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Old 04-08-2020, 08:59 AM   #7
Huinesoron
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Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
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Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun View Post
Indeed. "Tom" is a nickname for "Tolman" in the Shire, and it would seem that "Tom" was common enough in Shire usage for it to be the name given by the local hobbits to the odd person living on their eastern border.
Whence "Bomdadil", though?
By the conceit of translation, 'Bombadil' must be Tolkien's cod-Middle-English translation of the true Hobbitish name given to Iarwain Ben-adar. It could, of course, be an untranslatable nonsense-name (as Took), but - especially in light of the fact that he at one point calls himself 'Tom Bombadillo' - it seems entirely plausible that the Shire-folk created it from the Hobbitish Westron words for 'bombast' and 'peccadillo'. In other words: he's loud, he's weird, and there's something just a little bit wrong with him.

hS
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