Re: Inventing names

Quoting John Leland <Lelandconlang@...>:

> 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.
If memory serves, Bilbao is called 'Bilbo' in Basque.

                                               Andreas