“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.

Richard Blackwelder writes:

There is no evidence in Tolkien’s biography that he was ever closely associated with horses, but I was struck with his feeling for them in the books.

Blackwelder went on to create a lovely monograph about the horses of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, stringing together Tolkien’s passages concerning horses with “connective rephrasing” (Blackwelder’s term) to form a coherent description.  Blackwelder’s mini-chapters are: In The Hobbit; The Pony of Sam Gamgee; The Horses of the Dark Lord; The Riders of Rohan; and Shadowfax.

For those of you who love onomastics, I note that Shadowfax is named in the style of Skinfaxi (pronounce “shine-faxi”) and Hrímfaxi, “Shining-mane” and “Frost-mane”, the horses of Day and Night in Norse mythology.

Because goblins eat horses, I have tagged this as a food word – scholars be careful only to use the 04.024 reference when researching food!

• 01.094 that he could ride a horse.
• 02.027 when up came Gandalf very splendid on a white horse.
• 03.001 and their horses had more to eat than they had;
• 03.010 so suddenly that Gandalf’s horse nearly slipped down the slope.
• 03.023 but Gandalf was already off his horse
• 04.024 since his horse was not suitable for the mountain-paths.
• 04.024 For goblins eat horses
• 05.030 Thirty white horses on a red hill,
• 06.061 like men do on horses.
• 07.023 and as a man he keeps cattle and horses
• 07.032 Some horses,
• 07.034 The horses were standing by him with their noses at his shoulder.
• 07.035 he said to the horses.
• 07.126 and a horse for Gandalf,
• 07.127 At the gate of the forest I must ask you to send back my horse
• 07.137 What about the horse,
• 07.140 I am not sending the horse back,
• 07.146 and wishing he was beside the wizard on his tall horse.
• 07.153 said Gandalf, and he turned his horse
• 10.045 Horses and ponies
• 11.001 Here they were joined by the horses

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

It’s definitely a lack-of-food word!

• 02.116 and being very hungry
• 04.024 and they are always hungry.
• 05.018 for he was not really very hungry at the moment,
• 05.022 and whether Gollum was really hungry.
• 05.023 whether he was fierce or hungry,
• 05.037 What is more they made him hungry;
• 05.058 It had made him very hungry indeed.
• 05.083 and hungry.
• 05.087 or when he was very, very, hungry,
• 06.035 I am dreadfully hungry,’
• 06.096 in the meantime we are famished with hunger.’
• 07.014 and a little hungry.
• 07.024 and then Bilbo felt so hungry that he would have eaten acorns,
• 08.007 and he was always hungry,
• 08.046 that they were still gnawingly hungry,
• 08.047 nor why he felt so hungry;
• 08.057 hunger decided them,
• 09.001 to find a way out before they died of hunger
• 09.008 to be hungry
• 09.011 He was hungry too outside,
• 09.062 to be really hungry,
• 10.005 and he was hungry,
• 10.014 and sick with hunger is maddening.
• 13.052 that he was not only tired but also very hungry indeed.
• 13.062 A dragon would always be hungry
• 14.038 and great hunger.

A feast is a celebratory religious observance, the contrast to a fast.  The root of the word has more to do with “festival” and the religious meaning has more to do with antiphons than to do with food.  Yet we apply the third meaning of a sumptuous meal to each of these instances.  I wonder what could be made if we used the more religious definition?

• 05.015 I guess it’s a choice feast;
• 08.048 and there was a great feast going on,
• 08.056 A feast would be no good,
• 08.057 But without a feast
• 08.057 in the woodland feast;
• 08.071 The feast that they now saw was greater
• 08.071 and at the head of a long line of feasters
• 08.104 It had thought of starting the feast while the others were away,
• 08.131 The feasting people were Wood-elves,
• 09.024 There is a feast tonight
• 09.025 but for the king’s feasts only,
• 09.029 As a matter of fact there was a great autumn feast
• 09.039 They had left a merry feast
• 09.042 He’s been having a little feast all to himself
• 09.046 you began your feasting early
• 09.048 is pushed into the river for the Lake-men to feast on for nothing!’
• 10.009 and the boatmen went to feast in Lake-town.
• 10.026 He is at feast,’
• 13.045 the hall of feasting
• 15.034 and feasting by the fires.
• 18.039 then the feast shall indeed be splendid!’
• 18.051 and wide to feast at Beorn’s bidding.
• 19.043 and fruit and feasting in autumn.

“feast, n.” OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2016. Web. 25 May 2016.