Time in Middle-earth

[PrinceOfTheHalflings]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I think hewhoarisesinmight is right about the medieval measure of time. Concerning hobbits - as we know, hobbits had many things which were not that much medieval (umbrellas...), so perhaps they had even mechanical clock?

I realise that this comment was made 10 years ago, but I often see the Hobbits' use of umbrellas mentioned as some kind of unwarranted intrusion from the "modern world". However, collapsible umbrellas similar to what we use today have existed for at least 2000 years - being described in ancient Chinese texts - and indeed one from the first century AD was recently found in a Korean tomb. The technology may well have existed for centuries before that.

In any case, simple umbrellas existed for thousands of years before that in various cultures, and it isn't obvious that the umbrellas in the Shire are anything like modern ones in any case.

Back on topic, the idea of clocks is also pretty ancient. Water powered mechanical clocks existed in Ancient Greece, Rome and China - although were probably fairly rare. Sundials and other timekeeping methods were quite common. As far as ancient cultures being able to tell time by some kind of division of the day into hours - well, even a culture with only sundials would understand the idea. The Ancient Egyptians divided the day up into 24 hours - which seems to have stuck with later civilizations in the West. They also developed the water clock, an accurate time measuring device, at least 3,500 years ago.

The English word "clock" derives from the Middle English clokke - which means "bell", and of course in earlier times bells would be rung to mark the passing of hours. Clokke is cognate with Middle Dutch, French and Latin words that also mean bell.

As with "umbrella" I don't necessarily think that we are meant to think that "clock" means a Victorian Era mechanical model. It makes perfect sense that if the Hobbits had a complicated Calendar (which we known they did) then they would also be interested in measuring the passage of time in units of measure smaller than a day. Perhaps the Hobbbits borrowed the actual design of their clocks from Dwarves (or Elves) or perhaps they even bought such things from the Dwarves.

As for Ghân-buri-Ghân - I'm sure he was a quick learner!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

When mechanical clocks were first introduced in the West in the 14th century (in monasteries, to ring the bells of the canonical hours-- faces and hands came later), they caused no end of confusion because they could only tell hours of a fixed length- which didn't work at all with Roman and early medieval practice of dividing the solar day into hours whose length varied with the seasons. Prime came at dawn and vespers at sundown, and the length of the hours in between were much longer in summer than in winter. Sundials didn't have this problem.

(NB: The Gospels, written in the 1st C. AD, reference the sixth and ninth hours (noon and midafternoon).

[Faramir Jones]

According to Tolkien's illustration of the Hall of Bag-End that he drew for The Hobbit, on the right (from the viewer's perspective) wall there appears to be a pendulum clock.



If that's the case, it shows how 'advanced' the hobbits were; because such a clock was invented by Dutch scientist and inventor Christiaan Huygens in 1656, and patented the following year. This invention, according to one book, meant that the accuracy of clocks could be improved to about 10 seconds per 24 hours:

https://books.google.ie/books?id=1jw...istory&f=false

There's also the issue of what looks like a barometer, on the wall to the left of the open door...

[Morthoron]

Faramir, there's a second clock to the left of the door in that illustration. Interestingly, one clock is an hour off from the other. Perhaps to reduce the time from breakfast, brunch and elevensies.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I think Faramir is correct; that isn't a clock but a barometer beside the door.

[Faramir Jones]

Thanks for the comments about my last reply, and for the photo you posted, William!

The barometer depicted by Tolkien appears to be an aneroid one, meaning it uses a non-liquid way of measuring air pressure. A metallic cell or capsule, from which the air has been removed, expands or contracts depending on the air pressure. It is a nineteenth century invention, by a French scientist called Lucien Vidi, in 1844. Since late in that century, barometers, along with wind observations, have been used to make short-term weather forecasts.

Despite all this sophistication, we don't see hobbit meteorologists around Middle-earth in the late Third Age...

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I don't suppose Tolkien was much of a techie, certainly not the sort who would be aware of the difference and relative dates of aneroid and mercury barometers. I think, at least at the time of the illustration, he viewed Mr B Baggins Esq as enjoying the material lifestyle of an English country gentleman of, say, William and Mary's time. Such a man would very likely have had clocks on the wall and the mantle, and a barometer beside the door to check the weather before going out; I doubt T realized that the one depicted was 'anachronistic.'