The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

by Humphrey Carpenter

  17 December 1972

  Merton College, Oxford

  Dear Richard,

  Forgive me for not answering your interesting letter (of Aug. 14) much sooner. . . . . As you probably know, I am an old man, and slower at work than I used to be; but I am still burdened with a great many affairs, that constantly interrupt my efforts to publish at least some of my other legends. I have also often been unwell during the last 3 months.

  All your questions are interesting, but I am afraid satisfactory answers require in many cases reference to linguistic and legendary matters that would take far too long to deal with in a letter.

  1. pedo mellon. I do not know why you are not satisfied with G[andalf]’s own interpretation, I p. 321–2, Say ‘friend’: i.e. utter the word ‘friend’. Because it makes G. seem rather dense? But he admits that he was, and he explains why – adequately for those who realize what a burden of responsibility, haste, and fear he bore.

  2. Q[uenya] names of Kings, etc. Q. was known to the learned in Gondor at least as well as Latin still is in W. Europe. Its use was honorific, and there was no reason to accommodate the Q. names to Sindarin. And none of the Q. names in the lists (III 315–8–9) are accommodated: all are in form entirely suitable to Quenya. Q. permitted, indeed favoured, the ‘dentals’ n, l, r, s, t as final consonants: no other final consonants appear in the Q. lists. Angamaitë ‘Iron-handed’, and Sangahyando ‘Throngfn133-cleaver’, were good Q. but no more so than the other names, and there was no need to assert their royal descent, as that was clear. They were, however, possibly ‘aggressive’ in being personal warrior names (or nicknames), whereas the other (few) warlike Q. names, like Rómendacil, were ‘political’: assumed by a king in celebration of victories against a public enemy.

  3. High-elvish and Sindarin. The mixture may seem curious to us, but it was entirely in accordance with the history of the First and Second Ages, briefly alluded to in III append. A 313–7. Also III 363. At the time of the L.R. (see III 106) Quenya had been a ‘dead’ [language] (sc. one not inherited in childhood, but learnt) for many centuries (act. about 6,000 years). The ‘High-Elves’ or exiled Noldor had, for reasons that the legend of their rebellion and exile from Valinor explains, at once adopted Sindarin, and even translated their Q. names into S. or adapted them. Galadriel though beautiful & noble enough in form is not a Q. name, any more than Gil-galad, which contains the S. word galad; and Celeborn is a transl. of the orig. name Telporno; though said to be a kinsman of King Elu Thingol he was so only afar off, for he too came from Valinor. It may be noted that at the end of the Third Age there were prob. more people (Men) that knew Q., or spoke S., than there were Elves who did either! Though dwindling, the population of Minas Tirith and its fiefs must have been much greater than that of Lindon, Rivendell, and Lórien.fn134 In Gondor the generally used language was ‘Westron’, a lang. about as mixed as mod. English, but basically derived from the native lang. of the Númenóreans; but Sindarin was an acquired polite language and used by those of more pure N[úmenórean] descent, esp. in Minas Tirith, if they wished to be polite (as in the cry Ernil i Pheriannath III 41 cf. 231, and Master Perian 160). Narsil is a name composed of 2 basic stems without variation or adjuncts: √NAR ‘fire’, & √THIL ‘white light’. It thus symbolised the chief heavenly lights, as enemies of darkness, Sun (Anar) and Moon (in Q) Isil.fn135 Andúril means Flame of the West (as a region) not of the Sunset.

  4. You are of course right in seeing that the words for ‘silver’ point to an orig.: *kyelepē: Q. tyelpe (with regular syncope of the second e): S. celeb: and Telerin telepi (in T. the syncope of second vowel in a sequence of 2 short vowels of the same quality was not regular, but occurred in words of length such as Telperion). Though tyelpe remained in Q., telpe (with Q. syncope) became the most usual form among the Elves of Valinor, because the Teleri in their lands, to the north of the Noldor, found a great wealth of silver, & became the chief silversmiths among the Eldar.

  5. Aragorn etc. This cannot contain a ‘tree’ word (see note).fn136 ‘Tree-King’ would have no special fitness for him, and it was already used by an ancestor. The names in the line of Arthedain are peculiar in several ways; and several, though S. in form, are not readily interpretable. But it would need more historical records and linguistic records of S. than exist (sc. than I have found time or need to invent!) to explain them. The system by which all the names from Malvegil onwards are trisyllabic, and have only one ‘significant’ elementfn137 (ara being used where the final element was of one syllable; but ar in other cases) is peculiar to this line of names. The ara is prob. derived from cases where aran ‘king’ lost its n phonetically (as Arathorn), ara- then being used in other cases.

  I have not bothered to explain the S. lenitions in the Appendices, already overloaded, because I am afraid they would have been passed over, or have been felt unintelligible and tiresome, by practically all readers, since that is the normal attitude of the English to Welsh. (The lenitions or ‘mutations’ of S. were deliberately devised to resemble those of W[elsh] in phonetic origin and grammatical use;fn138 but are not the same in either p[honetic] o[rigin] or g[rammatical] u[se].) Thus ost-giliath ‘fortress of the stars’ in which the second noun functions as an uninflected genitive shows no mutation. Cf. ennyn Durin. In S. this absence of mutation is maintained (a) in compounds and (b) when a noun is actually virtually an adjective, as in Gil-galad Star (of) brilliance. In S. initial g was retained in composition, where a contact n + g occurred. So born ‘hot, red’ + gil to borñgil; morn ‘black’ + dor to morñdor; the triconsonantal group then being reduced to rg, rd. t > þ(th) is the nasal mutation, and so appears after the plural article in: thîw, i Pheriannath. palan-tîriel should phonetically > -thíriel, past participle ‘having gazed afar’; but grammatically before actual forms of verbs, the soft mutation only was normally used in later S., to avoid the confusion with other verb stems, and the soft mut. of was also often used for the same reason. Palantír is Q. < palantīr with continuative stem of TIR watch, gaze at etc. tíro is S. but a mistake in printing for tíro imperative (of all persons) in S. (I have appended a good many notes on the Elvish S. verses to Donald Swann’s musical settings in The Road Goes Ever On. This includes a note on ath.)

  ath: Though it cd. be an S. form of Q. atta ‘2’, it is not in fact related, nor a sign of a dual. It was a collective or group suffix, and the nouns so formed [were] originally singulars. But they were later treated as pl[ural]s, especially when applied to people(s).fn139 The S. duals of nouns or pronouns early became obsolete, except in written works. A case occurs in Orgalaðad ‘Day of the Two Trees’, but since these S. nouns were all derived from Quenya names of the 6-day week, brought from Valinor, it may be due to an attempt to imitate Q. duals, such as ciriat 2 ships.fn140 In any case -d was later lost, and so we have argonathfn141 ‘the group of (two) noble stones instead of *argonad. Orbelain is certainly a case of ‘phonological’ translation (of which the Noldor were quite capable), since Valanya (adj.) must be from older *Balaniā which would > S. *Belain, but no such form existed in S.

  The intrusion of a suffix ath in Arathorn is not possible. The name contains an abbreviated form of orono (thorono) ‘eagle’, seen in Thoron- dor, Thorongil: Q. (orno / sorno. No human or elf could be called Two-tree King, with ref. to the Two Trees of Valinor. They were made & owned by the Valar, but both had perished, in the Darkening of Valinor.

  I am afraid it is unfair on linguistically minded readers not to provide them with more material. I should like to. But though I may leave behind me sufficiently ordered matter, at 81 I have no time – not if I am ever to produce any more ‘legends’.

  Well it is a long while now since Aug. 14! And I have only been able to compose all this at intervals. But I hope it may reach you as a sort of Christmas Present – though it may alas! be like some of such, not quite (or at all) what you wanted.

  Very best wishes for Yule.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  An instance of how difficult i
t is to keep books correct – mine & the index are full of mistakes – you sign yourself Jeffery, but Jeffrey is the spelling in the [University] Residents’ List. I am nearly always written to as Tolkein (not by you): I do not know why, since it is pronounced by me always -keen.

  I am afraid this is largely illegible, and though longwinded and complicated, leaves much to be explained. And not all the words or names can be ‘explained’: i.e. regularly referred to older forms of known meaning. In living languages (including Elvish langs.!) new words could be invented without any precise origin, or made up of existing elements in compounds that did not follow older phonetic habits. And in such cases ‘euphony’ (or what seemed ‘euphonious’ to a language and people at a given time) will then play a part. Also it has to be remembered that the author invented a very great number of names over a long period of time, and though he knew well enough the ‘styles’ of the supposed languages, at an early period in this labour their phonetic history was not so precise in his mind as it is now!

  For instance we have Arnor and Gondor, which he has retained because he desired to avoid Ardor. But it can now only (though reasonably) be explained after invention as due to a blending of Q. arnanóre / arnanor with S. arn(a)dor > ardor. The name was in any case given to mean ‘royal land’ as being the realm of Elendil and so taking precedence of the southern realm.

  348 From a letter to Mrs Catharine Findlay

  6 March 1973

  Galadriel, like all the other names of elvish persons in The Lord of the Rings, is an invention of my own. It is in Sindarin form (see Appendices E and F) and means ‘Maiden crowned with gleaming hair’. It is a secondary name given to her in her youth in the far past because she had long hair which glistened like gold but was also shot with silver. She was then of Amazon disposition and bound up her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats.

  349 From a letter to Mrs E. R. Ehrardt

  8 March 1973

  I do not understand why you should wish to associate my name with TOLK, an interpreter or spokesman. This is a word of Slavonic origin that became adopted in Lithuanian (TULKAS), Finnish (TULKKI) and in the Scand. langs., and eventually right across N. Germany (linguistically Low German) and finally into Dutch (TOLK). It was never adopted in English.

  350 To C. L. Wiseman

  [Christopher Wiseman, Tolkien’s friend from schooldays and ‘The T.C.B.S.’ (see no. 5), now lived at Milford-on-Sea, near Bournemouth.]

  24 May 1973

  Merton College, Oxford

  My dear Chris:

  I have (of course) meant many times, since you drew me from my lair in Bournemouth and took me to Milford, to write to you; and now I am dismayed by the speed of the passing of time The immediate reason for actually writing is this: in sorting some piles of letters and marking a few for keeping, I came across a letter (received in May ’72) from whom? None other than C. V. L. Lycett, and from Los Angeles!. . . . . His letter. . . . [is] full of reminiscences of K[ing] E[dward’s] S[chool] Here is an excerpt from his letter: ‘As a boy you could not imagine how I looked up to you and admired and envied the wit of that select coteriefn142 of J.R.R.T., C. L. Wiseman, G. B. Smith, R. Q. Gilson, V. Trought, and Payton. I hovered on the outskirts to gather up the gems. You probably had no idea of this schoolboy worship.’. . . .

  Well: here I am now established in Merton; still fairly lively and active though I have had a longish bout of poor health since my 81st birthday party on Jan 3rd (a mere sequel in time & not due to the party!). After having my inside X-rayed extensively (with on the whole v.g. reports) I am now deprived of the use of all wines, and on a somewhat restricted diet; but am allowed to smoke & consume the alcoholic products of barley, as I wish.

  If you care to take up the glove, and reply I shall be delighted.

  With my very kind regards & good wishes to your wife. Your most devoted friend.

  Yrs.

  JRRT. TCBS.

  351 To Christopher Tolkien

  [Postmarked 29 May 1973]

  [Merton College]

  My dearest Chris.

  I was very glad to get your letter of May 17 (p.m. 18). For I guessed that something untoward, beyond some vagary of the French posts, must have happened. I can deeply sympathize with the horror of your arrival – having several times in my earlier days suffered similar things, especially in the period from John’s birth in 1917 to 1925 incl., which now in retrospect seems like a long nomadic series of arrivals at houses or lodgings that proved horrible – or worse: in some cases finding none at all!. . . . You went away about the same time as Prisca went to Crete. This seems to have been the most successful jaunt she has ever made. She came back looking and feeling really well and full of delight, but you must hear of that at first hand. For the first time since ’68 I felt a real tug of desire to go and ‘see places’ or this one at any rate. But I am afraid I must now live on travellers’ tales.

  A lot of course has been happening to me since Easter – but mainly of the sort that takes longer to report in writing than it is worth: chiefly a record of unending pressure: social, literary, professional & financial. . . . . I fled from the overcrowded days of the summer term to Bournemouth from May 16–22 incl., and returned much the better. I had some good plain food, a room with a private balcony, and saw a good deal of my dear friends the Tolhursts; and I had good weather (which Oxford did not get). . . . . How long are you staying at Bargemon? All will I hope go on well or better while you are there. You are all in my constant thoughts, and this place seems rather empty without you. Much love my dearest Chris & Baillie & + A[dam] & + R[achel]. Daddy.

  Since you left (I think in each case), Warnie,1 Tom Dunning,2 R. B. McCallum, Rosfrith M.3 have died. (Warnie had a very warm obit. in the Times.)

  352 From a letter to Ungfrú Aðalsteinsdottir

  5 June 1973

  I am very pleased to know that an Icelandic translation of The Hobbit is in preparation. I had long hoped that some of my work might be translated into Icelandic, a language which I think would fit it better than any other I have any adequate knowledge of.

  353 From a letter to Lord Halsbury

  4 August 1973

  You pile Weathertop on Erebor, as Bilbo might have said, with your other generosities. The whisky will be welcomed whenever it comes: it will be quite safe if sent to college, whether I am here or briefly away. When you retire I shall certainly beg your help. Without it, I begin to feel that I shall never produce any part of The Silmarillion. When you were here on July 26, I became again vividly aware of your invigorating effect on me: like a warm fire brought into an old man’s room, where he sits cold and unable to muster courage to go out on a journey that his heart desires to make. For over and above all the afflictions and obstacles I have endured since The Lord of the Rings came out, I have lost confidence. May I hope that perhaps, even amid your own trials and the heavy work which must precede your retirement, you could come again before so very long and warm me up again? I particularly desire to hear you read verse again, and especially your own: which you make come alive for me. Also I may send you ere long some copies of things which I have written to clarify my mind and imagination on such things as the relations of Elves the longeval and Men the short-lived – but which you need not let trouble you, not even to return.

  I meant right away to deal with Galadriel, and with the question of Elvish child-bearing – to both of which I have given much thought. But I must not delay longer to send you this letter of gratitude. . . . .

  Galadriel was ‘unstained’: she had committed no evil deeds. She was an enemy of Fëanor. She did not reach Middle-earth with the other Noldor, but independently. Her reasons for desiring to go to Middle-earth were legitimate, and she would have been permitted to depart, but for the misfortune that before she set out the revolt of Fëanor broke out, and she became involved in the desperate measures of Manwe, and the ban on all emigration.

  354 To Priscilla Tolkien

  [Written, from the home of Dr
Denis Tolhurst, four days before Tolkien died at the age of eighty-one.]

  Wed. Aug. 29th. 1973

  at 22 Little Forest Road, Bournemouth.

  Dearest Prisca,

  I arrived in B’th. about 3.15 yesterday, after a successful drive with most traffic going north not seawards, & a curry-lunch shared by Causier,1 Mrs C. and David. It was v. v. hot here & crowded. The Cs. then went off to find ‘accommodation’ for 2 nights, and departed necessarily with all my luggage on what looked like a hopeless quest. They dropped me on the East Overcliff by the Miramar2 which nostalgically attracted me; but I went into the town & did some shopping, including having a hair trim. I then walked back to the Miramar at 4.45 – and things then began to go wrong. I was told Causier had called to find me about 4 p.m. which made me afraid that he was in difficulties. I also found that I had lost my Bank Card & some money. ‘Reception’ were surprised but welcoming, comforted me with a good tea. Also assuming that I had been looking for something more than a tea, they told me they could have done nothing at all for me, but for a cancellation which would allow them to take me in on Tuesday Sep. 4 – but I said I would see. I took a taxi to 22 L.F.R. (which promptly lost its way) and arrived late to find the house crowded & lively – only the Dr. was away till evening. (Happy go-lucky folk.) Then I waited anxiously for Causier. It was nearly 7 before he (and Mrs C. & D) turned up – I suspect he too had lost his way – and said it had only taken him 15 mins to find v. g. rooms for 2 nights! In the meanwhile Martin Tolhurst (formerly of N[ew] College), now grown to an immensely tall, charming, and efficient man, had by telephone located my Bank Card etc. at The Red Lion Salisbury. So all was well, for the present. But I have accepted the Miramar offer, and shall not return to Oxford till Sep. 11. For various reasons: the chief being I wish to give Carr plenty of time to clean my rooms, which, and I too, were much neglected latterly; I wish v. much to visit various people here, also Chris Wiseman at Milford, and I am old enough to much prefer familiar surroundings.