Tolkien and the 'other' N-word ;) - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 10-22-2005, 12:24 PM

I dug up an aged thread on this topic which you might enjoy reading: Tolkien vocabulary. It too is located in the Books forum, so we'll leave this one here for now as well.

Aiwendil · 10-22-2005, 01:32 PM

I'm sure I learned a good many new words from TH and LotR, as I read them (well, had them read to me) when I was rather young - about 5 or 6, I think. But that's long enough ago that I can't remember it particularly well.

I did learn a few words from HoMe. For instance:

ghyll = a deep, rocky ravine
shoon = old plural of "shoe"
clomb = old past tense of "climb"
champain = level, open country

Estelyn Telcontar · 10-22-2005, 01:44 PM

Most notable to me are the words Tolkien invented himself: eucatastrophe and dyscatastrophe.

Kath · 10-22-2005, 03:47 PM

Quote:

eucatastrophe

Did he really invent that because I thought it was invented long before Tolkien was around, by a psychologist, though my teacher could be telling me lies.

Estelyn Telcontar · 10-22-2005, 09:12 PM

As far as I know, it was Tolkien's own word. I'm not a linguist though, so I checked it with several online sources. The Merriam-Webster dictionary tells me it's not in the dictionary, ergo not a known word. The Google references I got were all to Tolkien's usage. Wikipedia has this:

Quote:

Eucatastrophe is a term coined by J.R.R. Tolkien which refers to the sudden turn of events at the end of a story which result in the protagonist's well-being.

As far as I can see, though there is certainly a linguistic background for the word, it was his own invention and has not been used by others except in reference to him. If someone knows more about it, though, I hope they'll tell us!

10-22-2005, 12:24 PM	#1
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	I dug up an aged thread on this topic which you might enjoy reading: Tolkien vocabulary. It too is located in the Books forum, so we'll leave this one here for now as well. __________________ '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...'

10-22-2005, 01:44 PM	#3
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Most notable to me are the words Tolkien invented himself: eucatastrophe and dyscatastrophe. __________________ '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...'

10-22-2005, 01:32 PM	#2
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	I'm sure I learned a good many new words from TH and LotR, as I read them (well, had them read to me) when I was rather young - about 5 or 6, I think. But that's long enough ago that I can't remember it particularly well. I did learn a few words from HoMe. For instance: ghyll = a deep, rocky ravine shoon = old plural of "shoe" clomb = old past tense of "climb" champain = level, open country