JRRT

Elf-king

lfsaldenbirch , , , ,

2016.02.04  “Elvenking” is used exclusively in Chapter 9 and onward; “Elf-king” is used only in Chapter 8.  This first reference may have been to a predecessor, the second is definitely Thranduil and “Elvenking” hereafter is exclusively Thranduil.

“Elf-king” is not attested in OED; “Elvenking” is, but in this manner, which gives all the credit to Tolkien:

2. Comb. (referring to a kind of imaginary being in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien).

a. appositive, as elven-kin.

b. attributive, as elven-king, elven-tongue; elven-wise adj.

1937   J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit xvii. 285   But the Elvenking said: Long will I tarry.

 

  • 08.133 for the elf-king had bargained with them to shape his raw gold
  • 08.133 If the elf-king had a weakness it was for treasure,

“ˈelven, n.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2017, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/60661. Accessed 13 September 2017.

Elf-friend

lfsaldenbirch , , , ,

Yes, this is one of the few “elf-” compounds attested in the OED.  Why?

 elf-friend  n.

1937   J. R. R. Tolkien Hobbit iii. 62   The master of the house was an elf-friend.

I’m giving him full credit for this one.

  • 03.032 The master of the house was an elf-friend –
  • 04.034 “Murderers and elf-friends!”
  • 18.049 And I name you elf-friend
  • 19.038 It is true that for ever after he remained an elf-friend,

“elf, n.1.” OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2017, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/60431. Accessed 13 September 2017.

Egg-question

lfsaldenbirch , , , , ,
  • 05.047 he was so flustered by the egg-question.
  • 05.073 than when Bilbo had asked him the egg-question.

This is one of the few times that hyphenating words to create a new one distracts me.  Were there truly so many questions about eggs that Bilbo’s language had a word for that?  Or is it a clue to the nature of the language itself – able to adapt to new concepts by agglutinating when appropriate?

This word does not appear in OED. Wouldn’t that have been surprising?