Home » Reading & Literature » J.R.R. Tolkien » Tip-toe Through the Toponymy - Page 8

Tip-toe Through the Toponymy - Page 8

© Michael Martinez

Tolkien does not say exactly what he had in mind with "Bucca", but his notes on translation mention that "buck" in Oldbuck refers to "animal ... either Old English bucc 'male deer' (fallow or roe), or bucca 'he-goat'." Bucca's name is significant not only because it served as the root for a great deal of Shire nomenclature, but also because it is one of the earliest examples of Shire personal names. Marcho and Blancho, the Fallohide brothers who founded the Shire, have been compared by some to Hengist and Horsa, since "Marcho" seems to owe something to Germanic "marh/mearha" (horse). "Blancho" probably owes something to the French word for "white", since "Whitefoot" and "Whitfurrows" occur in Shire nomenclature. Although "Whitfurrows" (white furrows) may refer to the chalky color of the ground in the region, Old Will Whitfoot might be a descendant of Blancho. Place-names in the Buckland are mostly self-explanatory: Haysend (end of the High Hay in the south), Brandy Hall, Newbury (New Borough, New Town), and Crickhollow ("small depression in the ground" by a creek, although Salo proposes "low place by the hill"). One name which stands out is "Standelf". The word "stan" is Anglo-Saxon for "stone", and we've seen "delf" in "Dwarrowdelf" (dwarf delving, accoridng to Tolkien). Andreas Moehn and David Salo both translate the name as "stone quarry". The large number of Anglo-Saxon roots might be explained by the close relationship between Westron and Rohirric, but Tolkien wrote that the Stoors did bring many strange words with them. "Hobbit" and "mathom" are two words which, supposedly, go way back to the Vales of Anduin. The Stoors were probably more conservative in their language than the Harfoots and Fallowhides who had long dwelt under the rule of the Dunedain. Which is not to discount Tolkien's statement that the Stoors brought some "strange words" from Dunland. It is generally accepted that Dunland would have been the source for names like Kalimac (Meriadoc), but Tolkien tells us very little about the nature of the words which the Stoors brought to the Shire. Tolkien mentioned in his notes for translators that the Shire was "an organized region with a 'county-town' (in the case of the hobbits' Shire this was Michel Delving)." He added at the end of the entry for "Shire" that he had based the "true" name, Suza, on "the Old Norse and modern Icelandic sysla...; hence it was also said (I 14) that it was so named as 'a district of well-ordered business'."

The copyright of the article Tip-toe Through the Toponymy - Page 8 in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish Tip-toe Through the Toponymy - Page 8 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.