Do Tolkiens älvor har spetsiga öron?

Douglas Anderson skrev (i The Annotated Hobbit, Flies and Spiders (not 6) 1988)

"In his notes on the stem LAS[1] from *lasse = 'leaf' and LAS[2] 'listen' (*lasse = 'ear'), Tolkien noted the possible relationship between the two in that Elven "ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped" than human ones."

Observera, jag kom ihåg detta från min kopia av den antecknade Hobbiten, men jag råkade hitta och kopiera texten från samma länk @herzbube som används. Jag förstod inte att det var samma källa. Jag tycker mig själv om detta om lingvistikens trumman, alla andra invändningar, i synnerhet den om Quendi och Män som är samma art skulle innebära att de hade liknande öron. Om Quendi kan leva för evigt och ändå följa med män, kan de mycket väl ha pekade öron.

Denna uppsats , som jag tycker ganska väl forskad, kommer till slutsatsen:

In the final analysis there is no definitive evidence either way on this issue. A strong case can be made for either viewpoint by leaving out the opposing arguments, but when viewed as a whole the matter is ambiguous. The lack of any reference to elven ears in 'canonical' writings ultimately makes a decisive answer impossible.

Ett mycket starkt argument för spets, enligt min mening, är att JRRT inte motsatte sig illustrationer av Pauline Baynes som skildrar alvor med spetsiga öron.

Ja, Tolkien skrev att de gör faktiskt har piggiga öron i ett brev till Houghton Mifflin Company:

[A hobbit has] A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown).

(betona min) Jag tror att svaret på frågan. (Om det inte gör ändrar jag frågan: P)

Enligt Tolkien Society är svaret ett rungande "Ja".

Do Tolkien's Elves and Hobbits have pointed ears?

Yes, they do. Tolkien doesn’t often dwell on describing the minute physical details of his characters, so it is possible to read The Lord of the Rings and his other writings without noticing that either Elves or Hobbits have pointed ears. However, in a 1938 letter (No. 27, p. 35) to his American publishers Tolkien says Hobbits have “a round, jovial face; [with] ears only slightly pointed and ‘elvish.’” From this it is clear that Elvish ears were more obviously pointed. This was confirmed when The Lost Road was published in 1987. In the Etymologies under the first definition of ‘LAS’, which is the element in lasse meaning ‘leaf’, there is this note: “The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped than [?human]” (p.368).

[page references: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1981 & 2006; The Lost Road, 2002 UK paperback]

Den faktiska citaten från brev # 27 , till Houghton Mifflin, som beskriver Hobbits:

I picture a fairly human figure, not a kind of 'fairy' rabbit as some of my British reviewers seem to fancy: fattish in the stomach, shortish in the leg. A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown).
- The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, #27