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Mondósar[1] was a town in the northwestern part of the island of Tol Eressëa, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales. It later became known as Oxford.[2]
History[]
Mondósar[1] was established some time after the island was permanently anchored in the Bay of Eldamar by the Vala Ulmo, at an unknown date in the Years of the Trees.[2]
After the Faring Forth, and the removal of Tol Eressëa to the Great Lands, Mondósar[1] was conquered by Horsa, one of the sons of Eriol, the Mannish mariner who visited the Lonely Isle years prior.[2]
Etymology[]
Mondósar is the Quenya name for "Oxford", probably a compound of mundo ("bull;[3] ox")[1] and the root THAR ("across, beyond")[4].[5]
Background[]
In a 1968 letter to the producer of the BBC documentary Tolkien in Oxford, Tolkien signed his name as Arcastar Mondósaresse ("Tolkien in Oxford").[1]
In other versions[]
In The Book of Lost Tales, Oxford was identified as Taruithorn in Gnomish. It consisted of the elements tarog ("ox") and tarn ("gate"). Its Qenya cognate was Taruktarna.[6]
Some of its earlier, rejected names are Taruitharn and Taruithron.[7]
The town was called Oxenaford in Old English.[2]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Christie's, Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts, Sale 7275, lot 152. See also "Tengwar Specimen #70 - "Tolkien in Oxford" Tengwar" on forodrim.org
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, chapter VI: "The History of Eriol or Ælfwine and the End of the Tales", outline 13, pgs. 292-3
- ↑ The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Letter 342, pg. 422
- ↑ "THAR" on eldamo.org
- ↑ "Mondósar" on eldamo.org
- ↑ "Taruithorn" on eldamo.org
- ↑ Parma Eldalamberon, issue XI: I·Lam na·Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of The Gnomish Tongue, pg. 69