Some etymology and more…. =)
Tolkien Day!
”Peregrin is, of course, a real modern name, though it means ‘traveller in strange countries’. Frodo is a real name from the Germanic tradition. Its Old English form was Froda. Its obvious connection is with the old word frod meaning etymologically ‘wise by experience’, but it had mythological connections with legends of the Golden Age of the North…”
~ From Letter 168 to Richard Jeffery in 1955
---
“Some persons are, or seem to be, more calculable than others. But that is due rather to their fortune than to their nature (as individuals). The calculable people reside in relatively fixed circumstances, and it is difficult to catch and observe them in situations that are (to them) strange. That is another good reason for sending ‘hobbits’ -a vision of simple and calculable people in simple and long-settled circumstances-on a journey far from settled home into strange lands and dangers. Especially if they are provided with some strong motive for endurance and adaptation. Though without any high motive people do change (or rather reveal the latent) on journeys: that is a fact of ordinary observation without any need of symbolical explanation. On a journey of a length sufficient to provide the untoward in any degree from discomfort to fear the change in companions well-known in ‘ordinary life’ (and in oneself) is often startling.
I dislike the use of ‘political’ in such a context; it seems to me false. It seems clear to me that Frodo’s duty was ‘humane’ not political. He naturally thought first of the Shire, since his roots were there, but the quest had as its object not the preserving of this or that polity, such as the half republic half aristocracy of the Shire, but the liberation from an evil tyranny of all ‘humane’ -including those, such as ‘easterlings’ and Haradrim, that were still servants of the tyranny.”
~Letter 183 in response to W.H. Auden’s glowing review of LotR in 1956
-----
I was just going to post the etymology of Pippin and Frodo’s names and also the bit about Frodo’s duty but the middle paragraph just says so much also. I love it when Tolkien talks about his hobbits. :)
”Peregrin is, of course, a real modern name, though it means ‘traveller in strange countries’. Frodo is a real name from the Germanic tradition. Its Old English form was Froda. Its obvious connection is with the old word frod meaning etymologically ‘wise by experience’, but it had mythological connections with legends of the Golden Age of the North…”
~ From Letter 168 to Richard Jeffery in 1955
---
“Some persons are, or seem to be, more calculable than others. But that is due rather to their fortune than to their nature (as individuals). The calculable people reside in relatively fixed circumstances, and it is difficult to catch and observe them in situations that are (to them) strange. That is another good reason for sending ‘hobbits’ -a vision of simple and calculable people in simple and long-settled circumstances-on a journey far from settled home into strange lands and dangers. Especially if they are provided with some strong motive for endurance and adaptation. Though without any high motive people do change (or rather reveal the latent) on journeys: that is a fact of ordinary observation without any need of symbolical explanation. On a journey of a length sufficient to provide the untoward in any degree from discomfort to fear the change in companions well-known in ‘ordinary life’ (and in oneself) is often startling.
I dislike the use of ‘political’ in such a context; it seems to me false. It seems clear to me that Frodo’s duty was ‘humane’ not political. He naturally thought first of the Shire, since his roots were there, but the quest had as its object not the preserving of this or that polity, such as the half republic half aristocracy of the Shire, but the liberation from an evil tyranny of all ‘humane’ -including those, such as ‘easterlings’ and Haradrim, that were still servants of the tyranny.”
~Letter 183 in response to W.H. Auden’s glowing review of LotR in 1956
-----
I was just going to post the etymology of Pippin and Frodo’s names and also the bit about Frodo’s duty but the middle paragraph just says so much also. I love it when Tolkien talks about his hobbits. :)