Nah, it's literally an old english word for elephant.
Like how lob is an old name for spider. Shelob is just 'she-spider' or spider lady
There is a new version for the Hobbit in spanish, ilustrated and annotated that explains it this way
What should we call this being so powerful and mysterious as to be completely unaffected by the one ring?
Tom
To be fair, he has other, more exotic-sounding names. Tom Bombadil is the name the hobbits gave him.
He also called them mûmakil in elvish. In my mind, when the Hobbits call them oliphaunts it is because a long time ago someone talked about elephants, and over the years the correct pronunciation was lost.
Maybe because elephants are based on oliphaunts
I mean Mediterranean is literally middle earth.
I think I was 27 when that gem hit me upside the head
I think Middle Earth is meant to be more of an analogue of Midgard. It's the middle of the earth, as opposed to the sea in the middle of the earth.
Mediterranean literally translates to "middle of the earth"
Medi = middle Terran = earth Ean = of the
The complete sea name in a native romance language, not English, is Mar de Mediterranean. The word is obviously Latin in origin and the sea has been known as such since antiquity, probably predating Rome (who at the height of their control called the Mediterranean a Roman lake, since they encircled it on all sides. How quaint of them, yea?). This would have been known to Tolkien as the educated, well everybody really, back in the day, had more exposure to Latin, which had spread out widely due to the Church. Martin Luther and Guggenheim started that unraveling, tho Latin is still spoken in many many Catholic churches today.
Midgard does translate to middle earth as well. Tolkien was prob aware of this as well, tho i think that this is lesser well known than Mediterranean, just by the global reach of Spanish.
The only one that really bothers me is them using the Gregorian calander.
The idea is that it's a translation, so some words are just modern ones used in place of what the 'real' ones are.
Tolkien's books are essentially english/European mythology, so it kind of sort of makes sense
I believe there's a whole section of one of the books devoted to the in world-calendars and their relation to the Gregorian one.
I didn't know that, but that's good.
Agreed. It already bothers me that we use it
It sent me on a trip and in the end to Hittite 𒆷𒄴𒉺𒀸 (laḫpaš, “ivory”) 3700 years ago
I love etymology honestly and how it is all connected. I am really curious about onomatopoeias.
For example is ‘hmmm’ used in many unrelated languages just because it has a soothing vibration? Why do we have same onomatopoeias in cultures that never met?
Is there a language that is closest to interpreting the brain signals if we consider onomatopoeias to be a part of the language?
Perhaps some primitive pre language consisting of grunts without words. Then the evolution comes into play and animal communication.
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I stand corrected.
