Nodens

Last updated

Tolkien visited the temple of Nodens, a place called "Dwarf's Hill" and translated an inscription with a curse upon a ring. It may have inspired his dwarves, Mines of Moria, rings, and Celebrimbor "Silver-Hand". Roman Temple - geograph.org.uk - 1318760.jpg
Tolkien visited the temple of Nodens, a place called "Dwarf's Hill" and translated an inscription with a curse upon a ring. It may have inspired his dwarves, Mines of Moria, rings, and Celebrimbor "Silver-Hand".

*Nodens or *Nodons (reconstructed from the dative Nodenti or Nodonti) is a Celtic healing god worshipped in Ancient Britain. Although no physical depiction of him has survived, votive plaques found in a shrine at Lydney Park (Gloucestershire) indicate his connection with dogs, a beast associated with healing symbolism in antiquity. The deity is known in only one other location, in Cockersand Moss (Lancashire). He was equated on most inscriptions with the Roman god Mars (as a healer rather than as a warrior) and associated in a curse with Silvanus (a hunting-god). [2] [3] His name is cognate with that of later Celtic mythological figures, such as the Irish Nuada and the Welsh Nudd. [4] [2] [5]

Contents

The philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien was invited to investigate the Latin inscription, and scholars have noted several likely influences on his Middle-earth fantasy writings, including the Elvish smith, maker of Rings of Power, Celebrimbor, whose name, like that of Nuada's epithet Airgetlám, means 'Silver-hand'. Nodens appears, too, in the works of Arthur Machen, as well as H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

Name and origin

The theonym *Nodens or *Nodons is reconstructed from the attested dative singular Nodenti or Nodonti, which is derived from a Proto-Celtic stem *Nowdont-. It is a cognate (linguistic sibling from the same origin) of the Middle Irish Nuadu and the Middle Welsh Nudd (which turned into Lludd, apparently from an alliterative assimilation). [4] [2] [5] The Irish genitives nodot and núada(i)t (perhaps 'hand, wrist or arm') [6] also appear to be related. [4] [7] It suggests that Nōdonti was the original form, by showing the back vocalism of the Celtic suffix -ont-. The development from -ō- to -ū- in Brittonic languages dates back to the end of the 3rd century AD. [4] An Old Breton name Nodent (modern Nuz) may also be added to the cognates, although the vocalism raises phonological difficulties. [8] [9]

The origin of the name remains obscure, scholar John Carey noting that "it seems at any rate safe to say that no etymology so far proposed can be accepted with full confidence". [4] The Welsh noun nudd means 'mist, haze, fog', and both Lludd and Nuadu are attached to the epithet '[of the] silver hand/arm', which could lead to a conjectural Proto-Celtic stem *snowdo- ('mist, haze'), from Proto-Indo-European *snewdh- ('mist, cloud'; cf. Latin nūbēs 'clouds'), [4] [5] perhaps also attested in the Irish snuad ('appearance, colour'). [4] However, the sound shift sn- > n- does not seem to be attested elsewhere in Gaulish (although -sn- > -n- is known) and remains difficult to justify in Proto-Brittonic (the sound change should have occurred later than the inscriptions). [4] Scholars have also linked the Celtic names with the stem *néud- (cf. Gothic niutan 'to catch, attain, acquire' and nuta 'catcher, fisherman', Lithuanian naudà 'property'), associating *Nowdont- with the fishing (and possibly hunting) motifs of the Lydney remains and with the silver arms of Nuadu and Lludd. [4] [7] However, this stem remains unattested elsewhere in Celtic, and possibly takes its origins from a pre-Indo-European language. [4] [10] A third alternative is the Proto-Indo-European stem *neh2u-t- (cf. Goth. nauþs 'need, compulsion, distress', Old Prussian nautin 'need'), which could be found in Proto-Celtic *nāwito- ('need'; cf. Old Irish neóit, Middle Welsh neued), although linguist Ranko Matasović finds the relation "formally quite difficult" to explain. [5]

Nudd's son Gwyn (ruler of the Welsh Otherworld), his name meaning 'white', is an exact cognate of the Irish name Finn, who is described as the great-grandson of Nuadu mac Achi (Finn mac Umaill) or Nuadu Necht (Finn File). [11] Although the origin of the association remains difficult to explain, Carey writes that Nodons may be seen "a god of multi-faceted but consistent character: a shining royal warrior presiding over the chaotic in nature, society and the Otherworld (water, war, the devils of Annwn)." [12] In this view, the Middle Irish núada, núadu ('hero, champion, king [poetic]?') [13] may be interpreted as the euhemerized name of the Celtic deity, [5] with a semantic shift comparable to that conjectured for Proto-Germanic *balþaz > *Balðraz ('white, shining' > 'strong, brave, bold' > 'hero, prince'; cf. Old Norse Baldr 'brave, defiant, lord, prince' and Old English Bældæg 'shining day'). [14] [15]

According to Arthur Bernard Cook (1906) the toponym "Lydney" derives from the Old English *Lydan-eġ, "Lludd's Island", which could connect it with Nodens. [16] However, alternative etymologies of Lydney are offered in other sources. A. D. Mills suggests "island or river-meadow of the sailor, or of a man named *Lida", citing the forms "Lideneg" from c. 853 and "Ledenei" from the 1086 Domesday Book. [17]

Inscriptions

Lydney Park complex

Bath house at the Lydney Park temple complex Roman Bath House - geograph.org.uk - 1318767.jpg
Bath house at the Lydney Park temple complex

The temple complex at Lydney Park, situated on a steep bluff overlooking the Severn Estuary, is rectangular, measuring 72 by 54 m (236 by 177 ft), with a central cella measuring 29 by 49.5 m (31.7 by 54.1 yd), and its north-western end is divided into three chambers 6.3 m deep. This imposing, Romano-Celtic temple building has been interpreted as an incubatio or dormitory for sick pilgrims to sleep and experience a vision of divine presence in their dreams. The site may have been chosen because it offered a clear view of the River Severn near the point at which the Severn Bore begins. Its position within an earlier Iron Age hill fort may also be relevant. [18]

The temple complex was first excavated by Charles Bathurst in 1805, then reexcavated in 1928–1929 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler and Tessa Wheeler, who produced an extensive report of the findings at the site. [4] Although no anthropomorphic depiction of the deity has been discovered, a dozen figures of dogs were found at the site, presumably deposited at the shrine as offerings by pilgrims due to the healing symbolism associated with dogs. As one of these figurines has a human face, it is possible that the deity himself could have been perceived as taking the form of an animal. A bronze arm whose hand displays the spoon-shaped fingernails characteristic of someone suffering from iron deficiency gives further evidence of the healing attributes of Nodens. Findings at the site include bronze reliefs depicting a sea deity, fishermen and tritons, a bronze plaque of a woman, about 320 pins, nearly 300 bracelets, [lower-alpha 1] and over 8,000 coins. Also present were oculists' stamps used to mark sticks of eye ointment, like those at Gallo-Roman healing sanctuaries in antiquity. The deity was further associated with aquatic and solar imagery, similar to other curative shrines of Roman Gaul. [3]

Several inscriptions to Nodens have been found, one on a lead curse tablet reading:

Devo Nodenti Silvianus anilum perdedit demediam partem donavit Nodenti inter quibus nomen Seniciani nollis petmittas sanitatem donec perfera(t) usque templum [No]dentis

Rediviva

To the god Nodens: Silvianus has lost his ring and given half (its value) to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to the temple of Nodens.

(This curse) comes into force again. [20] [21]

Other inscriptions identify Nodens, in various spellings, with the Roman god Mars:

D(eo) M(arti) Nodonti Flavius Blandinus armatura v(otum) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito)To the god Mars Nodons, Flavius Blandinus, weapon-instructor, gladly and deservedly fulfilled his vow. [22] [23]
Pectillus votum quod promissit deo Nudente M(arti) deditPectillus gave to the god Nudens Mars the votive offering which he had promised. [24] [25]
D(eo) M(arti) N(odenti) T(itus) Flavius Senilis pr(aepositus) rel(igionis?) ex stipibus pos{s}uit o(pitu)lante Victorino interp(re)tianteTo the god Mars Nodens, Titus Flavius Senilis, superintendent of the cult, had (this mosaic) laid from the offerings with assistance from Victorinus the interpreter [26]

Cockersand Moss

A silver statuette found at Cockersand Moss, Lancashire, in 1718 but now lost, had an inscription on the base that reads:

D(eo) M(arti) N(odonti) Lucianus colleg(ae) Aprili Viatoris v(otum) s(olvit)To the god Mars Nodons, Lucianus fulfilled the vow of his colleague, Aprilius Viator. [27] [28]

Another reads:

Deo Marti Nodonti Aurelius ...cinus sig(illum)To the god Mars Nodons, Aurelius ...cinus (set up) this statuette. [29] [30]

Mythological parallels

Nuada Airgetlám was the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, who was disqualified from kingship after losing his hand (or arm) in battle, but restored after he was given a working silver one by the physician Dian Cecht and the wright Creidhne (gaining the epithet Airgetlám, 'silver hand'), and later a flesh and blood one by Dian Cecht's son Miach.

The legendary Welsh hero Nudd appears in the Triads as one of the three most generous men in Wales, along with his two cousins, Rhydderch Hael and Mordaf Hael. His two sons are known as Edern ap Nudd and Gwyn ap Nudd. Nudd may also be called Lludd, and seems to be linked to other figures of the same name, such as the son of Beli Mawr in Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys . [2]

Legacy

Tolkien

Imagemap with clickable links. Apparent influence of archaeological and philological work at Nodens' Temple on Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium Nodens Temple influence on Tolkien.svg
Imagemap with clickable links. Apparent influence of archaeological and philological work at Nodens' Temple on Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium

J. R. R. Tolkien, invited to investigate the Latin inscription at Lydney Park, traced Nodens to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám , "Nuada of the Silver-Hand". [31] The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey thought this a "pivotal" influence on Tolkien's invention of Middle-earth, combining as it did a god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. [1] Mathew Lyons notes the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was, according to the Lydney curator Sylvia Jones, extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there. [1] [32] Helen Armstrong commented that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion". [1] [33] The name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor of Eregion, who forged the Rings of Power in The Silmarillion , means "Silver Hand" in Tolkien's invented Elvish language of Sindarin. Dwarf's Hill with its many mineshafts has been suggested as an influence on the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit and the Mines of Moria in The Lord of the Rings . [34]

Lovecraft

Nodens appears as a deity in H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. [35] His appearance and action were based on a mixture of Celtic mythology, Roman mythology, and the deity's appearance in Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan . [36] Nodens first appeared in Lovecraft's 1926 novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath , where he is an "archaic" god served by the night-gaunts. He is depicted as somewhat benevolent and as opposing the frightening Nyarlathotep. [37] Nodens appears again in Lovecraft's short story "The Strange High House in the Mist", also written in 1926. When the protagonist, Thomas Olney, enters the eponymous house, he sees "primal Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss" riding in a large shell that is carried by dolphins. [38]

Paolini

In Christopher Paolini's Eragon , 'Argetlam' (lit: silver hand) is another name for the gedwëy ignasia (lit: "shining palm" in the fictional 'Ancient Language' made by Paolini for the series. It is adapted from the Irish word Airgetlam. [39]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ In fact, over 270 bracelets with many more suggested to be in private ownership. As the findings attested metalworking at Lydney so it could be assumed that the bracelets were produced on-site. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuatha Dé Danann</span> Pantheon of pre-Christian Ireland

The TuathaDé Danann, also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé, are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland.

The Rings of Power are magical artefacts in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, most prominently in his high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. The One Ring first appeared as a plot device, a magic ring in Tolkien's children's fantasy novel, The Hobbit; Tolkien later gave it a backstory and much greater power. He added nineteen other Great Rings, also conferring invisibility, that it could control, including the Three Rings of the Elves, Seven Rings for the Dwarves, and Nine for Men. He stated that there were in addition many lesser rings with minor powers. A key story element in The Lord of the Rings is the addictive power of the One Ring, made secretly by the Dark Lord Sauron, while the Nine Rings enslave their bearers as the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths), Sauron's most deadly servants.

In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Noldor are a kindred of Elves who migrate west to the blessed realm of Valinor from the continent of Middle-earth, splitting from other groups of Elves as they went. They then settle in the coastal region of Eldamar. The Dark Lord Morgoth murders their first leader, Finwë. The majority of the Noldor, led by Finwë's eldest son Fëanor, then return to Beleriand in the northwest of Middle-earth. This makes them the only group to return and then play a major role in Middle-earth's history; much of The Silmarillion is about their actions. They are the second clan of the Elves in both order and size, the other clans being the Vanyar and the Teleri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuada Airgetlám</span> First king of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish mythology

In Irish mythology, Nuada or Nuadu, known by the epithet Airgetlám, was the first king of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is also called Nechtan, Nuadu Necht and Elcmar, and is the husband of Boann. He is mostly known from the tale in which he loses his arm or hand in battle, and thus his kingship, but regains it after being magically healed by Dian Cécht. Nuada is thought to have been a god and is related to the British and Gaulish god Nodens, who is associated with hunting and fishing. His Welsh equivalent is Nudd or Lludd Llaw Eraint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwyn ap Nudd</span> Welsh mythological figure

Gwyn ap Nudd is a Welsh mythological figure, the king of the Tylwyth Teg or "fair folk" and ruler of the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn, and whose name means “Gwyn, son of Nudd”. Described later on as a great warrior with a "blackened face", Gwyn is intimately associated with the otherworld in medieval Welsh literature, and is associated with the international tradition of the Wild Hunt.

Borvo or Bormo was an ancient Celtic god of healing springs worshipped in Gauls and Gallaecia. He was sometimes identified with the Graeco-Roman god Apollo, although his cult had preserved a high degree of autonomy during the Roman period.

Celebrimbor is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. His name means "silver fist" or "hand of silver" in Tolkien's invented language of Sindarin. In Tolkien's stories, Celebrimbor was an elven-smith who was manipulated into forging the Rings of Power by the Dark Lord Sauron, in fair disguise and named Annatar. Sauron then secretly made the One Ring to gain control over all the other Rings and dominate Middle-earth, setting in motion the events of The Lord of the Rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Lud</span> Pseudohistorical king of Britain who was said to have founded London

Lud, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary History of the Kings of Britain and related medieval texts, was a king of Britain in pre-Roman times who founded London and was buried at Ludgate. He was the eldest son of Geoffrey's King Heli, and succeeded his father to the throne. He was succeeded, in turn, by his brother Caswallon. Lud may be connected with the Welsh mythological figure Lludd Llaw Eraint, earlier Nudd Llaw Eraint, cognate with the Irish Nuada Airgetlám, a king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Brittonic god Nodens. However, he was a separate figure in Welsh tradition and is usually treated as such.

Lludd Llaw Ereint, "Lludd of the Silver Hand", son of Beli Mawr, is a legendary hero from Welsh mythology. As Nudd Llaw Ereint he is the father of Gwyn ap Nudd. He is probably the source of king Lud from Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain.

In Germanic mythology, Seaxnēat or Saxnōt was the national god of the Saxons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydney Park</span> Country estate in Gloucestershire, UK

Lydney Park is a 17th-century country estate surrounding Lydney House, located at Lydney in the Forest of Dean district in Gloucestershire, England. It is known for its gardens and Roman temple complex.

Llefelys is a character in Welsh mythology appearing in the medieval Welsh tale Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys. In the tale, Llefelys is king of Gaul while his brother Lludd is king of Britain. The tale appears in the Red Book of Hergest and the White Book of Rhydderch, the source texts for the Mabinogion, and embedded into various versions of the Brut y Brenhinedd, the Welsh adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celtic deities</span> Gods and goddesses of the Ancient Celtic religion

The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects, and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon of deities comparable to others in Indo-European religion, each linked to aspects of life and the natural world. Epona was an exception and retained without association with any Roman deity. By a process of syncretism, after the Roman conquest of Celtic areas, most of these became associated with their Roman equivalents, and their worship continued until Christianization. Pre-Roman Celtic art produced few images of deities, and these are hard to identify, lacking inscriptions, but in the post-conquest period many more images were made, some with inscriptions naming the deity. Most of the specific information we have therefore comes from Latin writers and the archaeology of the post-conquest period. More tentatively, links can be made between ancient Celtic deities and figures in early medieval Irish and Welsh literature, although all these works were produced well after Christianization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lludd and Llefelys</span> Welsh prose tale

Lludd and Llefelys is a Middle Welsh prose tale written down in the 12th or 13th century; it was included in the Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest in the 19th century. It tells of the Welsh hero Lludd Llaw Eraint, best known as King Lud son of Heli in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and his brother Llefelys.

In the fictional world of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria, also named Khazad-dûm, is an ancient subterranean complex in Middle-earth, comprising a vast labyrinthine network of tunnels, chambers, mines and halls under the Misty Mountains, with doors on both the western and the eastern sides of the mountain range. Moria is introduced in Tolkien's novel The Hobbit, and is a major scene of action in The Lord of the Rings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Ring</span> Magical ring in "The Lord of the Rings"

The One Ring, also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane, is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story The Hobbit (1937) as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility. Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of The Hobbit to fit in with the expanded narrative. The Lord of the Rings describes the hobbit Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the Ring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring of Silvianus</span> Gold ring discovered in Hampshire, England, in 1785

The Vyne Ring or the Ring of Silvianus is a gold ring, dating probably from the 4th century AD, discovered in a ploughed field near Silchester, in Hampshire, England, in 1785. Originally the property of a British Roman called Silvianus, it was apparently stolen by a person named Senicianus, upon whom Silvianus called down a curse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paganism in Middle-earth</span> Paganism in the literature of Tolkien

Scholars have identified numerous themes in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, among them paganism. Despite Tolkien's assertion that The Lord of the Rings was a fundamentally Christian work, paganism appears in that book and elsewhere in his fictional world of Middle-earth in multiple ways. These include a pantheon of god-like beings, the Valar, who function like the Norse gods, the Æsir; the person of the wizard Gandalf, who Tolkien stated in a letter is an "Odinic wanderer"; Elbereth, the Elves' "Queen of the Stars", associated with Venus; animism, the way that the natural world seems to be alive; and a Beowulf-like "northern courage" which is determined to press on, no matter how bleak the outlook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philology and Middle-earth</span> Influence on J.R.R. Tolkiens fantasy

Philology, the study of comparative and historical linguistics, had a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth. He was a professional philologist, and made use of his knowledge of medieval literature and language to create families of Elvish languages and many details of the invented world.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Anger, Don N. (2013) [2007]. "Report on the Excavation of the Prehistoric, Roman and Post-Roman Site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia . Routledge. pp. 563–564. ISBN   978-0-415-86511-1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 MacKillop 2004, s.v. Nodons, Nudd and Nuadu Airgetlám.
  3. 1 2 Aldhouse-Green 2008, pp. 208–210.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Carey 1984, pp. 2–3.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Matasović 2009, p. 350.
  6. ↑ eDIL, s.v. ? núada(i)t, dil.ie/33330.
  7. 1 2 Wagner 1986, pp. 180–181.
  8. ↑ Carey 1984, pp. 13–14.
  9. ↑ Sterckx 1994, p. 40.
  10. ↑ Wagner 1986, p. 186.
  11. ↑ Carey 1984, pp. 6–7.
  12. ↑ Carey 1984, pp. 21–22.
  13. ↑ eDIL, s.v. núada, ? núadu, dil.ie/33328.
  14. ↑ Simek 1996, p. 26.
  15. ↑ Orel 2003, pp. 33–34.
  16. ↑ Cook, Arthur Bernard (25 March 1906). "IV. The Celts". Folklore. The European sky-god. 17 (1): 27–71. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1906.9719720.
  17. ↑ Mills, A. D. (1993). A Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford. p. 218. ISBN   0192831313.
  18. ↑ Green, Miranda J. (2005). Exploring the World of the Druids. London, England: Thames & Hudson. p. 119. ISBN   0-500-28571-3.
  19. ↑ Swift, Ellen (2003). Roman Dress Accessories. Princes Risborough, England: Shire Publications. p. 10ff.
  20. ↑ RIB 306. Curse upon Senicianus
  21. ↑ CIL 07, 00140 = RIB-01, 00306 (301–410 AD)
  22. ↑ RIB 305. Dedication to Mars Nodons
  23. ↑ CIL 07, 00138 = RIB-01, 00305 (301–410 AD)
  24. ↑ RIB 307. Dedication to Nudens Mars
  25. ↑ CIL 07, 00139 = RIB-01, 00307 (301–410 AD)
  26. ↑ CIL 07, 00137 = RIB-02-04, 02448,03 (371–400 AD)
  27. ↑ RIB 617. Dedication to Mars Nodons
  28. ↑ RIB-01, 00617 = AE 1958, 00095b (71–300 AD)
  29. ↑ RIB 616. Dedication to Mars Nodons
  30. ↑ RIB-01, 00616 = AE 1958, 00095a (71–300 AD)
  31. ↑ Tolkien, J. R. R., "The Name Nodens", Appendix to "Report on the excavation of the prehistoric, Roman and post-Roman site in Lydney Park, Gloucestershire", Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1932; also in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review , Vol. 4, 2007
  32. ↑ Lyons, Mathew (2004). There and Back Again: In the Footsteps of J. R. R. Tolkien. London: Cadogan Guides. p. 63. ISBN   978-1860111396.
  33. ↑ Armstrong, Helen (May 1997). "And Have an Eye to That Dwarf". Amon Hen: The Bulletin of the Tolkien Society (145): 13–14.
  34. ↑ Bowers, John M. (2019). Tolkien's Lost Chaucer. Oxford University Press. pp. 131–132. ISBN   978-0-19-884267-5.
  35. ↑ Leiber 2001, p. 10; Wood 2022, pp. 128, 131; Burleson 1990, p. 95.
  36. ↑ Wood 2022, pp. 128, 132–136.
  37. ↑ Leiber 2001, p. 10; Wood 2022, pp. 128, 131.
  38. ↑ Burleson 1990, p. 95; Wood 2022, pp. 129, 132.
  39. ↑ Bergman, Jenni (2011). The Significant Other: a Literary History of Elves (PDF). Cardiff University (PhD Thesis). p. 201. Though many of Paolini's names of persons and places are Tolkienian, he does make reference to other traditions relating to elves. Eragon is sometimes addressed by the name Argetlam, said to be 'an elven word that was used to refer to the Riders. It means "silver hand".' The word is an adaptation of the Irish Airgetlam with the same meaning, used as an attribute of Nuadha, king of the Tuatha De Danann. citing MacKillop, James (1998). "Nuada Airgetlam". Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press.

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.