This is not a heart attack, just the pattering heart of a gentlehobbit encountering the unknown.
- 05.007 and his heart all of a patter
word
Muffle
What a scene! Giant spiders, Thorin & Company captive, but Tolkien writes it for physical humour:
[08.089] To the fattest of these bundles the spider went – ‘It is poor old Bombur, I’ll bet,’ thought Bilbo – and nipped hard at the nose that stuck out. There was a muffled yelp inside, and a toe shot up and kicked the spider straight and hard. There was life in Bombur still. There was a noise like the kicking of a flabby football, and the enraged spider fell off the branch, only catching itself with its own thread just in time.
- 08.089 There was a muffled yelp inside,
Lullaby
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.
- 19.013 Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow!
- 19.013 Lullaby! Lullaby! Alder and Willow!
- 19.015 Your lullaby would waken a drunken goblin!
Hush
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.
- 01.004 and the family hushed it up;
- 01.089 Hush!’ said Gandalf.
- 03.029 “Hush, hush! Good People!
- 03.029 “Hush, hush! Good People!
- 07.133 ‘Hush! Take no notice!’
- 19.014 Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash, Thorn!
- 19.014 Hush! Hush! Oak, Ash, Thorn!
- 19.014 Hushed be all water, till dawn is at hand!
Humph
Trust Gloin to say exactly what he means.
- 01.095 Gloin speaking: ‘Humph!’ (or some snort more or less like that).
Howl
Shivers down our spines? High-register word!
- 02.072 than he gave an awful howl.
- 02.080 It made him howl,
- 04.012 The wind was howling
- 04.033 The Great Goblin gave a truly awful howl of rage
- 04.036 howls, growls and curses;
- 04.044 and howls
- 06.049 All of a sudden they heard a howl away down hill,
- 06.049 a long shuddering howl.
- 06.049 It was wolves howling at the moon,
- 06.056 for there were howls all round them now,
- 06.058 howling into the clearing.
- 06.065 while those that were burning were running about howling
- 06.067 and hear the howling
- 06.070 and howling round the trunks,
- 06.082 There was a howl of anger
- 07.132 in which there came the howl of hunting wolves
- 17.048 and howls rent the air afar.
- 17.059 The bodyguard of Bolg came howling against them,
Hoot
Owls, dwarves, and the goblins of Chapter 5 do it!
- 02.041 hoot twice like a barn-owl
- 02.042 that he could not hoot even once like any kind of owl
- 02.072 or to hoot like an owl,
- 05.149 hooting and hallooing
- 07.096 and the hoot of owls.
Hmmm
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.
- 03.013 “Hmmm! it smells like elves!”
“h’m | hm, int.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
Gurgle
Like the visages of the gargoyles, gurgling frightens us!
- 05.111 and gurgling sound horrible to listen to.
- 12.011 This grew to the unmistakable gurgling noise
Guffaw
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.
- 04.005 They could hear the giants guffawing
“guffaw, v.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
words that you were saying 