Meal

This word is spectacular in its history!  Narrowly, the edible bit of the grain, the word comes ultimately from an IndoEuropean root which means something like “whirl” – as in meal that has been ground up by a mill.  “Meal” as a more general word for food, the “meal” that I am eating at this sitting, is the contrast word to “malt”, the beverage.

And Gollum?  Yes, he says “meal” in 05.055, in the now rare meaning of any powder produced by grinding.  We have a new word for the “archaic” tag!

  • 02.027 except of course when they stopped for meals.
  • 02.033 (who shared the hobbit’s views about regular meals,
  • 05.002 for he could feel inside that it was high time for some meal or other;
  • 05.055 Grinds hard stones to meal;
  • 06.035 he had not had a meal since the night before the night before last.
  • 07.129 and after the meal they mounted the steeds he was lending them,
  • 09.022 The evening meal had been taken
  • 10.011 that he had had at least one good meal
  • 12.060 in return for the excellent meal
  • 13.052 is the safest place for a meal.
  • 13.056 and other meals,

“meal, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 12 May 2016.

Pot

Here are all the forms of “pot”, including searching for it as a verb and checking for “pottery”.  As a vessel for holding liquids or solids, it has both Germanic and Latin roots, but the etymology seems to be uncertain.  Oxford English Dictionary tells us:

The word in the Germanic and Romance languages and in post-classical Latin perhaps ultimately shows a loanword from a pre-Celtic language (perhaps Illyrian or perhaps a non-Indo-European substratal language), although a number of other etymologies have also been suggested.

Welsh pot (15th cent.), Irish pota (1475), and Scottish Gaelic poit are all apparently < (earlier than) English.

Please, fellow scholars, when you are charting and discussing “pot” note that sometimes pots carry food and other times they are for gold.

  • 02.001 Nearly every pot
  • 02.086 So they got a great black pot,
  • 02.113 to pots full of gold coins standing
  • 02.116 So they carried out the pots of coins,
  • 02.117 and carried away the pots of gold,
  • 06.074 Roast ’em alive, or stew them in a pot;
  • 07.126 and red earthenware pots of honey,
  • 12.011 like the noise of a large pot galloping on the fire,

 

“pot, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 12 May 2016.

Bone

Like “fat”, most instances of “bone” don’t seem to be about food – yet some are.  You be the judge as you are tracking the food mentions in The Hobbit!

  • 01.065 Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!
  • 02.059 and boned.”
  • 02.113 There were bones on the floor
  • 05.054 the cat has the bones’ that of course is the answer,
  • 05.087 He still had a bone or two left to gnaw,
  • 06.078 fat melts, and bones black
  • 08.110 and leave your bones
  • 12.091 in my bones that this place will be attacked again.
  • 13.046 and bones were upon the floor
  • 14.043 There for ages his huge bones could be seen
  • 18.021 in his bones for the homeward journey.
  • 19.002 His bones are now crumbled;

Water

None can say better than Leonardo da Vinci:

“Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong, sometimes acid and sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet and sometimes thick or thin, sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or pestilence, sometime health-giving, sometimes poisonous. It suffers change into as many natures as are the different places through which it passes. And as the mirror changes with the colour of its subject, so it alters with the nature of the place, becoming noisome, laxative, astringent, sulfurous, salty, incarnadined, mournful, raging, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat or slim. Sometimes it starts a conflagration, sometimes it extinguishes one; is warm and is cold, carries away or sets down, hollows out or builds up, tears or establishes, fills or empties, raises itself or burrows down, speeds or is still; is the cause at times of life or death, or increase or privation, nourishes at times and at others does the contrary; at times has a tang, at times is without savor, sometimes submerging the valleys with great floods. In time and with water, everything changes”
  • 01.004 head of the hobbits who lived across The Water,
  • 01.005 that was to be found either under The Hill or over The Hill or across The Water,
  • 01.006 and across The Water
  • 01.013 You might try over The Hill or across The Water.’
  • 01.070 far over The Water
  • 01.083 Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up –
  • 02.002 boiled water,
  • 02.019 across The Water,
  • 02.029 his cloak was full of water;
  • 02.087 We ain’t got no water,
  • 02.088 and yer can fetch the water yerself,
  • 03.007 showing where water might be.
  • 03.008 and running water at the bottom.
  • 03.011 They could hear the voice of hurrying water
  • 03.011 and there was a light on the valley-side across the water.
  • 03.024 across the water
  • 03.025 as quick as water flows,
  • 03.027 “It is long enough without watering it.”
  • 03.049 and then they went down to the water
  • 03.050 and the sun dancing on the water.
  • 04.002 – except by the noise of water
  • 05.010 he trotted splash into water!
  • 05.010 drops drip-drip-dripping from an unseen roof into the water below;
  • 05.011 in the water.
  • 05.012 Deep down here by the dark water
  • 05.012 if they ever came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water,
  • 05.047 who never had anything to do with the water if he could help it.
  • 05.050 in the water,
  • 05.056 He flapped into the water
  • 05.108 down to Gollum’s water.
  • 05.122 for he was leaving the water further
  • 06.065 and looking for water.
  • 07.117 but the water was too deep
  • 07.126 Water, he said,
  • 07.126 Water is not easy to find there,
  • 07.126 I will provide you with skins for carrying water,
  • 08.008 for they had none too much water,
  • 08.008 when one day they found their path blocked by a running water.
  • 08.008 in its water.
  • 08.015 which is low just there where the path goes down into the water.’
  • 08.018 in the water!
  • 08.029 and cleared the water with a mighty jump.
  • 08.030 and then toppled back into the dark water,
  • 08.031 above the water
  • 08.145 and meat and water,
  • 09.003 The water flowed dark and swift
  • 09.019 built out on bridges far into the water
  • 09.050 and was pushed over into the cold water some feet below.
  • 09.050 smacking into the water,
  • 09.054 Down into the water he fell,
  • 09.054 into the cold dark water with the barrel on top of him.
  • 09.055 Though his ears were full of water,
  • 09.055 in icy water,
  • 09.057 and whether a lot of water was getting into their tubs.
  • 09.057 in the water,
  • 09.058 He managed to keep his head above the water,
  • 09.059 The breeze was cold but better than the water,
  • 09.060 and being rather leaky had now shipped a small amount of water.
  • 09.061 and there it was joined to the main water of the Forest River
  • 09.061 There was a dim sheet of water no longer overshadowed,
  • 09.061 Then the hurrying water of the Forest River
  • 09.062 that he could see near the water’s edge.
  • 09.065 in the shallow water
  • 10.002 filled with the waters of the river which broke up
  • 10.002 but still a strong water flowed on steadily through the midst.
  • 10.003 and rains had swollen the waters
  • 10.005 the river gathered all its wandering waters together
  • 10.006 that any water that was not the sea could look so big.
  • 10.006 filled with deep waters
  • 10.006 the doubled waters poured out again
  • 10.007 and there had been fleets of boats on the waters,
  • 10.007 along the shores when the waters sank in a drought.
  • 10.010 through the shallow water to lie groaning on the shore.
  • 10.012 in the cold water
  • 10.021 and all the waters of the lake turn yellow right away.
  • 10.028 This was a wide circle of quiet water
  • 11.006 and gazing out from it over the narrow water,
  • 11.008 Out of it the waters of the Running River sprang;
  • 11.008 and the water,
  • 11.008 The only sound was the sound of the stony water,
  • 12.022 the waters rose
  • 12.054 and draws them alive again from the water.
  • 12.097 like water
  • 12.103 and up the water you came without a doubt.
  • 13.046 a sound of water fell upon their ears,
  • 13.048 there issued a boiling water,
  • 13.049 Now before them the water fell noisily outward
  • 13.064 but they forded the water without much difficulty,
  • 13.064 and water.
  • Chapter XIV FIRE and WATER
  • 14.011 in the town was filled with water,
  • 14.012 in deep water –
  • 14.015 though all had been drenched with water before he came.
  • 14.015 Once more water was flung by a hundred hands
  • 14.016 into the water on every side.
  • 14.028 He was drenched with water,
  • 14.042 but great store of goods he sent ahead by water.
  • 14.043 for ever after they had a dread of the water
  • 14.043 into the shivering water
  • 16.017 where he had to cross the water,
  • 16.017 and fell into the cold water with a splash.
  • 19.002 The white water flowing,
  • 19.005 and led them across the water to the house of Elrond.
  • 19.014 Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!
  • 19.023 The water was swollen
  • 19.037 and across the Water;

Smoke

Sometimes it is a comforting consumable, sometimes it is a choking hazard.  Please be discriminating, dear colleagues, when using these words to make generalizations about food.  You will find “smoke-hole” and “smoke-ring” in their own entries.

  • 01.002 a very comfortable tunnel without smoke,
  • 01.006 smoking an enormous long wooden pipe
  • 01.010 and blew out a beautiful grey ring of smoke
  • 01.068 and found Thorin with his feet on the fender smoking a pipe.
  • 01.081 The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
  • 04.013 and blew smoke rings,
  • 04.035 into a tower of blue glowing smoke,
  • 04.036 and the smoke that now fell from the roof
  • 06.064 in coloured sparks and smoke.
  • 06.072 Soon they had a ring of smoke
  • 06.072 Smoke was in Bilbo’s eyes,
  • 06.084 of sparks and smoke.
  • 07.045 and the smoke was rising to the blackened rafters
  • 07.102 and flying smoke was in the air.
  • 07.116 this is a splendid place for smoke rings!’
  • 07.116 he was so busy sending smoke rings
  • 08.072 in black smokes.
  • 11.008 and a dark smoke.
  • 11.010 or I imagine so from the smoke,’
  • 11.011 and still I expect smokes
  • 12.013 and wisps of smoke,
  • 12.021 the hall smoked,
  • 12.042 that smoke on a gentle wind
  • 13.049 by their smoking torches flurried over them;

Fat

Well here’s glimpse at my own prejudices – I read right past the word “fat” several paragraphs back because it struck me as a descriptive adjective.  Then I made it to paragraph 1.065 and the dwarves sing of treading on the fat.  The fat in question seems to be a kitchen supply, such as lard, and reminds me that “fat” is a foodstuff.  Here we go!

  • 01.004 They are inclined to be fat
  • 01.050 For one thing Bombur was immensely fat
  • 01.065 Cut the cloth and tread on the fat!
  • 02.046 for a nice bit o’ fat valley mutton like what this is.”
  • 02.067 “You’re a fat fool,
  • 03.028 “He is too fat to get through key-holes yet!”
  • 04.046 said poor Bombur, who was fat,
  • 06.078 fat melts, and bones black
  • 07.087 He was fat,
  • 07.121 and fat again on bread
  • 08.026 You should not be so fat.
  • 08.033 Bombur slept on with a smile on his fat face,
  • 08.084 They’re not as fat as they might be.
  • 08.088 With that one of the fat spiders ran along a rope
  • 08.096 Old fat spider spinning in a tree!
  • 08.096 Old fat spider can’t see me!
  • 08.101 you are fat and lazy.
  • 08.123 and stabbing at their fat bodies if they came too near.
  • 10.015 Poor fat Bombur was asleep or senseless;
  • 10.038 and they quickly grew fat
  • 11.018 I am too fat for such fly-walks,’
  • 12.060 though it was fat enough.
  • 15.059 except perhaps old fat Bombur and Fili and Kili.
  • 16.010 grumbled the fat dwarf.

Plate

The other instance of “plate” may be found under “gold-plated“.  I had always assumed that this word was related quite directly to “flat”; the sources of the word turn out to be a complex and lovely dance between words for “flat” and for various metals – which can be presented as flat bits or plating, but not necessarily.

  • 01.058 and glasses and plates and spoons
  • 01.060 the plates and glasses.
  • 01.063 balancing columns of plates,
  • 01.064 Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
  • 01.067 So, carefully! carefully with the plates!
  • 07.116 At last Gandalf pushed away his plate

“plat, adj. and adv.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 28 March 2016.

“plate, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 28 March 2016.