Dwarf Names in The Hobbit: Manuscript Sources

Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' features dwarves, plus the wizard Gandalf, named for dwarves in the poem 'Vǫluspá.' But there are different versions of that medieval text, and finding Tolkien's exact source is slightly complicated.

[Blake_Stone]

Tolkien named the Dwarves in the Hobbit using the Voluspa (and poached many other names in his books from other real world sources) on a whim that I think he later regretted. Most authors would be happy to leave it at that, but Tolkien was a different breed. He'd invested an enormous amount of time and effort into his Legendarium for many years before he wrote the Hobbit (and decided to loosely tie it in to his earlier work, basically just for kicks) and it had a full system of fictional languages - so it made no sense for characters to have names in Old English, Old Norse etc. He stressed that everything in the book was "translated" from its fictional language equivalent - the characters aren't really speaking English and similarly the names aren't really the "Anglicised" ones presented to the reader. He actually gave a few of the "untranslated" names, eg "Bilbo Baggins" was the Anglicised version of "Bilba Labingi", "Frodo Baggins" was "Maura Labingi", Pippin was "Razanur", Meriadoc/Merry was "Kalimac/Kali" etc. I think he chose these names for a suitable etymology, eg "Kali" simply meant "Merry", meanwhile "Razanur" was the name of a famous traveller thus "Peregrine/Pippin". But I don't think he gave an equivalent for all the names in his writings - so I don't know if he ever provided "untranslated" names for the Dwarves in the Hobbit. However a logical approach would be to take the meanings of the names from Voluspa (where known) and translate them into Khuzdul, which I think some devoted fans have attempted.

[lakrids-pibe]

The first audio version of the Hobbit in danish was read by the actor Ove Sprogøe.

He pronunces Gandalf as *Gand-Alf.* (Or *Gan' Alf* with a silent *d, * as we like it in danish)

I've always found that interesting. Ove Sprogøe is a legend.

[gypsydonovan]

There is a remarkable medievalist in Seattle, Robin Stacey. Her main focus is Celtic, but she had a wide range of unique history classes while teaching at the University of Washington. One was a full course on Tolkien (I believe it filled up on the first day of registration).

She's retired but is currently doing a lecture series, "medieval made modern". The first was in dragons, the most recent was on the origins of King Arthur- Tolkien was mentioned in both.

It's almost impossible to study medieval history or European folklore & not run into names & ideas Tolkien incorporated.

He did it brilliantly, beautifully & with respect. He was a historian. He was a linguist. He brought otherwise obscure references to the forefront of popular culture in an original way people are constantly trying to copy. Unfortunately, they might look up names or read Wikipedia articles & miss the complex, subtle & contextual aspects Tolkien understood.

He was truly a genius. He was writing our own old stories in a new way. I wish he'd seen the Jackson movies. I suspect he'd love them, but who knows.

Usually someone with mainstream success is shredded by academia as if sharing information lessens it or that knowledge should be reserved for some elite group. There's a lot I love about it, but ego can be a problem. I believe in open access, open minds & sharing what you have to give. But I've seen even the most snobbish folklorist fighting with a linguist for the right to "claim" Tolkien as one of his own.

Tolkien belongs to anyone who appreciates him, even if they have no awareness that any of it has a recorded basis from which he drew.

[pattheplanter]

Dval- in variations in Old Norse, Swedish and Danish can mean sleep as well as delay. So, Sleepy was the only one of the True Dwarves to be reflected in the Eddas. The rare English word dwale means a soporific drink or the Deadly Nightshade.

[markwaldron]

But the most salient question regarding dwarves and similar beings is, did/do they exist? It would seem odd that beliefs in such beings could be found across North European cultures (Germanic, Celtic, etc) without some basis in reality.

[seanwelch]

The tool's shapes provide a clue to the characters body type and their contrasting personalities. The tool reference is strong as well.

[IvanGarpe]

There was a Balin in the Arthurian legends, Sir Balin Le Savage, the Knight of Two Swords

[yobgodababua]

It's just a thing poets do... "Their names were Hammer and Tongs, FIle and Chisel, Forge-elf, Wind-elf and Staff-elf, Full Moon and New Moon, North, South, East and West, and Steve.

[joeg]

Setting aside the Tolkein aspect, if you asked me why there's a random list of dwarf names in Voluspa, I would draw a parallel to the names of Santa Claus' reindeer. Over time they have mutated a bit since they've been misheard (Donder -> Donner), and new ones have been added to the list (Rudolph)

[OldieBugger]

I think Balin & Dwalin, as well as Ori & Dori had the other one just thrown in there by Tolkien, to make pairs (twins?). And in the case of Nori, triplets.

[OldieBugger]

Btw, in Tolkien's stories Gandalf was _not_ an elf. He was a demigod, as stated in The Silmarillion and subtly hinted to in The Lord of the Rings.

[MatsHalldin]

Thanks for another great video! I watched this with YouTube subtitles turned on. The translations of Vǫluspá was fun! *grin*

[Ennio]

And Gandalf is possibly cognate with names that occur in the Frankish and Lombard worlds like Gandolfo or Wendell

[sortehuse]

In Danish a file is "en fil" and a wedge is "en kile", so it close to Fíli og Kíli.

[Cchogan]

Just bought your translation of the Poetic Edda. Because the fantasy I am writing dips its toes into the world of Saxon and Old Norse ( the conceit in the story is that my tale and peoples pre-date those the Scandinavians and those people of Jutland etc, and that these languages and cultures "inherited" from my peoples), I have been looking for a good translation of the Poetic Edda. I am looking forward to a good read!

In my story, btw, I have chosen not to use the word "dwarf" but use dweorg and dweorgas. I wanted to remove that culture from the world of Disney, even Tolkien, and also a couple of actors I have worked with who were uncomfortable with the word used to describe them. Also, my dweorg are not especially short compared to humans, so stepping back a few centuries linguistically seemed sensible all round.!

[basilbrushbooshieboosh]

Isn't there a sword named Balin somewhere in Gaelic mythology, interpretations or inclusions in semi- fictional representations. Possibly from The Green Knight but I may have that wrong. Possibly Irish.

[Navifaerie]

Alf being used as a catch-all for lesser supernatural creatures makes sense. Obviously, I will defer to Professor Crawford if I'm mistaken, but isn't "Svartalfar" another name for Dwarves? Black elves? In all fairness, I don't remember where I got this information, but it was probably from the small Norse section of Edith Hamilton's "Mythology" or a few other books on myths I have but can't remember at the moment.

[faarsight]

I saw all of the names when I read it in Swedish, I think.

[Taygetea]

when you said the 'wormianus prose edda' was a very divergent version i immediately thought of the cgp grey videos about the name tiffany, and theo hearne, who wrote a bad copy of the scotichronicon, was parodied by alexander pope into a character named wormius. i know it doesnt actually follow that hearne would have written a version of another text and called himself wormianus, but it was interesting how strongly the light bulb went off. is this how bad history happens lol

[MrAcuriteOf]

What if some of the names are just supposed to sound silly, whimsical, or such as to fit the poetic meter? I can't imagine there was ever any intense backstory to Ickle Me, Pickle Me, or Tickle Me per Shel Silverstein's work.