Linguistic puns, riddles, and jokes in LotR, etc.

[Guinevere]

Here is something interesting about the origin of the names of Elrond and Elros which I found in letter 211 :

"*rondo was a primitive Elvish word for "cavern" (Cf Nargothrond, Aglarond etc) *rosse meant "dew, spray" (of fall or fountain).
Elrond and Elros, children of Eärendil(Sea-lover) and Elwing (Elf-foam), were so called, because they were carried off by the sons of Fëanor.(...) The infants were not slain, but left like "babes in the wood", in a cave with a fall of water over the entrance. There they were found: Elrond within the cave, and Elros dabbling in the water."

so they weren't named so by their parents!

And here something about Frodo and Pippin,from letter 168:

Peregrin is, of course, a real modern name, though it means "traveller in strange countries".
Frodo is a real name from the Germanic tradition. Its Old English form was Fróda. Its obvious connexion is with the old word "fród" meaning etymologically "wise by experience", but it had mythological connexions with legends of the Golden Age in the North..."

And here is what Tolkien wrote about Gimli's name (letter 297)

As stated in the Appendices the "outer" public names of the northern Dwarves were derived from the language of men in the far north NOT from the variety represented by AngloSaxon, and in consequence are given Scandinavian shape.(...) A-S will have nothing to say about GIMLI. Actually the poetic word "gim" in archaic Old Norse verse is probably not related to "gimm"(an early loan from latin "gemma") though possibly it was later associated with it: its meaning seems to have been "fire".

Nearly every name has a meaning, but for us who are not Philologists its easy to draw wrong deductions!

[ June 19, 2003: Message edited by: Guinevere ]