Monday, September 8, 2008

British Vocabulary for a British Mythology

Maybe it's been too long since I've read anything of substance, but I've been coming across words I don't know while reading The Lord of the Rings. (I have a memory for vocabulary and spelling, and if I don't know a word, believe me, it's an Event.)

(Does anyone else get excited about vocabulary? I do. I love learning new words, and memorable words lodge themselves in my mind, along with the way I learned them. These words will always remind me of The Lord of the Rings. Hooray! They're like...intellectual mementos. Others collect sea-shells, or postcards, or pennants, to remember places they've traveled. I, apparently, collect words as knick-knacks.) (If only I could learn to use them as handily!)

My husband pointed out that these words are Middle English. (Because Tolkien was writing a mythology for the British people, you know.) You know what I say to that? "Go ahead on with your clever sassy self, J. R. R.!"

Anyway, here's a list of words from The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers that I didn't know. Now I know them.

coomb: deep hollow or valley, especially on flank of a hill.

drabbling: to draggle; make or become wet and dirty.

eyot: An islet, or little isle, in a river or lake.

gangrel: 1. a lanky, loose-jointed person. 2. a wandering beggar; vagabond; vagrant.

holm-oak: evergreen oak of southern Europe having leaves somewhat resembling those of holly; yields a hard wood.

ilex: 1. any tree or shrub of the genus Ilex. 2. a holly.

laund: A plain sprinkled with trees or underbrush; a glade.

mere: A small lake, pond, or marsh.

sward: 1. the grassy surface of land; turf. 2. a stretch of turf; a growth of grass.

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"coomb." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 08 Sep. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coomb.

"drabbling." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/drabbling.

"eyot." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eyot.

"gangrel." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gangrel.

"holm oak." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 08 Sep. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/holm oak.

"ilex." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ilex.

"laund." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/laund.

"mere." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 08 Sep. 2008.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mere.

"sward." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 08 Sep. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sward.

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