View Single Post
Old 07-25-2004, 02:02 PM   #33
Lalwendė
A Mere Boggart
 
Lalwendė's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
Posts: 4,750
Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Sorry about this, I'm going back to the linguistic thread as I had a few thoughts about it. I was reading this thread yesterday and decided to look up an old book (1967) by Basil Cottle - The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. The derivation for Buckland says:

Quote:
Land held by charter (literally book-land) Old English
However, I think that may be a bit of a curveball, as reading further, other surnames beginning with the prefix "Buck-", such as Buckley, Buckden and Buckton, are all alleged to derive from the root "buck, male deer". Interestingly, this in it's turn is possibly a derivation from the Old English name Bucca.

Bucca means "male deer" or "he-goat" and appears to have been the name of a regional chieftain, as in the name Buckingham

Quote:
River-meadow of Bucca's followers, Old English
As Bucca was the name of the first Thain of the Shire, Tolkien must have known of this derivation, which suggests that Buckland is probably intended to be from this root, and does not mean "Book-land".

In the same book, "Wine" is defined as simply "friend", from Old English. Alas, it appears that "Brandy" is not a surname! However, as already mentioned "Brand" is Old Norse for torch or firebrand, and the name "Brandreth" means "burnt clearing" in Old English. Does this suggest a burnt clearing in amongst their friends, the trees of the Old Forest? Maybe I'm imagining too much!

I couldn't resist looking up Took, too. It is given as Old Norse, probably a pet version of Thorkil or Thirkettle which, sinisterly, means "Thor's sacrificial cauldron".
Lalwendė is offline   Reply With Quote