Posted on by Olga Polomoshnova · 8 Comments

On linguistic creation: what makes Tolkien’s invented languages special.

Language creation was one of the greatest interests that J. R. R. Tolkien had in his life. The Professor’s stories were closely connected with his invented tongues which were an integral and vital part of the whole mythology of Arda. There are a lot of various aspects to look at Tolkien’s language creation from, so to begin with the exploration of this amazing manifestation of his creativity, I am going to look into what makes Tolkien’s languages resemble those we speak in our world.

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Posted on by Olga Polomoshnova · 6 Comments

Trapped by the Barrow-wights.

Very few readers are left unimpressed when they, together with Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin, lose their way in the fog on the Barrow-downs and become trapped in the mound by the Barrow-wights. These creatures are horrible and horrifying, and appear even more so as we do not fully understand what they are exactly. So, what are these wights and where do they come from?

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Posted on by Olga Polomoshnova · 21 Comments

How to insult a spider.

J. R. R. Tolkien was a great lover of words. It showed both — in his extensive vocabulary and talent to choose words with great precision to make his texts come alive with various shades of lexical meanings. One of the most special traits of Tolkien’s writing was a mastery usage of archaic style. A particularly interesting example of obsolete vocabulary can be found in The Hobbit.

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Posted on by Olga Polomoshnova · 5 Comments

Feasts interrupted.

Interrupted feasts make a recurring theme in Tolkien. Some of these are minor interruptions, like Dwarvish intrusions into Elvish merrymakings in Mirkwood: they cause mostly annoyance to the Elves, rather than present a serious threat. Other feast interruptions to be found in Tolkien’s tales are far from being annoying trifles and have serious social implications.

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Posted on by Olga Polomoshnova · 14 Comments

In the Land of Heroes: Tolkien, Kalevala and Finnish.

As a gifted and prolific philologist, J. R. R. Tolkien had great love of languages. During his life he studied many tongues of old: Gothic, Old English, Old Norse, and for Tolkien the languages were closely connected with the tales of the people who spoke them. Those tongues and tales influenced him, all in different ways, but one thing remains: Tolkien realised very well that language and mythology form one inseparable whole, and this interdependence permeates his own mythology of Middle-earth which rose out of his invented language.

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