Hobbit-speech

The Hobbits' language

The term Hobbitish was one given for the sub-dialect of Westron, a tongue spoken by Hobbits of the Shire.

History

Origin

The original language of the Hobbits was lost in history, but the earliest Hobbit-language was likely a northern Mannish tongue, which would have been learned from the Éothéod. This is because the earliest known location of the Hobbits was in the upper vales of the Anduin river; a place located in the same area as the Éothéod lived.

Regional oddities

Once, a number of Stoors moved briefly to Eriador. While there, they came in contact with the Dunlendings, and picked up a few Dunlendish words. When the Stoors later moved to the Shire, they quickly adopted Hobbitish. Because of their Dunlending background, however, several regional oddities came about in regions that the Stoors had settled in such as Buckland and The Marish.

Hobbitish and Rohirric

By the War of the Ring, Rohirric and Hobbitish had many similarities which were obvious; even to a non-speaker like Meriadoc Brandybuck. This was primarily due to the language's northern Mannish background. As a result of this, some of the more archaic elements that did not exist in Westron were retained, meaning that upon hearing Rohirric, Merry was able to recognize several words which clearly sounded like old words used in the Shire.

Grammar

Seeing as Hobbitish was a regional dialect spoken in rural farming regions, it was not as refined as the true form of the language which was spoken in locations such as Gondor or Rivendell. The language itself contained a number of simplifications and archaisms.

Formal pronoun

Farmers made up majority of the Hobbit society, and as a result there was a lack of formal pronouns. Hobbitish adopted only the familiar pronoun of Westron, but not the deferential pronoun.

The lack of formal pronouns was most obvious when Peregrin Took was speaking to Denethor II, the Steward and ruler of Gondor. Unintentionally, Pippin was addressing Denethor using highly informal language, the latter of which seemed to react with some puzzlement at this.

 Naming

Men

The name given to a Hobbit varies; some names are Hobbitish, but many are ancient, and may have an unknown meaning.

• Peasants and tradesmen such as the Gamgees traditionally used short archaic names, similar to that of the Éothéod.

• Old, aristocratic families like the Tooks took names from mostly from myths and legends of the past. Their names typically referred to weapons, battles, or bravery (such as Hildifons Took).

• Bucklanders such as the Brandybucks wore peculiar names which were apparently derived from southern Stoorish.

• Common names were predominantly worn by middle class Hobbits such as the Bagginses; they were generally short and often meaningless. Male names usually ended in an "-a."

Women

Hobbit women would often have names of flowers or jewels; although some may have been derived from a different source.

• Common names were predominantly worn by middle class Hobbits such as the Bagginses; they were generally short and often meaningless. Females names usually ended in an "-o" or "-e."

• Respectable Hobbit women had names derived from exotic and mythical plants (such as Amaranth Brandybuck, or Belladonna Took).

• Other, more ordinary families such as the Bagginses or Gamgees had names of more common species of plants (such as Marigold Gamgee, or Poppy Chubb-Baggins).

• The use of a jewel name was rare in higher class families such as the Tooks, but in other families such as the Boffins, Bolgers, and Gardners it was not so uncommon (such as Berylla, Ruby).

Vocabulary

Hobbitish and more proper forms of Westron had one major difference which is the amount of archaic words present in the tongue. The following list showcases some examples of archaic Hobbitish terms:

• Hobbit (kuduk), the word that the Hobbits called themselves. It is thought to have been derived from the name that the Northmen gave to them while the resided in the Vales of the Anduin. This name was the Rohirric term "Holbytla," which translates into Westron as "hole-builder."
• Smial (trân), translates into "large excavated hole used as a home" (such as Bag End, Brandy Hall, or the Great Smials).
• Mathom (kast), "old thing which you no longer have a use for but don't want to throw away; a knick-nack; an antique" (i.e. the Mathom-house is a museum)
• Thain, the title of the ruler of the Shire after the loss of Arvedui.
• Withywindle, river name, peculiar to the language of the Shire.
• Swertings, a word referring to the Swarthy Men.
• Oliphaunts, archaic name of the gigantic beasts, also known as Mûmakil.
• Goblin, the evil race properly termed "Orcs" in Common Speech were referred to as "Goblins" by the Hobbits. This is apparently some local colloquialism of uncertain origin. However, while this originated as a Hobbit "slang term" for Orcs, due to the presence of the Shire on the major trade route of the Great East Road, over the centuries this term was actually picked up by members of other races (much as how smoking Pipe-weed was). The term actually gained a high degree of popularity throughout Middle-earth. The term "Goblin" came to more often be used when referring to smaller Orcs, of the type Hobbits were more likely to see (rare roving bands like that led by Golfimbul). Larger soldier-Orcs bred for war were less likely to be referred to as "Goblins", because they never really encountered them, thus larger breeds of Orcs would often simply be called "Orcs".

Real-world background

Αll of this ties into the fact that "Westron" as it appears in the books written by J.R.R. Tolkien functions under the conceit that "Common Speech" is really a separate foreign language which Tolkien "translated" into English. For example, the name "Meriadoc Brandybuck" is "translated" into English from the "genuine Westron" name Kalimac Brandagamba (which would make it, actually "genuine Hobbitish")

In order to mirror the peculiar and rustic dialect of Hobbits, Tolkien invented new words by "modernizing" obsolete archaic Old English ones that had not survived in modern language; such examples are Thain from þegn, mathom from māþum and smial from smygel.

The most obvious linguistic parallel between the "Hobbitish" dialect and language of the Rohirrim is in the name "Hobbit" itself: according to Théoden of Rohan, there are a few legends among the Rohirrim about Hobbit-like creatures that they call the Holbytlan in Rohirric. Rohirric is actually "translated" into Old English in the books just as Westron is into English, because it is an archaic form of Westron. "Holbytlan" in Old English means "Hole-builders", an apt name for the Hobbits. However, in "genuine Westron", the word translated into English as "Hobbit", is actually "Kuduk." The corresponding "genuine Rohirric" word from which it evolved is "Kûd-dûkan".

Parallels

As Tolkien did with the Mannish languages which he rendered with Germanic names, various regional Hobbitish names are usually rendered with variant forms.

• Westron = Modern English
• "Middle Westron" (of the Yellowskin Book) = Middle English
• "Old Marish-hobbitish" = (Old) Welsh
• Fallohide names = Frankish (a variety of Old High German)
• "Bre-landish" = Eastern Brythonic (the variety of the British Celtic language spoken in Logria, before it became "England")
• "Buckland-ish" = Celtic influence, due to the high concentration of Stoor-Hobbit blood. The Stoors used to live near the Dunlendings  and had some linguistic influence from them.

A few hobbit names of Elvish origin are translated as Latin or Frenchified Latin names, such as Gerontius Took, Paladin Took, and Peregrin Took.

 Portrayal in adaptations

BBC Radio's The Lord of the Rings

It is known that Terence Tiller briefly corresponded with Tolkien about what accents should be used. It is unknown if he followed Tolkien's advice.

The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)

There seems to be little contrast in style, other than the rural portrayal of Samwise Gamgee.

The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)

Any dialectical difference is completely removed. Sam speaks the same English as the other Hobbits.

BBC Radio's Tales from the Perilous Realm

In the two episodes of "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", Jonathan Adams' portrayal of Sam Gamgee is close to over-the-top rustic. He speaks in a grumbling, low voice.

The Lord of the Rings (film series)

Considerable attention was paid to the dialects characters speak with and cast members trained extensively with dialogue coaches. Hobbits in the films speak with basically an English Midlands accent, because Tolkien said that the Shire was based largely on his boyhood home in the Midlands. Of the main Hobbit characters:

• Sam Gamgee speaks with the working-class rustic Midlands accent which was used as the standard for all the other minor Hobbit characters.
• Bilbo and Frodo Baggins  because they are both book-educated, speak with a slightly more refined and less pronounced accent.
• The actor who played Pippin, Billy Boyd, is Scottish, and originally he was supposed to speak like the others, but eventually it was decided that it was adversely affecting his comic timing. The production team then invented the justification that the Took region of the Shire is described as very hilly, so much so that when Saruman's  ruffians take over the rest of the Shire they are successfully repulsed from Took-land due to its rough terrain, and thus is it loosely analogous to Scotland. Thus, it was decided that Tooks should speak with a Scottish accent as well, and Boyd was allowed to use his normal Scottish accent when portraying Pippin for the entire trilogy of films.
• Meriadoc Brandybuck is described as being the linguistic "oddball" of the group: he was not from any of the four farthings of the Shire, but a Brandybuck from Buckland, and thus is from a region apart. To reflect this, his accent is noticeably distinct from the other Hobbits seen on-screen, something of an invention between actor Dominic Monaghan and the dialect coaches, to reflect his unique origin.