Language is an integral part of Tolkien’s writing, not merely as a vehicle for thoughts, but as a piece of culture prized for its richness. In mythology, its connection to culture is particularly evident. Letter 180 makes this connection clear. In it, Tolkien expresses that a primary goal of his works is “to restore to the English an epic tradition and present them with a mythology of their own.” Despite Tolkien’s invented languages, English is still the primary language within his works. This is not simply happenstance of it being Tolkien’s native language. His work, though appreciable by all, is meant to create a specifically English mythology, not merely a general fantasy. But if this is the case, why create languages of Middle-Earth? I believe that Tolkien’s constructed languages serve to illustrate English (and the English) not existing within a vacuum. Though the Lord of the Rings, for instance, is ostensibly meant to be an English epic that Tolkien felt was absent in history, conlangs help to represent an Elvish presence necessary for English Mythology.
There is a simplistic objection to this interpretation: Tolkien was a philologist, and his invented languages could simply be outlets for a creative interest of his. He did express dismay at several contemporaneous conlangs, such as Esperanto and Novial on the grounds of their lack of legends. He writes, “I made the discovery that ‘legends’ depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the ‘legends’ which it conveys by tradition… Esperanto… [is] dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends.” The lack of an Esperanto culture, to Tolkien, is particularly evident in its lack of legends. So, Tolkien wrote legends for his languages, not languages for his legends. However, The Lord of the Rings does not fully fit under this category of writing, as it is a work to represent the mythology of the English, and thereby integrates the English language. The Elvish languages instead bring light to the culture of the Elves, ancient and beautiful. Their words are meant to evoke existing languages, yet be apart. The Elves, critical to Tolkien’s idea of mythology, must be represented with their own language, as the foreign languages of men cannot truly give a sense of them.
The Elves, Men, and Dwarves have their own languages, yet the Hobbits do not. They speak a dialect of Westron (Hobbitish), but their language is represented as English (notwithstanding the fact that Tolkien presents many of his Middle Earth works, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as translations from ancient languages into English). In “Concerning Hobbits” in the introduction to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien notes that Hobbits have their own “peculiar words”, but speak the languages of Men. Just as the distinct languages of the Elves and Dwarves help establish their otherness, the shared language of Hobbits helps to remind the reader of their Englishness. Tolkien very well could have established a language for the Hobbits, but chose not to. By doing so, he would distance Hobbits from the English. They are not a mythical people, but a people meant to reflect a rustic English life. One can be an Elf-Friend, but not an Elf, as they are simply too different from Men. Along the same vein, Dwarves possess the same quality of ‘elfishness’, inspired by Germanic elf-stories. Hobbits, however, retain humanity: to Tolkien, some of the most enviable aspects of humanity. As Tolkien declares, “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated),” (Letter 213). Hobbits are presented as Men content with a simpler lifestyle. They delight in the rustic lifestyle that Tolkien so admires. Note how Tolkien follows this description: “I love Wales (what is left of it, when mines, and the even more ghastly sea-side resorts, have done their worst),” (213). Wales’s Beaty is to him scarred by its growing modernity, eschewing a Hobbit lifestyle. The idyllic English life must therefore be represented almost entirely by the English language. After all, Tolkien’s myths extol the humble and mighty alike.
There is a simplistic objection to this interpretation: Tolkien was a philologist, and his invented languages could simply be outlets for a creative interest of his. He did express dismay at several contemporaneous conlangs, such as Esperanto and Novial on the grounds of their lack of legends. He writes, “I made the discovery that ‘legends’ depend on the language to which they belong; but a living language depends equally on the ‘legends’ which it conveys by tradition… Esperanto… [is] dead, far deader than ancient unused languages, because their authors never invented any Esperanto legends.” The lack of an Esperanto culture, to Tolkien, is particularly evident in its lack of legends. So, Tolkien wrote legends for his languages, not languages for his legends. However, The Lord of the Rings does not fully fit under this category of writing, as it is a work to represent the mythology of the English, and thereby integrates the English language. The Elvish languages instead bring light to the culture of the Elves, ancient and beautiful. Their words are meant to evoke existing languages, yet be apart. The Elves, critical to Tolkien’s idea of mythology, must be represented with their own language, as the foreign languages of men cannot truly give a sense of them.
The Elves, Men, and Dwarves have their own languages, yet the Hobbits do not. They speak a dialect of Westron (Hobbitish), but their language is represented as English (notwithstanding the fact that Tolkien presents many of his Middle Earth works, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as translations from ancient languages into English). In “Concerning Hobbits” in the introduction to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien notes that Hobbits have their own “peculiar words”, but speak the languages of Men. Just as the distinct languages of the Elves and Dwarves help establish their otherness, the shared language of Hobbits helps to remind the reader of their Englishness. Tolkien very well could have established a language for the Hobbits, but chose not to. By doing so, he would distance Hobbits from the English. They are not a mythical people, but a people meant to reflect a rustic English life. One can be an Elf-Friend, but not an Elf, as they are simply too different from Men. Along the same vein, Dwarves possess the same quality of ‘elfishness’, inspired by Germanic elf-stories. Hobbits, however, retain humanity: to Tolkien, some of the most enviable aspects of humanity. As Tolkien declares, “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size). I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated),” (Letter 213). Hobbits are presented as Men content with a simpler lifestyle. They delight in the rustic lifestyle that Tolkien so admires. Note how Tolkien follows this description: “I love Wales (what is left of it, when mines, and the even more ghastly sea-side resorts, have done their worst),” (213). Wales’s Beaty is to him scarred by its growing modernity, eschewing a Hobbit lifestyle. The idyllic English life must therefore be represented almost entirely by the English language. After all, Tolkien’s myths extol the humble and mighty alike.
However, even Tolkien’s text rendered as English retains significant linguistic meaning. Tolkien does this primarily through names, carefully chosen for meaning. In The Lost Road, Chapter 1, Alboin asks his father Oswin about the significance of the name “Alboin” and why it was chosen. Oswin explains that he chose the name for its cultural meaning. Tolkien writes, “Their talk, as often happened, drifted into story-telling; and Oswin told his son the tale of Alboin son of Audoin, the Lombard king; and of the great battle of the Lombards and the Gepids, remembered as terrible even in the grim sixth century; and of the kings Thurisind and Cunimund, and of Rosamunda.” Oswin’s explanation of Alboin’s name reflects its Lombard roots, and serves as a vessel for storytelling. A name conjures up ancient stories. Moreover, Alboin literally means ‘Elf-Friend’, connecting him to the mythic world. However, I find Oswin’s specific choice of ‘Elf-friend’ name to be fascinating. It is not a reflection of heritage: Alboin is a Lombard name, while Alboin and Oswin are presumably English. As Oswin notes, Aelfwine would have been the ‘Elf-friend’ name in Old English. However, it is a reflection of a mixed English identity: Germanic and shaped by Roman and Celtic influences. Oswin rejects a ‘pure English’ name for his son, intentionally using a latinized form. He states, “So I took Alboin; for it is not Latin and not Northern, and that is the way of most names in the West, and also of the men that bear them…. I might have chosen Albinus… But it is too Latin, and means something in Latin. And you are not white or fair, boy, but dark. So Alboin you are.” Oswin here attempts to give a true English name, neither wholly Germanic nor Latin. Alboin’s name carries power, both in literal and referential sense, in reflecting an English identity. And by happy coincidence, the unrelated but similar Albion refers to Great Britain itself.
2 comments:
I had not thought of it before, but you are right: exactly how "English" is Tolkien's legendarium if its entire premise is that it was not written in English? We will talk more about Westron and the language that the hobbits are supposed to be speaking, but for the moment it is important to note that it was *not* English. Tolkien built his characters (at least some of them) on linguistic hints he found in English names, but the legendarium "for England" wasn't about England at all, except in (dread word) allegory—or was it? What did Tolkien mean when he said he was a hobbit? RLFB
Your finding that quote on Esperanto is so cool—I did not know Tolkien had commented on that project! Letter 190 has a very interesting insistence that the English place names of the Shire *cannot* be translated, including a fascinating digression into the whimsical and perhaps nonsensical origin of many place names we take for granted. We can see the same impulse in Farmer Giles of Ham, which is ostensibly a backstory to explain the name of a village along the River Thames.
Another big thematic question that Tolkien's desire to create a mythology for England provokes, for me, is the lack of a teleological sense of "arriving" at England in the legendarium. It's fairly clear that, after the Fourth Age, the ordinary history of the world we know begins. But this is always represented as a fading; the Elves have departed, Dwarves and Hobbits have become rare. The material world has less of Being as time goes on. Contrast this to the great national epics, the Aeneid or the Lusiads, in which arrival at the national present is a cause for celebration.
~LJF
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