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Tolkien tänkte verkligen att namnet Samwise skulle vara "halvvitt"
Tolkien diskuterar samtidigt namnet Samwise på olika sätt under hans bokstäver, medan han tänkte kalla honom "halvvitsen" Tolkien hade mycket kärlek till karaktären.
Sam by the way is an abbreviation not of Samuel but of Samwise (The Old E. for Half-wit), as is his father’s name the Gaffer (Ham) for O.E. Hamfast or Stayathome. Hobbits of that class have very Saxon names as a rule....
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter #72
this jewel among the hobbits
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter #76
Sam is meant to be lovable and laughable.......He is a more representative Hobbit than any others that we see much of: and he has consequently a stronger ingredient of that quality which even some hobbits found at times hard to bear: a vulgarity- by which I do not mean ’down-to-earthiness’- a mental myopia which is proud of itself, a smugness(in varying degrees) and cocksuredness, and a readiness to measure and sum up all things from a limited experience, largely enshrined in sententious traditional ’wisdom’.............Sam is cocksure, and deep down a little conceited; but his conceit is transformed by his devotion for Frodo.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter #246
Tolkien visar stor uppskattning av karaktären och medan namnet verkligen betyder "halvvits" tror jag inte att han menade att han skulle tro på Sam som dum, utan istället som någon som kom från "begränsad erfarenhet" . Sam var en mycket mer sympatisk karaktär i Tolkiens sinn i motsats till Frodo, och kände sig i hans sinne var den mer äkta hobbiten:
Sam is the most closely drawn character, the successor to Bilbo of the first book, the genuine hobbit. Frodo will naturally become too ennobled and rarerified by the achievement of the great Quest, and will pass West with all the great figures; but S. will settle down to the Shire and gardens and inns.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter #93
Varning Frodo-avsnittet är mindre komplett
Tolkien var igen medveten om att Frodo var från den germanska fród
Medan Frodo skulle vara från de germanska rötterna för att vara "klok av erfarenhet" hade den ytterligare konnotationer
Frodo is a real name from the Germanic tradition. Its Old English form was Fróda. Its obvious connexion is with the old word fród meaning etymologically 'wise by experience', but it had mythological connexions with legends of the Golden Age in the North.
Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter #168
Frodo erfarenhet visas av sin resande natur i sin ungdom. Han hade äventyrat med sina två "rikare" vänner, Peregrin och Meriadoc, i sin ungdom.
Frodo went tramping all over the Shire with them; but more often he wandered by himself, and to the amazement of sensible folk he was sometimes seen far from home walking in the hills and woods under the starlight. Merry and Pippin suspected that he visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done.
The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1, Chapter 2: The Shadow of the Past