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03-18-2015, 08:31 PM | #1 |
Salt Miner
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Dwarf names & characteristics
Hammond and Scull point out in Reader's Companion that Glóin means (the) glowing one, while Gimli means Little Fire or Spark. (Notes for “Council of Elrond”) Since Dwarves don’t use their right names in public, perhaps that means his name translates as “Sparky”.
I recently saw that Óin means “Shy” – and in The Hobbit, Óin never has a line of his own. In fact, even when he steps into Bag End with his brother Glóin, it could be that Óin never says a word while he bows in greeting. I imagine he shouted with the others while lost in Mirkwood before being captured by the spiders; but nowhere does Tolkien mention that Óin says anything. (Check for yourself.) Óin was killed by the Watcher in the Water at the West Gate of Moria. As for Glóin – well, “(The) Glowing One” and Óin are the best at making fire. I thought that was neat. So I decided to check all the names and match them against characteristics.
Last edited by Alcuin : 03-18-2015 at 09:10 PM. |
03-19-2015, 10:59 AM | #2 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Nov 2004
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Very interesting! Some of those connections seem too strong to be coincidence. Great find!
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03-19-2015, 12:40 PM | #3 |
High King at Annuminas Administrator
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So - we continue the pattern of Dwarves having "public" names that reflect their personality, or something else about them.
Just like; Grumpy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey... etc.
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03-19-2015, 10:15 PM | #4 | |||
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Quote:
... then they quote Manfred Zimmerman who writes: "Now if we treat Gimli as the diminutive of gim "fire", we would get a highy appropriate name for a son of the "Glowing One: "Little Fire" or "spark" Mythlore 11, no. 3 Tolkien's "gem" and "fire" are interesting with respect to a footnote from The Poetic Edda, translated by Lee M. Hollander... Quote:
Quote:
Interestingly Gimli was once the name of an Elf, and in the Gnomish language it meant "(sense of) hearing" with gim- "hear". The hearing of Gimli, the captive Gnome in the dungeons of Tevildo, "... was the keenest that had been in the world." Appendix, The Book of Lost Tales II So there's that too Last edited by Galin : 03-21-2015 at 10:10 AM. |
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