Damn thats good!

[AbacusTafai]

There are a bunch of words in Lord of the Rings that I swear Tolkien made up way ahead of time and wrote the trillogy just as an excuse to use them.

Only two come to mind right now:
Glamdrung (woo! this is a great word if I ever heard one)
Radagast


There are alot others, but I can't think of any now.

[ringbearer]

One of my favotites is Withywindle!

[Darth Tater]

Actually, Tolkien wrote his books to create a world for his languages, so you're actually right

[Ñólendil]

(although Radagast is a traditional god of wizards)

[AbacusTafai]

What do you mean "Traditional God of Wizards?"

[Ñólendil]

I'm not learned in the subject, but 'Radagast' is not a name of Tolkien's invention. I think it's Old Norse, but I'm not sure. From what I've read, Radagast seems to be some sort of figure in folklore or mythology, a god of Wizards. So Tolkien used it, and his usage of it I suppose is meant to explain our remembrance of it today. Similarly, Gandalfr was a Dwarf in the Poetic Edda, involved in an expedition with a group of other Dwarrows, including those whos names are used in the Hobbit.

Or Old English, not Old Norse. I am not very fond of the Encyclopdia of Arda, but it provides some information. I guess 'Radagast' is a modernization of some Old English figure named Rudugást 'red-brown spirit'. I don't know, it's a bit confusing. Tolkien offers the name of 'Radagast' as 'tender of beasts', but there can be doubt, whatever Tolkien held in his persona as historian and translater that he was influenced by Rudugást. The Encylopedia of Arda claims that Tolkien said Radagast is Adúnaic for 'tender of beasts', but in a footnote it says that Tolkien

intended to change this derivation and bring Radagast in line with the other wizard-names Gandalf and Saruman, by associating it with the old language of the Men of the Vales of Anduin. No alternative meaning is provided (indeed, Tolkien stated that the name was 'not now clearly interpretable').

It goes on to mentoin rudugást. Whatever Tolkien said, if he said 'Radagast' was a name from the language of the Men of the Vales of Anduin (he probably did), what he meant was that it was either an Old Norse or Gothic name, the languages used to represent the actual languages those people spoke, as English is used to represent Westron.

My theory, then, is this: Tolkien, influenced by this supposed 'traditional God of Wizards', used the name Radagast, because it was similar to rudugást, or something along those lines. Maybe he took rudugást and altered it more to fit the plain English style.

Internally, within his legendarium, Tolkien perhaps held that his genuine name in the language of the Men of the Vales of Anduin meant 'tender of beasts', but he used Radagast, a more or less Old English name, to represent this, because that Wizard was Brown and the actual meaning is understood to be 'red-brown spirit'.

I'm not a linguist, it should be stressed, although I guess you can tell.

[AbacusTafai]

Woo! Encyclopedia of Arda? You too? I love the place, I read that as well there

[Ñólendil]

The massiveness of the place is impressive. It's amazing the amount of work it must have took to make that kind of an Encyclopedia.

[AbacusTafai]

I'd say 3 or 4 years of development, then about another year for just putting it up, then countless hours of bug fixing, maintainance, and dealing with flamerz. Curse'ed flamerz...

[ringbearer]

Is this a web site or what?

[AbacusTafai]

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm

Go there! The tolkien side of your brain will shrivel and die from lack of oxygen and too much intake!

[ringbearer]

WOW! THANKS! IT IS NOW IN MY FAVORITES!

[AbacusTafai]

You bet!

*keeps a spare brain in a jar for when he goes to Arda, the encyclopedia that is*

[IronParrot]

I believe Frodo originated from "Frodus", also of Norse origin if I recall...

Or maybe that's just one of the multitude of things I read in Tom Shippey's book...

[samwise of the shire]

Illuvatar, Glaurung, Manwe, Ulmo, Elbereth, Githoniel, Azog, Grishnak, Turin, Luthien Tinuviel, Smaug, Morgoth, Melkor(ok same person different names),Ungoliant, Maedros,Chrystalphylax, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul, Bag End, Khazad-dum, Barad-dur.
Heres a Norwegian name for yah...Thror. Just take away one of the Rs and put the O between the H and the remaining R and you have the Norse god of Thunder...Thor. What strikes me as cool is that Tolkien put alot of English Faery Mythology in his works. Tom Bombadil and Radagast are like the Brown Man Of The Moors(a Faery protecter of the creatures that live in the woods and Moors), Hobbits are really close to Brownies, Old Man WIllow is like unto the willows that supossedly uproot themselves and follow a late night traveller, and Galadriel is like the Lady Of The Lake.Just to name a few.
Sam

[Elven Warrior Maiden]

I'm writing a book, and all I do is make up strange names that sound good. All this is too complicated.

[arynetrek]

never heard anything about Frodo coming from "Frodus", but in Beowulf (which tolkien surely knew well) there is mention of a King Froda...

also i seem to remember some mention of hobbitish male names ending in "a" but can't find any evidence in the appeidices. people with more knowledge than me, do you know anything about this?

aryne *

[galadriel]

Yeah, that's in the appendices, perhaps in the one regarding translations of Westron. Masculine names usually ended with -a, while feminine names ended with -o or -e. Of course, this can't have much to do with King Froda, since Frodo is just an Anglo-Saxon substitute for the character's Westron name.

[Bradistic]

This isn't really about LOTR but it reminds me that Shakespeare made up a lot of cool words that are commonly used today, and popularized many others that were rarely used before his writings. The only one I can think of now is Puke. (I think puke is a very funny word.)

[Reverie]

Shakespeare also was the first to use the term 'elboroom'