Elven Ears

[Rían]

[EDIT: Split off the thread: What all was wrong with PJ's LOTR - Eärniel]

I posted like crazy my first three or four years - it was so wonderful to find and talk with other JRRT fans! Now the urge is pretty much spent - I'm kinda in the sitting back and relaxing stage. I still love JRRT's works, but I'm done talking about them for now, although I still like hanging out with those who feel the same way that I do and that have become iFriends.

[GrayMouser]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I posted like crazy my first three or four years - it was so wonderful to find and talk with other JRRT fans! Now the urge is pretty much spent - I'm kinda in the sitting back and relaxing stage. I still love JRRT's works, but I'm done talking about them for now, although I still like hanging out with those who feel the same way that I do and that have become iFriends.

Moi aussi.

Actually started back about when Al Gore invented the Intertubes, at the old White Council in the 90's, and was totally wiped to find whole communities of Tolkien fans.

Round about the ten thousandth discussion of "who was Tom Bombadil" you tend to sit back and let others go at it.

Now if somebody was to open discussions on winged Balrogs, pointed Elven ears, Anglo-Saxon Rohirrim... the old juices might get flowin'

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Anglo-Saxon Rohirrim...

You figure they were Jutes, maybe?

[Rían]

Originally Posted by GrayMouser

Round about the ten thousandth discussion of "who was Tom Bombadil" you tend to sit back and let others go at it.

*waves to GrayMouser*

Yeah, that's how I feel.

Now if somebody was to open discussions on winged Balrogs, pointed Elven ears, Anglo-Saxon Rohirrim... the old juices might get flowin'

As much as I like the pointy ears, I think I gotta side with the non-pointy-ear crowd. There was that really old "leaf-shaped" reference ages ago, but that's only one thing - and time and again, elves were recognized by the light in their eyes and their fair faces and their beautiful voices. One would think that if they had pointy ears, that would be mentioned, too, at least once or twice.

[mithrand1r]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

*waves to GrayMouser*

Yeah, that's how I feel.

As much as I like the pointy ears, I think I gotta side with the non-pointy-ear crowd. There was that really old "leaf-shaped" reference ages ago, but that's only one thing - and time and again, elves were recognized by the light in their eyes and their fair faces and their beautiful voices. One would think that if they had pointy ears, that would be mentioned, too, at least once or twice.

Maybe the hobbits could not see the ears due to long hair that would cover the ears. (Hard to comment on what you can not see.)

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Or maybe everyone had pointy ears at the time, so it wasn't a distinction.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

Or maybe everyone had pointy ears at the time, so it wasn't a distinction.

Sure. Why do you think Gandalf always kept his head covered? He was like Oblio.

[Varnafindë]

*sticks her Elven ears in*

(you see them better here http://www.henj.nl/watercolour/FoS.htm )

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Oblio - Great cultural reference. Good call.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by mithrand1r

Maybe the hobbits could not see the ears due to long hair that would cover the ears. (Hard to comment on what you can not see.)

Nah, I'm thinking more of the works besides LOTR and Hobbit (the various HoME works), where humans like Tuor see elves.

[Galin]

A 'new' text might be interesting here. But first a selection from the older, more well known Etymologies, dated from the late 1930s (for a full description of this text see Christopher Tolkien's commentary in The Lost Road and Other Writings).

LAS1- *lasse leaf: Q lasse, N lhass; Q lasselanta leaf-fall, autumn, N lhasbelin (*lassekwéne), cf. Q Narquelion [KWEL]. Lhasgalen Greenleaf (Gnome name of Laurelin). (Some think this is related to the next and *lassê ear. The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped than Human).

The Lost Road

OK, and it's that parenthetical addition that has often been quoted in threads concerning the shape of Elven ears. In Parma Eldalamberon 17, Tolkien looks again at lasse. This text was written years later than Etymologies, after The Lord of the Rings was published (and JRRT had already published, for example, lasto 'listen' and lassi 'leaves', not to mention the name Legolas):

Q lasse 'leaf (S las); pl. lassi (S lais). It is only applied to certain kinds of leaves, especially those of trees, and would not e.g. be used of leaf of a hyacinth (linque). It is thus possibly related to LAS 'listen', and S-LAS stem of Elvish words for 'ear'; Q hlas, dual hlaru. Sindarin dual lhaw, singular lhewig.

lasse 'leaf.'

JRRT Words, Phrases and Passages

For consideration maybe. This is a relatively new text and I find a comparison interesting. We still have a 'possible' relationship, as stated, but anyway I have to admit that if JRRT had written something more specific on Elven ears, after The Lord of the Rings, I half expected it might be here.