“Thee” and “thou” in “The Lord of the Rings”

[Mister Underhill]

Great thread, Esty, and great posts everybody. "Thee" as a familiar form is rattling around somewhere in my brain, but as an English-only speaker (alas), I guess the nuance of familiar versus formal forms never occurred to me while reading Tolkien. It's amazing how the prof can keep revealing new layers of nuance even after umpteen readings.

As I'm nearing the end of my first re-read of LotR in many a year, I'll throw in a couple more instances that are relatively fresh in my mind.

First, it seems that the familiar form is not completely forgotten in the Shire, as when Sam dredges his memory and comes up with the old troll tune, we find some examples:

Said Tom: 'I don't see why the likes o' thee
Without axin' leave should go makin' free
With the shank or the shin o' my father's kin;
So hand the old bone over!

The troll is likewise insultingly familiar in his response:

I'll eat thee too, and gnaw thy shins.

"Thee" also adds a layer of nuance (and an extra note of bittersweetness) to Treebeard's song, the call-and-response between the Ents and the Entwives, when it's introduced in the last stanzas.

And think how it must have warmed the cockles of Gimli's heart when he heard this message conveyed by Gandalf:

"To Gimli son of Glóin," she said, "give his Lady's greeting. Lock-bearer, wherever thou goest my thought goes with thee."

No wonder he capered!