Something about Tolkien I noticed this month: Despite Tolkien being an extremely widely read conlanger who wrote in detail about fantasy cultures, he hasn’t really introduced a single new word to the english language. I find this very concerning. Ada Palmer has introduced many words that I think may have a life outside of her work (utopian, bash, sensayer, nurturist), so what is Tolkien doing? Is there some kind of attachment to impracticality deep in his thoughts that keeps him from doing it? It doesn’t seem like that’s it, as both “Mathom” and “Eucatastrophe” would be useful to have around (I may try to hoist eucatastrophe given that the lack of that word may be the reason positive singularities are rarely depicted)
He’s done something stronger than that: he has taken words that existed before, and replaced whatever meanings they may have had with his own. Elf, dwarf, orc, … these now indelibly bear his mark.
Something about Tolkien I noticed this month: Despite Tolkien being an extremely widely read conlanger who wrote in detail about fantasy cultures, he hasn’t really introduced a single new word to the english language. I find this very concerning. Ada Palmer has introduced many words that I think may have a life outside of her work (utopian, bash, sensayer, nurturist), so what is Tolkien doing? Is there some kind of attachment to impracticality deep in his thoughts that keeps him from doing it? It doesn’t seem like that’s it, as both “Mathom” and “Eucatastrophe” would be useful to have around (I may try to hoist eucatastrophe given that the lack of that word may be the reason positive singularities are rarely depicted)
He’s done something stronger than that: he has taken words that existed before, and replaced whatever meanings they may have had with his own. Elf, dwarf, orc, … these now indelibly bear his mark.