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Originally Posted by Bethberry
I wonder: are there any instances in Middle earth of hostile water forces?
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There are a few obvious instances of hostile waters, although they do not pose such a threat to those on the side of 'good'. The Ford of Bruinen is one notable example, and also there is the power in the flood which the Ents release upon Isengard (nice mixture of the elements of wood and water there, too). Instances of water being a malevolent force, at least to those we wish to see succeed, seem to arise more from stagnant or standing water, such as the Dead Marshes, or the pool which houses the Watcher in the water outside Moria. Could it be that this water lacks energy, and therefore life, or even Light?
The water used by Galadriel is contained and therefore stil, but it is notably fresh water, from a running supply.
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Originally Posted by Bethberry
According to the Oxford English Dictionary , berry is an Old English variant of "barrow", with the meanings "mound, hillock, or barrow", now obsolete except in dialect. There is also a now obsolete Renaissance meaning as "gust or blast of wind" and a Middle English use " to beat or thrash" as in thrashing corn.
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Berry/Barrow in Old English is also found as
beorg, meaning simply 'hill'. Not every place name with the word 'Barrow' had anything to do with burial mounds, it may simply have originated from the fact that the place was a hill, or was near one! Interestingly, Berry/Bury can often be found in place names denoting hills; the difference no doubt arose from non-standardised spelling or differences in local dialect.