“Animal” does not appear before chapter 7 and is used almost exclusively in that chapter.  While the word comes up in a deliberate statement that Beorn does not consider them food, the obvious implication is a contrast with many other folks’ use of the word – or at least of the concept.

For those of you whose interest in philology was also piqued by the first chapter of Ivanhoe, lo these many years ago, I will add that “animal” is from French and Latin by interesting and circuitous routes.

• 07.023 neither does he hunt or eat wild animals.
• 07.092 like animal noises turned into talk.
• 07.093 with figures of animals;
• 07.093 for the convenience of the wonderful animals
• 07.107 and a noise as of some great animal scuffling at the door.
• 07.113 waited on by Beorn’s wonderful animals,
• 07.136 but he loves his animals as his children.
• 08.005 not animal eyes,
• 12.011 of some vast animal snoring
• 13.071 not even wild animals seemed to have used it

“animal, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 19 June 2016.

Along with the “chattel”, this word ultimately comes from Latin capitale: goods, property, principal, as compared to interest.  I’m interested that the singular form, a cattle, has been used historically.  While in the 14th and 15th centuries the word referred to any livestock, its exclusively bovine connotation arose thereafter.

• 07.023 and as a man he keeps cattle
• 14.025 and cattle

“cattle, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 19 June 2016.

“chattel, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 19 June 2016.

Is it a food word?  You be the judge!

• 01.004 in the stomach;
• 06.035 His stomach felt all empty
• 06.046 and my stomach is wagging like an empty sack.’
• 06.100 Soon Bilbo’s stomach was feeling full
• 08.050 but to tighten the belts round their empty stomachs,
• 08.076 in spite of an empty stomach,

Now I have learned something about the difference between hares and rabbits:

Newborn hares, called leverets, are fully developed at birth—furred with open eyes—while newborn rabbits, called kittens or kits, are born undeveloped, with closed eyes, no fur, and an inability to regulate their own temperature

Thanks, National Geographic!

• 06.099 hares, and a small sheep.

Langley, Liz. “What’s the Difference Between Rabbits and Hares?” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 17 June 2016.

“Famish” is the surviving spin-off form of the verb “fame”, don’t get me started on “affamish”, the black sheep of this little word family.  All are, ultimately, from fames, Latin for “hunger”.

• 06.096 in the meantime we are famished with hunger.’
• 10.010 He had a famished
• 10.027 and famished

“† affamish, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 17 June 2016.

“† fame, v.2.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 17 June 2016.

“famish, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 17 June 2016.

Sometimes food, other times friends at Beorn’s house, always my favorite source of fiber.

• 02.046 He took a big bite off a sheep’s leg he was roasting,
• 06.095 for they would think we were after their sheep.
• 06.099 hares, and a small sheep.
• 07.093 in came some snow-white sheep
• 12.072 and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep,

As you will recall, this word or German origin for metal or earthenware wide, shallow cooking vessel is not related to pantry.

• 02.001 and pan he possessed
• 06.088 when it is suddenly picked out of the pan on a fork
• 06.089 in the pan sooner or later;

“pan, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

Sometimes food, sometimes prey, sometimes just wildlife.  Check how you account each of these in your projects.

• 02.060 yer nassty little rabbit,” said he looking at the hobbit’s furry feet;
• 06.053 like a rabbit that has lost its hole
• 06.067 and could see a rabbit moving on the ground
• 06.092 and to begin to think of being torn up for supper like a rabbit,
• 06.099 and they had brought rabbits,
• 06.099 he was not much good at skinning rabbits
• 07.001 and rabbit.
• 07.003 You need not be frightened like a rabbit,
• 07.021 a man that calls rabbits conies,
• 07.134 not even rabbits were to be seen.
• 08.092 until rabbits
• 12.035 and Smaug as tame as a rabbit.’
• 12.087 it would make even a blind rabbit
• 17.014 and he shook poor Bilbo like a rabbit.

They pack and store well and serve up protein and micronutrients.

• 06.039 and of course there were no nuts,
• 07.126 nuts, flour, sealed jars of dried fruits,
• 07.126 The time is not yet come for nuts
• 07.126 and nuts are about all that grows there fit for food;

The good, strong, common word “bite” has a lovely perfect form, “bit”.  Other words spelled “bit” abound.  The first two have to do with cutting off a little piece as with teeth or blade (Germanic *biti-z strong masculine) or the little piece that has been cut off (Germanic *biton- weak masculine).  The obsolete third meaning of “bit” originates in the world of containers along with “butt” or “bottle”.  Meaning four, a unit of information, abbreviates “binary digit”.  The verb “to bit” means to put the bit into a horse’s mouth, and that bit is from the first noun meaning.

The verb “bite” comes directly from the Germanic *biton- weak masculine of the second noun meaning.  Here’s your little treat for the day: in Lancashire, the elder perfect form “bote” can still be heard instead of the younger form “bit”, which is either a reverse-engineering from the participle “bitten” or a sort of rhyming assimilation to follow the sound pattern of other verbs like “light” and “fight”.

All of which is to say “Here’s the verb, the noun will be in the next entry”.

• 02.046 He took a big bite off a sheep’s leg he was roasting,
• 04.034 “Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them!
• 04.033 but the goblins called it simply Biter.
• 04.036 biting
• 04.041 and hated it worse than Biter if possible.
• 04.048 “Biter and Beater!” they shrieked;
• 05.033 Toothless bites,
• 05.055 Gnaws iron, bites steel;
• 06.012 and biting
• 06.064 biting
• 07.115 I haven’t had a bite since breakfast.’
• 16.006 and snow will bite both men
• 18.024 and no weapon seemed to bite upon him.

“bit, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

“bit, n.2.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

“† bit, n.3.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

“bit, n.4.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

“bit, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.

“bite, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, June 2016. Web. 8 June 2016.