10-03-2002, 12:25 AM | #1 |
Sapling
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 2
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How Tolkien Got his names!
The etymological sources Tolkien found had a great affect on his names in the Lord of the Rings and other books.
For example: FRODO. In Hebrew, the name is related to Fradi or something like that and means: to be alone. GANDALF: Suprisingly, if one was to look in the Poetic Edda at the beginning, one would see a list of dwarvish names (from whence Tolkien got most of the names from for the dwarves in the hobbit). And in that there is a name- Gandalf- a dwarf! RIVENDELL: This is my theory anyway- Tolkien added the word riven + dell. Riven meaning spilt and dell meaning a ravine or valley. |
10-03-2002, 12:30 AM | #2 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: California
Posts: 60,865
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"Frodo" is actually an Anglicization of Anglo Saxon Froda, which means "wise by expierience". It represents genuine Westron (Adûni) Maura, of similar meaning.
You're right about "Gandalf" it is a direct borrowing from the Poetic Edda (except the "r" at the end is omitted). You're right about "Rivendell", it's just an English compound word = to "riven dell". It represents Adûni "Karningûl" which is a translation of Sindarin Imladris. The Elvish names in the story are of course of his own invention, just like the languages they belong to.
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Falmon -- Dylan Last edited by Ñólendil : 10-03-2002 at 12:32 AM. |
10-03-2002, 12:55 AM | #3 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 27
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It is interesting to research Tolkien's etymology, reading Beowulf in Old English is interesting as Tolkien used alot of names from this work for the riders of Rohan, names such as Beorn. Flet is an interesting one, it simply means floor in Anglo Saxon
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10-05-2002, 09:16 PM | #4 |
Lady of Westernesse
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Canada (Help! Our parliament building is melting!)
Posts: 761
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wel, in old english (anglo saxon) lob means spider, and tolkien put the word "she" in front of it (duh, which means girl or women) to make the nam girlspider.
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10-07-2002, 07:50 AM | #5 |
The Dude
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: at the altar of my ego
Posts: 1,685
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Apparently he got a lot of his Dwarf names from the Vikings but im still looking into that one... does sound right though doesnt it Thror sounds vikingy to me
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