A Note on Nobility

Etholod

Member
Following session 106 and Ardent Crayon's thread on this fourm, I decided to quickly make this 'note' on the word "Noble'. What does Tolkien mean by it? Well, to try to answer this Question I looked at the 4 other times it occurs in the FOTR. Interestingly, 'Noble' appears only once before this instance in FOTR. Strangely, It occurs in the Bath tub song: " O! Water Hot is a Noble thing!". This is potentially interesting as it draws a connection between Crickhollow and Rivendell.

The next time it occurs is a descriptor for Legolas' face. This too is interesting, not just because it is a physical description in the sparce enviroment of LOTR, but also because it has so many connotations of Elven Nobility but also (as mentioned earlier) a description of his character and personality (but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Finally, It might be interesting to note the Indo-European roots of the word in "gnō" meaning to know. This came through the Latin 'Nobilis' into English

-Etholod
 
the Indo-European roots of the word in "gnō" meaning to know.
I learned this myself just this very morning during my commute, from the History of English podcast, and resolved to post about it, only to find you'd beaten me to it!
He characterized "noble" as originally meaning "worthy to be known". I don't think Pippin had any other more modern meaning in mind: he was just saying that Frodo rocks.
 
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