0ed9831a   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: Troels@ThisIsFake.invalid   
      
   In message   
   <79b52c52-cd9d-4ab8-a685-d54e419a0244@u20g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>   
   Christopher Kreuzer  spoke these staves:   
   >   
   > On Aug 29, 10:23 pm, Troels Forchhammer   
   >  wrote:   
   >>   
   >> I remember that the description of the Pelennor Fields slips   
   >> quite a lot of words by the reader that I, at some reading within   
   >> the last few years, suddenly realized that I had no idea of the   
   >> specific meanings of (mostly words for various farm outhouses   
   >> etc.)   
   >   
   > I've had a quick look. Is this in the Minas Tirith chapter when   
   > Beregond and Pippin see the wains (another archaic word) leaving   
   > for the refuges in the hills? I see words there like byre and   
   > farmstead, which are not really archaic. Maybe I'm looking at the   
   > wrong passage?   
      
   I think that the passage that I remembered must be this one:   
         The townlands were rich, with wide tilth and many   
       orchards, and homesteads there were with oast and garner,   
       fold and byre, and many rills rippling through the green   
       from the highlands down to Anduin.   
     (_LotR_, V, 1 'Minas Tirith')   
      
   But notice that I made no claim to all these being _archaic_ -- just   
   that I suddenly realized that I had read that sentence a dozen times   
   without knowing _exactly_ what a number of the words meant, just   
   taking in the general meaning.   
      
   >> I think my favourite passage is still Ulmo's speech to Tuor in UT   
   >> -- the archaisms there lend the whole thing a gravity that is   
   >> absolutely beautiful (to my eyes, of course).   
   >   
   > You said that deliberately to get me to find my copy of Unfinished   
   > Tales, didn't you? :-)   
      
   Well, yes, of course. I didn't mention it because I thought it would   
   be too embarrasing for you to admit that you didn't have it out for   
   easy reference ;-)   
      
   > Well, I've got TH, LotR, and Letters out now. Might as well dive   
   > back in and find UT, and Biography and The Silmarillion, and Mr   
   > Bliss. That last one is vital, of course.   
      
   Don't forget _Morgoth's Ring_ and _War of the Jewels_ ;-)   
      
   > I think it is more the archaic language you are referring to   
   > (thou, hast, thee, art, shouldst, wilt, hath),   
      
   Well, the informal second person singular pronouns are surely archaic   
   words in their own right by now, aren't they?  :-)   
      
   The rest are, of course, just archaic conjugations.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Troels Forchhammer    
   Valid e-mail is    
   Please put [AFT], [RABT] or 'Tolkien' in subject.   
      
       "It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent   
        whatsoever," he said. "Have you thought of going into   
       teaching?"   
    - /Mort/ (Terry Pratchett)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)