Why Entwives?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Or as I did not have time to mention at lunchtime ... the unforgettable "Wife of Bath"

Ah, but there, Mithalwen, I'm willing to bet, 'Wife' really does mean 'wife', for as Frodo Baggins has admirably pointed out she seems to have made quite the career of 'serial monogamy', bless her witty tongue and ever-loving heart.

[Mithalwen]

Well it is too long since I studied her tale for A-Level .... but while I remember one husband was Jannekyn I am fairly sure none of the others were called bath. Teh womann of Bath was she and not a lowly one either ( do any other Archers fans think Lilian Bellamy?) . As for the number of husbands she had - well I cannot resist saying that it rather depends if you mean just her own ...


Of course in German Mann means husband as well as man. I remember when I visited German friends, Frau had travelled separately since she had to collect someone else and when she arrived at the venue... she wanted to look inside to see that Herr, and I and her Aunt Lise-Lotte had arrived already arrived without giving up her ticket explaining to ticket collector "Ich besuche mein Mann" (I am looking for my husband" However he heard it as "Ich besuche ein Mann" (I'm looking for a man) and answered (and this goes too far beyond my skill ) "There are lots of men in there - take your pick!"

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Frodo Baggins

Hmm, maybe to the lady ents the Ent men were called Enthusbands?

I hunch me that with a roll of their deep green eyes they might have called them 'those wandering treeherds'. Or however that might be rendered in Entish......

"Baroomba basnarenend narenend narenoomenend besmearentend blankety blankety blank et cetera tera tera tera ra ra ra ra besombrained nitroombawits"

Or something like that....

[Gurthang]

Maybe it has to do with the translation from Entish. Perhaps in Old Entish, they called them Ent-women, but it changed to Entwife when going to elvish.

Yet here's another thought. The Entwives seemed to stay out of the forests, generally so they could tend their gardens. Perhaps the only time the Ents cared about these Ent-women, was when they became in love and got married. In which case, it would be proper for the Ents to refer to only their wives as Entwives. Although that term would be excluding all other female Ents who had not become married.

[arcticstorm]

I do beleive that entwives are the names for only the married ents, not for all female ents, because in the book, in the chapter Treebeard, Treebeared describes at least his entwife in the past tense referring to her as "when she was an entmaiden" or something along those lines. So I beleive there is a distinction, but I beleive by that time there probably were not any entmaidens left, all just entwives

[vanwalossien]

In Norwegian as well, mann means husband as well as man, and kone (and also the slighty less formal kjerring ) means both wife (usually this) or (old) woman. Like arcticstorm pointed out about the entmaidens, the term kone won't be used about young women, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the woman is married.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Good on you for referring to the OED Bb -- I agree: this is a point of language.

But you neglected to give the translation for "ent" which is Old English for "giant". So the names of the actors involved are "giant" and "giant-woman".

But I can't help but think that Tolkien liked the use of "wife" insofar as he was aware of the modern connotations of the word, and of the resonances that it would have with his audience.