin describe Mirkwood as “accursed” because he needs a good cuss-word with which to show his contempt of the place? Or does he shudder and mop his brow and shift his eyes and feel the cold influence of the Necromancer?
“a-, prefix1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
“a-, prefix3.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
“ac-, prefix.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
“accurse, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
“accursed, adj. and n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 18 May 2015.
The OED calls this a rare word, not archaic, when used in its figurative sense, as here:
“Aback” is “backward from the action” and to take aback, therefore, is to discomfit. The “a-” prefix here is a descendant of the unaccented prefix “on-“, a particle which forms verbs, adverbs, and prepositions with the sense of “on”.
“a-, prefix3.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 16 May 2015.
“aback, adv.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 16 May 2015.
“take, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 16 May 2015.
“Loaf” presents us with a little mystery. Thorin says that the Lake-men will not get “even a loaf’s worth” of treasure. Does he mean “the value of a ‘prized-loaf’ (obsolete, an official assized bread-price)” or “a pile of coins the weight of an ‘assize-loaf’ (obsolete, an official assized weight of bread)?
“loaf, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 13 May 2015.
Update 2016.05.18: It is not impossible that I, Dear Readers, when searching through my word-hoard for this word lit on a sufficient substitute: “skein”.
Tolkien uses “merry” in its present uses – amusing; jolly – and in a number of its obsolete ones, as musically pleasing, or enjoyable, or boisterous. I imagine that drawing the line between shades of meaning for the OED must be a complex and very artistic profession. “Merry” does not appear in Chapters 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16. It’s distributed evenly on both sides of Chapter 10. I notice that most of the second half “merries” begin here:
[18.019] ‘There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!’
I think this is what Richard Blackwelder meant by passages “of great beauty”. I regard “merry” as a healing word: it’s used by Thorin to heal the rift between himself and Bilbo; it fills the farewells as Bilbo leaves behind his war experience; elves welcome him back to the west with “Merry.”
Update 2015.07.09: we discovered further on that “merry” may very well be a not-quite-perfect elf-detector.
Blackwelder, Richard E. Tolkien Phraseology: A Companion to A Tolkien Thesaurus Tolkien Archives Fund, Marquette University, 1990. Print.
“merry, adj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.
Our current use of the word is for our near relations, not for the sense of ancestral stock as it is generally used in The Hobbit. “Kin” comes up more in the book as we get closer to the war for gold, to reasons to divide into “us” and “them”.
“kin, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.
The current sense of “glimpse” – a passing view – blends with the archaic meaning of “a flash” as Tolkien uses it in The Hobbit. Glimpses of treasure – was that the twinkle? or the dwarves’ view of the twinkle? I am, as ever, delighted.
“glimpse, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.
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”.
“ˈwhither, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 9 May 2015.
words that you were saying 