Re: "Common" Tongues

J. K. Hoffman scripsit:

> I always thought of these as Trade Tongues, really.  The only place I'm
> familiar with the term "Common Tongue" is from RPGs, in particular
> Dungeons & Dragons.
It would astonish me if this use of "Common" weren't drawn from JRRT's
"Common Speech", which indeed was a trade-tongue in origin, though decreolized
when adopted by the Numenorians in exile.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

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