[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Well said, Earthsea wizard. (I myself am from Atuan.)

I believe I recall (from a friend quoting Tolkien's Letters?) that among Tolkien's divergent goals he sought to create with the LotR a truly English epic, along the lines of Beowulf, and felt Mallory wasn't quite up to the job. (I don't know on what basis, though I doubt it was simple dislike.)

On the subject of language, there's the Linguist view and the English professor's view. The one embraces language as a primal source of communication no matter what the means, or beauty, or lack of elegance. Change is natural and therefore good, and language is important only as a means, not an end in itself. The classic English professorial view appreciates language as a form of art or, probably nearer the mark, geometry, as language to them has a near-geometric precision, perfection and beauty. Ignoring its structure and rules is as painful to them as an off-key note is to someone who has perfect pitch.

Given Tolkien's love of the language, I've no doubt we'll find more Professors and fewer Linguists here! If this were a Forum dedicated to Kerouac I'd expect the reverse.

Always a pleasure Kalesin.

-Maril

[ February 24, 2002: Message edited by: Marileangorifurnimaluim ]