Indeed so, Underhill. I can scarcely imagine the horror of charging into battle beneath the banner of the Mouse Rampant. Dreadful thought! I can only paraphrase Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington: I don't know what effect it will have upon the enemy, but by God it terrifies me!
Returning to the subject of Tolkien's letters and gems therefrom, I read the following last night and couldn't resist sharing it.
Quote:
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The formal equivalent (the only known one) of our harp is Latin corbis. (The Romance arpa etc. are borrowed from Germanic.) But the poor philologist will have to call on some archaeological expert before he can decide whether any relationship between 'harps' and 'baskets' is possible - supposing Gmc. harpō always meant 'harp' or or corbi-s always meant 'wicker basket'! corbīta means a fat-bellied ship.
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Letter #209 to Robert Murray - 4th May, 1958
Quite aside from the wealth of linguistic information in that one letter, I find the idea of a philologist asking an archaeologist about the difference between harps and baskets most appealing.