The Encyclopedia of Arda - Gulls (original) (raw)

ALPHABETICAL RACES PLACES MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE INTERACTIVE SHARE User guide Latest entries FAQ and e-mail Disclaimer and bibliography Awards Old and rare words Lexicon of names Excyclopedia of Arda Movie-goer's Guides: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King The Hobbit Viewer's Companions: • An Unexpected Journey • The Desolation of Smaug • The Battle of the Five Armies Tolkien links Book news Latest Chronicle Calendar Old and rare words Lexicon of names Links Random
Location Found in Númenor and along the western coastlands of Middle-earth; especially associated with the Firth of Drengist, the Númenórean port of Rómenna and the Mouths of Anduin Species Numerous species of the family _Laridae_1 Culture The Teleri or Sea-elves held gulls in particular esteem Meaning Deriving from an Old Celtic word for a sea-bird Other names Occasionally known as _mews_2 Indexes: Alphabetical: G Animals and Plants About this entry: Updated 22 October 2019 Updates planned: 1 A general name for various types of related sea-birds, found around the shores of Middle-earth and Númenor in the same abundance as today. The sound of a gull mewing was said to awaken the Sea-longing in the heart of an Elf. Notes 1 There are numerous different kinds of gulls, but with the known regions of Middle-earth lying on the northeastern shores of the Great Sea, presumably the gulls found there would have been the same that are common in Europe today. Notable among these would be the common gull (Larus canus), the herring gull (Larus argentatus) and the black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), though many other kinds are also found in this wide area. 2 The word gull is a rare case where an original Anglo-Saxon word was displaced by one of Celtic origin; in Old English the name for birds of this kind was mæw. Indeed, gulls are still very occasionally referred to as 'mews', and Tolkien uses that old word in The Lord of the Rings (in the Lay of Nimrodel, there's a reference to 'mew upon the wing', in The Fellowship of the Ring II 6, Lothlórien). Over time the Anglo-Saxon word mæw was overtaken by a Celtic word related to Welsh gwylan, giving rise to modern English 'gull'. See also... Legolas Greenleaf, Sea-longing, South Wind Indexes: Alphabetical: G Animals and Plants About this entry: Updated 22 October 2019 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1999, 2001, 2019. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by myDISCprofile, the free online personality test.How do your personal strengths fit in with career matching? How can you identify them? Try a free personality test from myDISCprofile.

The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien

ALPHABETICAL RACES PLACES MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCE INTERACTIVE

SHARE User guide Latest entries FAQ and e-mail Disclaimer and bibliography Awards Old and rare words Lexicon of names Excyclopedia of Arda Movie-goer's Guides: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King The Hobbit Viewer's Companions: • An Unexpected Journey • The Desolation of Smaug • The Battle of the Five Armies Tolkien links Book news Latest Chronicle Calendar Old and rare words Lexicon of names Links Random

Location Found in Númenor and along the western coastlands of Middle-earth; especially associated with the Firth of Drengist, the Númenórean port of Rómenna and the Mouths of Anduin Species Numerous species of the family _Laridae_1 Culture The Teleri or Sea-elves held gulls in particular esteem Meaning Deriving from an Old Celtic word for a sea-bird Other names Occasionally known as _mews_2 Indexes: Alphabetical: G Animals and Plants About this entry: Updated 22 October 2019 Updates planned: 1 A general name for various types of related sea-birds, found around the shores of Middle-earth and Númenor in the same abundance as today. The sound of a gull mewing was said to awaken the Sea-longing in the heart of an Elf. Notes 1 There are numerous different kinds of gulls, but with the known regions of Middle-earth lying on the northeastern shores of the Great Sea, presumably the gulls found there would have been the same that are common in Europe today. Notable among these would be the common gull (Larus canus), the herring gull (Larus argentatus) and the black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), though many other kinds are also found in this wide area. 2 The word gull is a rare case where an original Anglo-Saxon word was displaced by one of Celtic origin; in Old English the name for birds of this kind was mæw. Indeed, gulls are still very occasionally referred to as 'mews', and Tolkien uses that old word in The Lord of the Rings (in the Lay of Nimrodel, there's a reference to 'mew upon the wing', in The Fellowship of the Ring II 6, Lothlórien). Over time the Anglo-Saxon word mæw was overtaken by a Celtic word related to Welsh gwylan, giving rise to modern English 'gull'. See also... Legolas Greenleaf, Sea-longing, South Wind Indexes: Alphabetical: G Animals and Plants About this entry: Updated 22 October 2019 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1999, 2001, 2019. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by myDISCprofile, the free online personality test.How do your personal strengths fit in with career matching? How can you identify them? Try a free personality test from myDISCprofile.