To Narnion

The LOTR prologue mentions that they had their own languages when they moved west to Eriador, but eventually stopped using them in favor of Westron:

It was in these early days, doubtless, that the Hobbits learned their letters and began to write after the manner of the Dúnedain, who had in their turn long before learned the art from the Elves. And in those days also they forgot whatever languages they had used before, and spoke ever after the Common Speech, the Westron as it was named, that was current through all the lands of the kings from Arnor to Gondor, and about all the coasts of the Sea from Belfalas to Lune. Yet they kept a few words of their own, as well as their own names of months and days, and a great store of personal names out of the past.
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If I'm not mistaken, their oldest language bits still lingering in use are related to the language of the Rohirrim.
 
The Tolkien Society's Tolkien Gateway offers this page on Hobbitish

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hobbitish

There is a piece that Tolkien wrote about hobbit languages (which this page derives from). I used it as a reference for a paper in my philology class but am now drawing a blank. It was really interesting, and showed the parallels between the languages of the hobbits and the early Rohirric. Professor Tolkien was very conscientious about the languages in his books, predictably....even building in evolving pronunciation patterns over time, which is the way of the world (ours and Middle-earth).
 
Is there any significance to the fact Frodo and Bilbo have the same birthday, and that the date is September 22? Is there any significance to the Party being on a Thursday?
 
In Tolkien's first draft, Bilbo's birthday was actually Sept. 20th. I know of no indication as to why he changed it.

Sept 22nd is the passing between Halimath (Harvestmath) and Winterfilth (Wintring) in the Shire Calendar, equinox in our Calendar, i.e. the days start to grow shorter. In SIndarin, this is called firith, which means fading, mortal. Perhaps the date was chosen to symbolize the Third Age was coming to a close and the Age of Mortal Man (the Fourth Age) was about to start?

This is also the date Bilbo & Frodo ultimately leave Middle-Earth in the Grey Havens.

Note there are some discrepancies between the Shire and Gregorian calendars so at any rates these dates are to be taken as approximate "translations".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-earth_calendar#Shire_calendar
 
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I have a question about last night's lecture, I was just able to finish watching the part I missed on YouTube.

The part about "Which story, I wonder."

I understand that Tolkien published a version of the Hobbit that he later changed, and thereby reflected that change in this dialogue in the LotR.
What I am confused about, is which was the truth, and which was the lie? In the original Hobbit, what did Bilbo say happened? And then what was the actual true story?
Just want to clarify! Tolkien is an epic genius.
 
Eternitie said:
I understand that Tolkien published a version of the Hobbit that he later changed, and thereby reflected that change in this dialogue in the LotR.
What I am confused about, is which was the truth, and which was the lie? In the original Hobbit, what did Bilbo say happened? And then what was the actual true story?
Just want to clarify! Tolkien is an epic genius.
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It's very difficult to find an actual copy of the original edition of The Hobbit but not so difficult to find out what was changed. This, for example, is a side-by-side comparison of the original text with the new version.

The "actual true story" is what is in the text now, as far as we know, and what he told the Dwarves and Gandalf was the original text: Gollum meant to keep his promise and was genuinely upset that he could not find the Ring only for that reason.

You might find this YouTube series helpful as well as The Tolkien Professor is currently leading us through the development of the early chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring which includes mention of how The Hobbit had to be altered to fit the new scenario.
 
I wonder if you have ever heard it said the description of Bilbo at the beginning of Chapter 2 sound much like a Leprechaun. Do you think Tolkien could have had that in mind? Here's a quote: "...Mad Baggins, who used to vanish with a bang and a flash and reappear with bags of jewels and gold..."
 
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