Gems from the Letters - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

lindil Gems from the Letters 10-15-2002, 06:30 PM

Westerly Wizard "The real theme for me is... 10-15-2002, 07:14 PM

Child of the 7th Age Lindil -- I am glad that... 10-15-2002, 10:41 PM

Fool-of-a-Took Excuse the ignorance but I... 10-16-2002, 01:16 AM

HerenIstarion Not Lewis Carrol, lol, Clive... 10-16-2002, 03:02 AM

*Varda* Regretfully, I don't have the... 10-16-2002, 03:08 AM

Guinevere Thank you, Lindil, this is a... 10-17-2002, 11:22 AM

Child of the 7th Age Guievere, Thanks so much... 10-17-2002, 11:48 AM

lindil Notes on Auden's review of... 10-18-2002, 04:50 AM

HerenIstarion ex L257 To Christopher... 10-18-2002, 05:49 AM

lindil from letter 339 to 'the Daily... 10-20-2002, 05:26 PM

HerenIstarion 211 To Rhona Beare 14... 10-21-2002, 02:34 AM

Maédhros I have read the Letters of... 10-21-2002, 10:26 AM

Diamond18 If this post had a title it... 10-25-2002, 11:50 AM

HerenIstarion I've found the following so... 10-30-2002, 05:01 AM

Diamond18 This is quite brief...but it... 11-03-2002, 04:59 PM

HerenIstarion Re: Gems from the Letters 11-06-2002, 12:43 AM

HerenIstarion Re: Gems from the Letters 12-27-2002, 01:20 AM

lindil I just came across this FAQ... 12-29-2002, 01:41 PM

Guinevere Thank you, Lindil, this link... 12-30-2002, 01:39 PM

lindil Yoa are [belatedly] of course... 01-24-2003, 08:34 AM

doug*platypus I've always been a bit... 01-26-2003, 05:28 AM

Guinevere I agree with all that you... 01-26-2003, 07:13 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh This is somewhat frivolous,... 03-02-2003, 11:58 AM

Legolas haha - a good one, Squatter!... 03-03-2003, 02:00 PM

Turambar Squatter -- the only... 03-03-2003, 02:04 PM

Rimbaud Tolkien's fierce hatred for... 03-03-2003, 02:07 PM

Turambar Rimbaud: the only good part... 03-03-2003, 02:26 PM

Bêthberry Methinks, Turambar, that... 03-03-2003, 02:28 PM

Turambar I'm not sure I buy that, at... 03-03-2003, 02:33 PM

Annunfuiniel I think there's a slight... 03-09-2003, 11:16 AM

lindil From letter 205 to CJRT. ... 03-11-2003, 01:41 AM

Annunfuiniel lindil, I believe it's "...,... 03-11-2003, 02:03 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Here's a topical one: 03-19-2003, 05:30 PM

alaklondewen I have just started reading... 03-21-2003, 08:59 PM

Guinevere Here is another topical one... 03-22-2003, 03:44 PM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh From letter #96 to... 03-28-2003, 05:45 PM

Legolas Why Bombadil's whole purpose... 03-29-2003, 12:15 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Here's Tolkien on Tom... 05-08-2003, 03:41 PM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh I was talking to Estelyn... 08-16-2003, 07:20 AM

Raynor I took the liberty of... 04-04-2007, 02:07 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Tolkien on the public domain 04-06-2007, 01:32 PM

Mister Underhill Indeed, a great letter,... 08-16-2003, 09:08 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Indeed so, Underhill. I can... 09-04-2003, 01:35 PM

Evisse the Blue I thought this bit was cute:... 02-05-2004, 02:51 AM

Celuien This is a favorite of mine... 05-29-2005, 07:08 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh An Unexpected Party 02-07-2004, 09:06 AM

Guest "The original twerp" is... 02-23-2004, 03:51 PM

HerenIstarion Merriam-Webster Online... 02-24-2004, 02:21 AM

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh Twerp 02-26-2004, 02:29 PM

Guest That's a good start,... 02-27-2004, 01:39 PM

Amarie of the Vanyar One of my favourite gem from... 03-06-2004, 02:29 PM

Son of Númenor One of my favourite excerpts... 06-13-2004, 02:41 PM

mark12_30 up 12-07-2004, 02:03 PM

Encaitare Thanks for bumping that one... 12-07-2004, 07:45 PM

gorthaur_cruel I always thought Tolkien's... 12-08-2004, 12:51 AM

09-04-2003, 01:35 PM

#28

The Squatter of Amon Rûdh

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Indeed so, Underhill. I can scarcely imagine the horror of charging into battle beneath the banner of the Mouse Rampant. Dreadful thought! I can only paraphrase Sir Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington: I don't know what effect it will have upon the enemy, but by God it terrifies me!

Returning to the subject of Tolkien's letters and gems therefrom, I read the following last night and couldn't resist sharing it.

Quote:

The formal equivalent (the only known one) of our harp is Latin corbis. (The Romance arpa etc. are borrowed from Germanic.) But the poor philologist will have to call on some archaeological expert before he can decide whether any relationship between 'harps' and 'baskets' is possible - supposing Gmc. harpō always meant 'harp' or or corbi-s always meant 'wicker basket'! corbīta means a fat-bellied ship.

Letter #209 to Robert Murray - 4th May, 1958

Quite aside from the wealth of linguistic information in that one letter, I find the idea of a philologist asking an archaeologist about the difference between harps and baskets most appealing.

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