Pippin's name

Milthaliel

Milthaliel

Member
I was surprised by the discussion of Pippin's name, because when I first looked up the definition of Peregrine years ago, I found the word defined as a small strong falcon, rather than a wanderer. I guess the alternate definition wasn't included, because I don't even remember reading it and consciously choosing to go with falcon instead.

I liked the idea of a small, feisty and dangerous bird being associated with Pippin, and thought it fit the character somehow, even though it may seem silly to think of a hobbit being compared to a bird of prey. Are there any traditional literary connotations associated with falcons that would also fit our Pippin?
 
The source of this translation is one of Tolkien's letters (#168 to be exact), wherein he writes:

’Peregrin is, of course, a real modern name, though it means ’traveller in strange countries’. Frodo is a real name from the Germanic tradition. Its Old English form was Fróda. Its obvious connexion is with the old word fród meaning etymologically ’wise by experience’, but it had mythological connections with legends of the Golden Age in the North ...’

It stems from Middle English peregrine, which in turn is based on the Latin words per (through) and ager (field), combined in Latin rendered as peregre (abroad) and applied to a person as peregrinus (foreigner). So Tolkien combined the composed and original etymologies of the word to render his translation. A Modern English word that stems from this is pilgrim.

The connection with falcons refers to the Peregrine Falcon, a translation of the modern Latin taxonomic name, literally ‘pilgrim falcon’.
 
Thanks, Cithrin, this is great! Juicy, detailed stuff, I love it. And I can still officially compare Pip and my falcon to each other, since their names came from the same place!

Thanks for including info about Frodo's name, that's great info as well - true to Frodo's experience. I love the care Tolkien took with names.
 
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I mentioned this elsewhere in some other thread, but in God Emperor of Dune, Leto II would move his court around Rakis in an event called the Great Peregrination
 
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