The Lord of the Rings

jest of that kind would have been hobbit-like enough, had there been any warrant in their language.
    Cotton, in fact, represents
Hlothran,
a fairly common village-name in the Shire, derived from
hloth,
‘a two-roomed dwelling or hole’, and
ran(u)
a small group of such dwellings on a hill-side. As a surname it may be an alteration of
hlothram(a)
‘cottager’.
Hlothram,
which I have rendered Cotman, was the name of Farmer Cotton’s grandfather.
    Brandywine.
The hobbit-names of this river were alterations of the Elvish
Baranduin
(accented on
and),
derived from
baran
‘golden brown’ and
duin
‘(large) river’. Of
Baranduin
Brandywine seemed a natural corruption in modern times. Actually the older hobbit-name was
Branda-nîn
‘border-water’, which would have been more closely rendered by Marchbourn; but by a jest that had become habitual, referring again to its colour, at this time the river was usually called
Bralda-hîm
‘heady ale’.
    It must be observed, however, that when the Oldbucks
(Zaragamba)
changed their name to Brandybuck
(Brandagamba),
the first element meant ‘borderland’, and Marchbuck would have been nearer. Only a very bold hobbit would have ventured to call the Master of Buckland
Braldagamba
in his hearing.

I
THE LANGUAGES AND PEOPLES OF THE THIRD AGE
     
    The language represented in this history by English was the
Westron
or ‘Common Speech’ of the West-lands of Middle-earth in the Third Age. In the course of that age it had become the native language of nearly all the speaking-peoples (save the Elves) who dwelt within the bounds of the old kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor; that is along all the coasts from Umbar northward to the Bay of Forochel, and inland as far as the Misty Mountains and the Ephel Dúath. It had also spread north up the Anduin, occupying the lands west of the River and east of the mountains as far as the Gladden Fields.
    At the time of the War of the Ring at the end of the age these were still its bounds as a native tongue, though large parts of Eriador were now deserted, and few Men dwelt on the shores of the Anduin between the Gladden and Rauros.
    A few of the ancient Wild Men still lurked in the Drúadan Forest in Anórien; and in the hills of Dunland a remnant lingered of an old people, the former inhabitants of much of Gondor. These clung to their own languages; while in the plains of Rohan there dwelt now a Northern people, the Rohirrim, who had come into that land some five hundred years earlier. But the Westron was used as a second language of intercourse by all those who still retained a speech of their own, even by the Elves, not only in Arnor and Gondor but throughout the vales of Anduin, and eastward to the further eaves of Mirkwood. Even among the Wild Men and the Dunlendings who shunned other folk there were some that could speak it, though brokenly.
    OF THE ELVES
     
    The Elves far back in the Elder Days became divided into two main branches: the West-elves (the
Eldar
) and the East-elves. Of the latter kind were most of the Elven-folk of Mirkwood and Lórien; but their languages do not appear in this history, in which all the Elvish names and words are of
Eldarin
form. 1 Of the
Eldarin
tongues two are found in this book: the High-elven or
Quenya,
and the Grey-elven or
Sindarin.
The High-elven was an ancienttongue of Eldamar beyond the Sea, the first to be recorded in writing. It was no longer a birth-tongue, but had become, as it were, an ‘Elvenlatin’, still used for ceremony, and for high matters of lore and song, by the High Elves, who had returned in exile to Middle-earth at the end of the First Age.
    The Grey-elven was in origin akin to
Quenya;
for it was the language of those Eldar who, coming to the shores of Middle-earth, had not passed over the Sea but had lingered on the coasts in the country of Beleriand. There Thingol Greycloak of Doriath was their king, and in the long twilight their tongue had changed with the changefulness of mortal lands and had become far estranged from the speech of the Eldar from beyond the Sea.
    The Exiles, dwelling among the more numerous Grey-elves, had adopted the
Sindarin
for daily use; and hence it was the tongue of all those Elves and Elf-lords that appear in this history. For these were all of Eldarin race, even where the folk that they ruled were of the lesser kindreds. Noblest of all was the Lady Galadriel of the royal house of Finarfin and sister of Finrod Felagund, King of Nargothrond. In the hearts