Plain Ignorance in the Vulgar Tongue: Tolkien's Onomastic Humour in Farmer Giles of Ham (original) (raw)

AI-generated Abstract

As a die-hard philologist, J.R.R. Tolkien was always exceptionally careful in the choice of names for his numerous characters and locations. Whether they be of (originally) Norse, Celtic, Finnish or other provenance, both the anthroponyms and the toponyms he used for the Middle-earth characters give the appearance of having been methodically selected to comply with the rigid contours of his complex linguistic map. Seen in this light, his short and light-hearted medieval fable Farmer Giles of Ham makes a notable, if somewhat disregarded, exception where the typically serious author frequently gives vent to his outstanding sense of philological humour. Here Tolkien's comic talent really shines through, as the reluctant hero Giles suddenly finds himself face to face with his not-quite-mortal foe, the greedy but craven dragon by the name of Chrysophylax Dives, and so the story gradually develops into what in all likelihood is a tongue-in-cheek rendering of the dragon episodes in Beowulf and the Vǫlsunga saga. A noteworthy addition to the witty plotline is the aforementioned philological humour which may not necessarily seem to be of prime importance to its younger readers, but could easily provoke many a smile amongst the more scholarly-minded people (as it doubtlessly did amongst his fellow Inklings). In Farmer Giles of Ham Tolkien evidently amused himself (and others) by giving the characters elaborate Latinate names and making up false etymologies. The paper seeks to examine the nature and supposed purpose of these little onomastic bits and pieces (i.e. mostly personal and place-names) with a particular emphasis on the sometimes surprisingly complex (and thus amusing) implications of their cultural roots.