The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (90 page)

^fn136
Note: 2 ancient words in Elvish for ‘tree': (1)
^*
galadā
< √GAL ‘grow' intr[ansitive]; and (2)
^*
ornē
from the v[ery] f[requently] used √OR/RO rise up, go high (cf.
ortani
‘raised'). (1) > Q.
alda
, S.
galadh
. (2) > Q.
orne
, S.
orn
.
   (1) is not connected in origin with the name
Galadriel,
but it does [occur] in
Calas Galadhon, Galadhrim.
Before I discovered that many readers like you wd. be interested in language-details, I thought people would feel
dh
uncouth, and so wrote
d
(for ð &
dh
) in names. But
galadhon, -dhrim
is now in text.

^fn137
lf indeed all were so; some may have been merely coinages in the general style; or alterations of old names arising domestically. As in our Robert > Robin, Dobbin, Hob, Bob etc.

^fn138
Your use of
lenited
indicates that you know these, so I need not say any more; except to observe that though of
phonetic
origin, they are used
grammatically,
and so may occur or be absent in cases where this is not phonetically justified by descent.

^fn139
e.g.
Periannath
the Hobbit-folk, as distinguished from
periain
hobbits, an indefinite number of ‘halflings'.

^fn140
Original[ly] the Q. duals were (a) purely numerative (element
ata
) and pairs (element
Å«
as seen in Aldūya); but they were normally in later Q. only usual with reference to natural pairs, and the choice of
t
or
u
[was] decided by euphony (e.g.
Å«
was preferred after d/t in stem.

^fn141
from
arn(a)gon -ath
.

^fn142
This we certainly never meant to be.

J. R. R. Tolkien, creator of the fabulous Middle-earth as recorded in his masterpieces
The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
and
The Silmarillion
, was one of the most prolific letter writers of this century. Over the years he wrote to his publishers, his family, his friends (including C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden and Naomi Mitchison) and to fans of his books. The letters present a fascinating and highly detailed portrait of the man in many of his aspects: as storyteller, scholar, Catholic, parent and observer of the world around him. In addition, the book will entertain anyone who appreciates the art of letter-writing, of which Tolkien was a master.

The Hobbit

Leaf by Niggle

On Fairy-Stories

Farmer Giles of Ham

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

The Lord of the Rings

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

The Road Goes Ever On (
with Donald Swann
)

Smith of Wootton Major

WORKS PUBLISHED POSTHUMOUSLY

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo

The Father Christmas Letters

The Silmarillion

Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien

Unfinished Tales

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

Finn and Hengest

Mr. Bliss

The Monsters and the Critics & Other Essays

Roverandom

The Children of Húrin

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún

THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH

Edited by Christopher Tolkien

I
· The Book of Lost Tales, Part One

II
· The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two

III
· The Lays of Beleriand

IV
· The Shaping of Middle-earth

V
· The Lost Road and Other Writings

VI
· The Return of the Shadow

VII
· The Treason of Isengard

VIII
· The War of the Ring

IX
· Sauron Defeated

X
· Morgoth's Ring

XI
· The War of the Jewels

XII
· The Peoples of Middle-earth

ALSO BY HUMPHREY CARPENTER

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography

The Inklings

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien © The J.R.R. Tolkien Copyright Trust 1981

® is a registered trademark of the J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhco.com

First published in Great Britain by George Allen & Unwin 1981

eISBN 978-0-544-36379-3
v1.1213