Tolkien and Norse Mythology

[tom bombariffic]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

No, it derives from smygen "to delve, burrow, creep into:" the same root from which JRRT also derived Smaug and Smial.

I'm sorry, I was slightly wrong, but I still don't think that you're right. What I should have said is that Smeagol comes from the Old English verb 'smeagan' - to think, ponder, or examine. This makes more sense for Gollum than 'to delve, burrow, creep', as after all Smeagol is what he was called before he retreated to the mountains.

The verb you are thinking of is the Old Norse verb 'smjúga', the past tense of which is 'smaug' - "he crept". This is presumably where the dragon's name came from.


As far as your next post goes, you're right to point that out, although perhaps it would be more accurate to say 'everybody loses'; the two sides destroy each other and the world ends. Although Baldr then comes back from hel at the dawn of a new world, so there is still some presence of the gods there.

bombariffic xx