Squeezing in an enquiry
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I do think it interesting though that Smaug's name has a similar meaning to Smeagol though from Old German smugen (squeeze through a hole)...
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It is indeed very interesting. The two words are actually related: Primitive Germanic is the postulated common ancestor of all Germanic languages. You may remember the following from The Road to Middle Earth.
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[Smaug's] name is another 'asterisk word', being the past tense *smaug of a Germanic verb *smugan 'to squeeze through a hole', as Tolkien said in his 1938 Observer letter; also the Old Norse equivalent of an English magic word found in a spell wið sméogan wyrme, 'against the penetrating worm'. But he has a mental sense as well as a physical one, since O.E. sméagan also means 'to inquire into' and in adjectival form 'subtle, crafty'.
T.A. Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth 3rd ed. ch.3 The Bourgeois Burglar, p.102.
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Man kenuva métim' andúne?
Last edited by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh; 03-15-2007 at 04:16 PM.
Reason: Missed out an apostrophe
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