Tolkien vocabulary I (serious) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 01-17-2002, 01:55 AM

Just wondering about Tolkien's vocabulary and style in general: His use of language is not just old-fashioned to us - some aspects are quite archaic for the time he wrote it in, definitely different from his contemporaries. Do you think it was just a personal preference, the way he thought, spoke and wrote? Or was it a deliberate choice, to give his works the feeling of ancient mythology?
I get a kick out of his explaining the "translation" of names etc. in Appendix F - there's another work of literature in the back of my mind that claimed to be a translation, but it doesn't occur to me right now.

01-17-2002, 01:55 AM	#6
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Just wondering about Tolkien's vocabulary and style in general: His use of language is not just old-fashioned to us - some aspects are quite archaic for the time he wrote it in, definitely different from his contemporaries. Do you think it was just a personal preference, the way he thought, spoke and wrote? Or was it a deliberate choice, to give his works the feeling of ancient mythology? I get a kick out of his explaining the "translation" of names etc. in Appendix F - there's another work of literature in the back of my mind that claimed to be a translation, but it doesn't occur to me right now. __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'