word

Queer

lfsaldenbirch , ,

Tolkien uses the first definition of “queer” – strange, odd, peculiar, eccentric – and mostly in the first half of the book.  Eccentricities are funny, of course.

  • 01.005 got something a bit queer
  • 01.023 and with the spike on his staff scratched a queer sign
  • 01.093 Gets funny queer fits,
  • 06.024 He gave Bilbo a queer look from under his bushy eyebrows,
  • 06.086 He used to turn queer if he looked over the edge
  • 06.088 He was feeling very queer indeed
  • 07.092 in a queer language
  • 07.116 They must have looked very queer from outside,
  • 07.126 queer,
  • 08.003 There were queer noises too,
  • 11.028 He had a queer feeling that he was waiting for something.
  • 16.018 if it is that queer little creature that is said to be their servant.’

“queer, adj.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Pony

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

Ponies are mentioned 73 times in our book.  Thorin & Co. lost their original ponies in the goblin cave, had the loan of ponies for some of Chapter 7 from Beorn, they received ponies in Laketown only to have most of them eaten by Smaug.  Finally, Bilbo has a pony on which to ride home and which will carry his treasure.  Being by definition only of a certain height or less, I shall declare them “low”.

Richard Blackwelder wrote an essay on the horses of The Lord of the Rings, including a mini chapter on the ponies of The Hobbit.

“Pony” has the food tag because both goblins and Smaug like to eat them!

  • 02.022 They were on ponies,
  • 02.022 and each pony was slung about
  • 02.022 There was a very small pony,
  • 02.026 on laden ponies;
  • 02.029 the pony was tired
  • 02.035 Then one of the ponies took fright at nothing
  • 02.039 leading their ponies
  • 02.047 or even pony,
  • 02.117 Then they brought up their ponies,
  • 03.001 leading their ponies,
  • 03.008 but a pony that walked there
  • 03.010 Bilbo’s pony began to stumble over roots
  • 03.012 or bumped his nose on the pony’s neck.
  • 03.014 Your ponies need shoeing!
  • 03.017 Your ponies are straying!
  • 03.019 “Just look! Bilbo the hobbit on a pony,
  • 03.026 leading their ponies,
  • 03.026 as narrow as a pony could well walk on;
  • 03.026 each leading his pony by the bridle.
  • 03.034 the ponies as well,
  • 04.005 and their ponies were standing with their heads down
  • 04.009 and ponies
  • 04.012 and their ponies along.
  • 04.012 There was just room to get the ponies through with a squeeze,
  • 04.013 At one end there was room for the ponies;
  • 04.013 and that was the last time that they used the ponies,
  • 04.015 in time to see the last of the ponies’ tails disappearing into it.
  • 04.023 The ponies were already there huddled
  • 04.024 of those excellent little ponies,
  • 04.024 and ponies
  • 04.042 No ponies,
  • 06.001 cloak, food, pony, his buttons
  • 06.036 and ask the goblins nicely to let you have your pony back
  • 07.012 and no ponies to ride;
  • 07.067 and our troop of ponies –
  • 07.068 Troop of ponies?
  • 07.069 there were more than six ponies,
  • 07.092 in trotted four beautiful white ponies
  • 07.093 The other ponies came
  • 07.093 Beside them a pony pushed two low-seated benches
  • 07.126 He would provide ponies for each of them,
  • 07.127 and my ponies.
  • 07.130 if they had still had their ponies,
  • 07.131 and Wargs run swifter than ponies.
  • 07.135 Now you must send back these excellent ponies
  • 07.136 but to keep an eye on the ponies too.
  • 07.143 and unpack the ponies.
  • 07.145 Then at last they said good-bye to their ponies
  • 09.060 a round-bellied pony that was always thinking of rolling on the grass.
  • 10.045 and ponies had been sent round by circuitous paths
  • 11.001 and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them.
  • 11.001 They packed what they could on the ponies
  • 11.003 each leading another pony heavily laden beside him;
  • 11.013 and there was some grass for their ponies.
  • 11.016 to guard the ponies
  • 11.028 some were exercising the ponies down below,
  • 12.025 and all our ponies too,
  • 12.029 The ponies screamed with terror,
  • 12.032 He guessed from the ponies,
  • 12.032 from the valley where the ponies had been standing;
  • 12.033 Their ponies were lost or killed,
  • 12.060 Let me tell you I ate six ponies last night
  • 12.060 Maybe Barrel was your pony’s name;
  • 12.062 that I can eat a dwarf-ridden pony
  • 12.078 Ponies take some catching,
  • 12.087 and the ponies.
  • 15.027 they heard that three of their ponies had escaped
  • 15.027 to find the ponies
  • 15.028 The ponies they had brought
  • 18.037 such as one strong pony could carry.
  • 19.001 their ponies were tired,
  • 19.024 where the pony had fallen
  • 19.027 and slung them on the ponies,

Blackwelder, Richard E. The Horses of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Personal correspondence.  July 8, 1980.  Photocopy.

Ominous

lfsaldenbirch , ,

While an omen can be for good or ill, only ill-omened things are ominous.  I am declaring that only high and adventurous things are important enough to be ominous.

  • 10.003 and an ominous nod
  • 11.008 and ominous crow.
  • 14.002 for it was ominous

“omen, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

“ominous, adj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Merry

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

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.”

  • 01.051 Quite a merry gathering!
  • 01.122 They built the merry town of Dale there
  • 02.027 So after that the party went along very merrily,
  • 02.028 in merry tales,
  • 03.023 talking merrily with them.
  • 03.026 and they sang a merry song as the party went across.
  • 03.029 and some elves have over merry tongues.
  • 03.040 and its merry bells,
  • 07.070 in my merry men,
  • 08.048 and there was a merry singing,
  • 08.058 and laughing merrily.
  • 09.025 and laugh merrily.
  • 09.039 They had left a merry feast
  • 09.044 and make merry
  • 09.046 and became mighty merry all of a sudden.
  • 09.052 the elves being very merry
  • 09.064 and there was a merry racket down by the river.
  • 13.034 in merry mood,
  • 15.043 and grew merry;
  • 17.059 that should have lived yet long ages merrily
  • 17.061 and the merry elves.
  • 18.019 it would be a merrier world.
  • 18.019 But sad or merry,
  • 18.042 for now the northern world would be merrier
  • 18.044 Merry be the greenwood,
  • 18.044 and merry be all your folk!’
  • 18.051 and merry there;
  • 19.012 Merry is May-time, and merry our meeting.
  • 19.012 Merry is May-time, and merry our meeting.
  • 19.015 Well, Merry People!’
  • 19.018 and he had many a merry jest
  • 19.020 Merry is May-time!’
  • 19.030 And through the merry flowers of June,

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.

Lest

lfsaldenbirch , ,

This word has a perfectly delicious definition:

Used as a negative particle of intention or purpose, introducing a clause expressive of something to be prevented or guarded against;

It comes from Old English by a fairly common route of dropping sounds and syllables until it has become one clear syllable.  Original meaning: “whereby less”

  • 06.088 and fear lest he fall off that narrow place
  • 08.081 lest they should discover him.
  • 11.033 Quickly, trembling lest the chance should fade,
  • 16.005 and I fear lest there be battle

The use of “lest” peaked in the second half of the seventeenth century and dropped off after 1850, thanks Google Ngram Viewer.  While OED does not call it archaic, it has a high sound to me.

“lest, conj.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Kin

lfsaldenbirch , , ,

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”.

  • 03.035 my kin.
  • 09.018 from their kinsfolk
  • 12.072 and where are his kin that dare seek revenge?
  • 15.021 that you would send messengers to our kin
  • 15.040 The king of friend and kin has need.
  • 15.051 you would have paid to our kindred,
  • 17.033 We are hastening to our kinsmen
  • 17.057 O my kinsfolk!’

“kin, n.1.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Jewel

lfsaldenbirch ,

Beautiful jewels seem to be scattered evenly throughout the work.

  • 01.083 He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining
  • 01.122 and a great many jewels too.
  • 01.122 and jewels
  • 01.123 and jewels,
  • 02.113 and jewelled hilts.
  • 07.013 and jewels,
  • 07.095 and jewels
  • 08.133 His people neither mined nor worked metals or jewels,
  • 08.133 and also he was determined that no word of gold or jewels
  • 12.013 and jewels,
  • 12.096 and petals were of jewels;
  • 13.019 The great jewel shone
  • 13.032 and by jewels,
  • 14.013 and jewels,
  • 17.008 and held aloft the jewel.
  • 18.034 such jewels as he most loved,
  • 19.042 and his jewelled belt was of great magnificence.

Incline

lfsaldenbirch ,

In our text, “incline” is always in the adjectival form and always describes characters’ personality traits, not the relative levelness or plumb of tunnels or mountains.

  • 01.004 They are inclined to be fat
  • 05.134 at the bottom of a short incline,
  • 07.136 The dwarves were inclined to grumble at this,
  • 08.037 They were at first inclined to be cheered by the change,
  • 08.143 until he feels inclined to tell the truth,
  • 09.034 even if I feel inclined to try.’
  • 10.003 (which some were inclined to attribute to the dragon –
  • 12.034 as Bilbo felt inclined to point out.
  • 12.042 and he was inclined to feel a bit proud of himself
  • 13.032 they were inclined to be grumpy

Hood

lfsaldenbirch , ,

While “hood” itself is not a terribly funny word, the dwarves are all introduced with them in their many colors and over time they become tattered and draggled, they poke out of webs, and they wave ridiculously before their knees to Beorn.  We associate the hoods with silliness or maybe parochial quaintness by the time we get past the Chapter 10 inflection point.  They contrast with bright helms in Chapter 13, and then!  A hood disguises Gandalf and he dramatically casts it aside to reveal himself.  At the end of the mentions of hoods, Thorin has cast his own aside to reveal a kingly, heroic figure ready for grim battle.  Hoods are softeners, disguises.  I’m going to label them as “funny” until we see a pattern of such words and come up with a better tag.

  • 01.026 and very bright eyes under his dark-green hood.
  • 01.027 He hung his hooded cloak on the nearest peg,
  • 01.031 and a scarlet hood;
  • 01.032 he said when he caught sight of Dwalin’s green hood hanging up.
  • 01.038 both with blue hoods,
  • 01.040 and they both swept off their blue hoods
  • 01.046 and very soon two purple hoods,
  • 01.046 a grey hood,
  • 01.046 a brown hood,
  • 01.046 and a white hood were hanging on the pegs,
  • 01.050 Then they hung up two yellow hoods
  • 01.051 looking at the row of thirteen hoods –
  • 01.051 the best detachable party hoods –
  • 02.025 I have got a spare hood
  • 02.026 and Bilbo was wearing a dark-green hood
  • 02.029 his hood was dripping into his eyes,
  • 06.001 He had lost hood,
  • 06.005 a head with a red hood on:
  • 06.016 and I take off my hood to you.’
  • 07.069 and waving their hoods before their knees
  • 07.128 and sweepings of their hoods
  • 08.031 They could still see his hood
  • 08.088 or a bit of beard or of a hood.
  • 08.106 he thought by the tip of a blue hood sticking out at the top.
  • 10.010 and tattered sky-blue hood
  • 10.020 and draggled hood.
  • 13.041 and their bright helms with their tattered hoods,
  • 17.003 in cloak and hood
  • 17.016 threw aside his hood
  • 17.055 Hood and cloak were gone;