[Celuien]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Here's a new one: butchers.

There are a few lists of various this's and that's in the Shire, some of which are types of employment. There are farmers, millers, gardeners, mayors, postmen, shirriffs, innkeepers, cartwrights, smiths, ropers, et cetera. But no butchers. See page 15 of FotR for an example of a such a list. Is this another example of Tolkien's overly idyllic Shire? Or is a matter of "it wasn't in the story so it wasn't in the story"? Or is it a matter of farmers being the butchers in the Shire?

Dictionary.com...
butch·er. n.:

1.

a. One who slaughters and dresses animals for food or market.
b. One who sells meats.

2. One that kills brutally or indiscriminately.
3. A vendor, especially one on a train or in a theater.
4. One who bungles something.

[Middle English bucher, from Old French bouchier, from bouc, boc, he-goat, probably of Celtic origin.]

Perhaps it's the negative connotation associated with definition 2 that kept butchers out of the Shire. Even though we're clearly talking about the meat-seller definition, butcher isn't a neutral word when it comes to the connotation. I think it jars with the atmosphere of the Shire to introduce a word that could conjure up images of brutality. Hence, maybe butchers are left out of the Shire not because of an overly idyllic setting but rather because the word's associations don't fit with the portrayal of Hobbits.