LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 03 - The Muster of Rohan

[Lalwendë]

Since readin Lhunardawen's post, I've been thinking about this line:

'Greatly changed he seemed to me since I saw him first in the king's house,' said Eowyn: 'grimmer, older. Fey I thought him, and like one whom the Dead call.'

Fey struck me as an odd word, and it always has, as it is very similar to Fae, from Faerie. It also always brings to mind Morgan Le Fay, conjouring up a beautiful yet terrifying image. But looking up the etymology of Fey I found this:

"of excitement that presages death," from O.E. fæge "doomed to die," also "timid;" and/or from O.N. feigr, both from P.Gmc. *faigjo- (cf. M.Du. vege, M.H.G. veige "doomed," also "timid," Ger. feige "cowardly"). Preserved in Scottish. Sense of "displaying unearthly qualities" and "disordered in the mind (like one about to die)" led to modern ironic sense of "affected."

What is interesting in how Tolkien has Eowyn deliver this description is that he has her define the meaning of the word. That's not something a skilled writer would normally do, so perhaps here his scholarly interest was making an interjection, underlining the definition he wanted us to use. Fey can also mean 'affected' as it says above, which has different connotations. I wonder was he making a distinction allowing for the changing use of language?