I've been re-reading "Morgoth's Ring" (because I read "Arda Reconstructed" and it spurred me on). I have noticed something in my reading of these later writings that I think I might have missed before. That's the way I pronounce "Middle-earth". I have always pronounced it with the accent on "earth", or no accent at all. But much of the writing in "Morgoth's Ring" has it written as "the Middle-earth", so I have for some reason pronounced it with the accent on "Middle".
Is this something unique to me? I don't recall hearing Tolkien pronounce it, but it might be on the recordings he made. What do y'all think?
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Voronwë the Faithful
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Primula Baggins
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"The" would change the emphasis, because it means you're specifying which of several earths you're talking about (the middle one). "Middle-earth" alone is a place name and "middle" doesn't need emphasis there.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I thought that too. But then should it not be spelled: "the middle-earth", without the capitalized "M"?Primula Baggins wrote:"The" would change the emphasis, because it means you're specifying which of several earths you're talking about (the middle one). "Middle-earth" alone is a place name and "middle" doesn't need emphasis there.
This all comes because I was reading the text aloud so I wouldn't read too fast.
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Primula Baggins
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No, a name is a name. Especially in British usage, it retains the capitals. "The Queen is not amused."
In modern American usage, this is changing in some ways; for example, it's no longer usual to write, "In the President's address this morning. . . ." He's "the president," lowercase. But he's "President Obama" when the title appears right before his name, because then it is a title and properly should be capitalized.
This may be why you're wondering.
In modern American usage, this is changing in some ways; for example, it's no longer usual to write, "In the President's address this morning. . . ." He's "the president," lowercase. But he's "President Obama" when the title appears right before his name, because then it is a title and properly should be capitalized.
This may be why you're wondering.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King