tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post4653925321808191807..comments2024-03-27T21:39:23.192-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: Medvedev the BeorningJohn D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-16994865501151720112008-03-17T11:34:00.000-07:002008-03-17T11:34:00.000-07:00John, Mark’s thoughts are not yet published, so I’...John, Mark’s thoughts are not yet published, so I’ll send you an email privately rather than enumerate them here.Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-86156145632082290922008-03-16T00:13:00.000-07:002008-03-16T00:13:00.000-07:00Jason, yes, dumbledores appear in "Errantry" [circ...Jason, yes, dumbledores appear in "Errantry" [circa 1932?]:<BR/><BR/>"He battled with the Dumbledors,<BR/>the Hummerhorns, and Honeybees,<BR/>and won the Golden Honeycomb; <BR/>and running home on sunny seas..."<BR/><BR/>--an appropriately silly analogue to Jason's Golden Fleece--<BR/><BR/>and they may also lie behind the "golden honey-flies" of "Goblin Feet" [1915]<BR/><BR/>what was Mark Hooker's theory? I'd be glad to know it.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Steven, <BR/>it's possible that Tolkien took the name from Sackville-West (supposed to be the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's ORLANDO), though Tolkien's lack of interest in Modernism complicates that theory. Or it may have come from Sir Thomas Sackville, Queen Elizabeth's Lord High Treasurer and co-author of one of the earliest Elizabethan plays, GORBODUC [1562] (which I must confess I've never read) and of The Induction to THE MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES [1563], which is an amazing piece of work. At any rate, the basis point is to get the SACK vs. BAG joke in there.<BR/> Oddly enough, the original form of the name in the HOBBIT manuscript was ALLIBONE-BAGGINS, so the characters were not inspired by some historical Sackville(s), wherever the final name came from.<BR/><BR/>--John R.John D. Rateliffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-44833406478863264012008-03-14T12:47:00.000-07:002008-03-14T12:47:00.000-07:00I always wondered if the Sackville-Bagginses had s...I always wondered if the Sackville-Bagginses had something of a relation in Vita Sackville-West of the Bloomsbury Group (and alleged inspiration for V. Woolf's ORLANDO). Know anything on that, John (or others)?SESchendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17600071050161834613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-61529486825101446462008-03-13T14:44:00.000-07:002008-03-13T14:44:00.000-07:00[...] the genus name for bumblebees is BOMBUS. I'v...<I>[...] the genus name for bumblebees is BOMBUS. I've always wondered if this might have been an element in Bombadil's name, but never followed up on it because I can't see the application.</I><BR/><BR/>It could be! Rather like Rowling's Professor Dumbledore, whose name means the same thing.<BR/><BR/>I have wondered whether Bombadil's name, like Bombur's, might contain ON <I>bumba</I> "drum". And he was originally a Dutch doll, wasn't he? Dutch <I>bomme</I> is "drum" also. He's very musical, of course. And when Bombadil rescues the Hobbits from the barrow, "the dark chamber echoed as if to <I>drum</I> and trumpet" (emphasis added). It could be mere coincidence, I know, and the name predates this passage by many years.<BR/><BR/>Some might question a Norse- or Germanic-style name for him, considering his location in the west of Middle-earth, but on the other hand, we have to remember that the comical character of Tom Bombadil predates most of its creation, springing instead out of some earlier paracosm of childhood. I haven't taken the time to look for clues in the original poems, though I've meant to.<BR/><BR/>Mark Hooker also has an interesting — and entirely different — theory about his name.Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.com