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<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/bluepal.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: "Philological Inquiries"
To me, the concept of predestination seems to be even more significant than mere prophesy in Tolkien's works. The Ainulindale indicates that the world is complete as far as Eru is concerned -- the whole history of Ea was written in the music of the Ainur (as an aside, I love the idea of a world conceived in music). Eru's not one for spoilers, though, and isn't letting anyone else in on all the secrets, especially the end. So the doom of all is known to Eru, but unknowable to others. In this light, a particular character's name may foreshadow his doom, but the doom doesn't lie in the name. A tricky piece of semantics, but perhaps you see what I mean. An analogy lies in the same text -- "Therefore, the Valar may walk, if they will, unclad... But when they desire to clothe themselves the Valar take upon them forms some as of male and some as of female; for that difference of temper they had even from their beginning, and it is but bodied forth in the choice of each, not made by the choice, even as with us male and female may be shown by the raiment but is not made thereby."
As for your philological question, Sharku, it makes me think of a broader question that I often wonder about -- why would the good professor, a student of history, no doubt, as well as language, invent, not only a language (or two, or three...), but a whole imagined world and attendant history/mythology? Why would a spiritual man invent an imagined religious pantheon? I like to think that JRR's scholarship, while considerable, was subordinate to a storyteller's heart. Like a singing Ainu himself, he couldn't help but imitate his creator and became a creator himself. I doubt that he had the pure and humorless scholar's disdain for an invented language, though I admit I've never read any biographical materials on him nor any of his letters and just base this on my own intuition of the man.
As for Sauron, I daresay he broke *all* the rules when he made up the Black Speech! <img src=wink.gif ALT="
"> It's just the kind of guy he was. Seriously, though, I think perhaps Sauron's true violation, if one may be cited, is that he didn't truly invent anything new. He merely made a corrupted mockery of a beautiful and elegant tongue. This is what the Valaquenta says of Melkor, and I imagine that it holds true of Sauron as well: "Melkor spent his spirit in envy and hate, until at last he could make nothing save in mockery of the thoughts of others, and all their works he destroyed if he could."
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