Tavari
Tavari were the fays of the woods, according to the early version of the legendarium in The Book of Lost Tales.[1]
They arrived to the world with Aulë and Yavanna, along with many other types of fays.[2]
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The name Tavari is in Qenya, being a possible plural[note 1] form of tavar ("dale-sprite").[3] The Gnomish cognate of tavar was tavor ("a wood fay").[4]
The word tavar is derived from the root TAVA ("beam"), with "beam" here referring to the Old English béam ("tree, piece of wood, rafter, pillar").[3]
The name suggests that the wood-fays 'used' the forest as their home, and that such forests were watched or guarded by the fays.[5]
Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]
In a later version of the legendarium from The Etymologies (1930s), there appear the terms tavaro(n) (male)/tavaril (female), meaning "dryad; spirit of the woods".[6]
The hypothetical earlier forms of these names were tawaro or tawarë.[6]
Inspiration[edit | edit source]
According to C.S. Lewis, Tolkien once told him that the historical people in a sense did not falsely claim to see "nymphs in the fountains and woods and dryads in the wood", since the production of food was closely connected to one's own land and territory: people came to internalize the nature surrounding them.[7]
It is possible that Tolkien at one point drew inspiration from the concept of the Tavari while creating the race of Ents, since in one letter, Tolkien explores the possibility that the Ents were "souls" that were sent to inhabit (animate) trees, or that became trees themselves.[8][note 2]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Tavros, the chief wood-fay
Notes
- ↑ The actual plural of tavar given in the Qenya Lexicon is tavarni.
- ↑ This is pure speculation.
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Qenya and The Valmaric Script", in Parma Eldalamberon XIV (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden), "The Creatures of the Earth", p. 10
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part One, "III. The Coming of the Valar and the Building of Valinor", p. 66
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon", in Parma Eldalamberon XII (edited by Carl F. Hostetter, Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), entry TAVA, ?TAFA, p. 90
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), entry tavor, p. 69
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Early Elvish Poetry and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", in Parma Eldalamberon XVI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, Patrick H. Wynne, Carl F. Hostetter and Bill Welden), p. 80
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry TÁWAR-, p. 391
- ↑ C.S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 1, letter from 1930
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 247, (dated 20 September 1963)
