Re: Inventing names
| From: | John Leland <lelandconlang@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, September 27, 2004, 5:58 |
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In a message dated 9/23/04 8:29:33 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
mhpotter@BELLSOUTH.NET writes:
<< It was _Bilbo_ that had the
meaningless name. I had the wrong hobbit. >>
Actually, bilbo was an Early Modern English word for "sword" (derived from
Bilbao in Spain, apparently)--see the OED. Given the importance of the sword
Sting in Bilbo's adventure, I suspect the sword reference was intentional on
JRRT's part.
John Leland
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