Tolkien's Etymology in Lord of the Rings

J.R.R Tolkien was not only an author with a vivid imagination; he was also an English professor and a scholar in many fields. One of those fields, one that attracted his personal attention is etymology. Discovering the history of words was of his particular interest, and so when he wrote, or to more rightly express it when he created the world of Middle Earth, etymology and philology are both deeply rooted in its pages. Having worked for the Oxford Dictionary for two years, Tolkien’s knowledge of etymology was very expansive, and his passion for it fueled the naming of several figures and places in the realm of Middle Earth (Feeling for Language). Most of these names were known as “talking names” because their derivatives often could be directly associated with the nature of that character. Not only were there literal descriptions rooted in the names, but there was also a history behind many of them, the purpose of which is to create a pre-established perspective on certain parts of the book. Etymology is very deeply rooted in the Lord of the Rings series, out of the will of passion for language and diction.