Re: Possible self-mockery in LotR?

On 10/20/24 22:34, The Horny Goat wrote:

On Thu, 17 Oct 2024 07:54:38 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
<michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
 

In LotR, Book V, Chapter 8, Aragorn says (in part) the following to
Meriadoc:
>
   [...] If your pack has not been found, then you must send for
   the herb-master of this House. And he will tell you that he
   did not know that the herb you desire had any virtues, but
   that it is called _westmansweed_ by the vulgar, and _galenas_
   by the noble, and other names in other tongues more learned,
   and after adding a few half-forgotten rhymes that he does not
   understand, he will regretfully inform you that there is none
   in the House, and he will leave you to reflect on the history
   of tongues. [...]
>
Whew! That's quite a sentence.
>
Is it possible that JRRT was indulging in a bit of self-mockery here,
given his main area of study, as well as one of his reasons for writing
LotR in the first place, was "the history of tongues"?
>

An alternate explanation is that JRRT was being paid by the word....

That would be a losing deal for a publisher hiring a
Philogist. There is always a longer and more confusing way
to say so.
I think the self-deprecatory jib at the learned is
is just that for the sake of humor.

bliss
--
b l i s s dash s f 4 e v e r at d s l e x t r e m e dot c o m