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  • Wið or mid?A Glimpse into Treebeard's Diachronic Perspective
  • Amber Dunai (bio)

There are Ents and Ents, you know; or there are Ents and things that look like Ents but ain't, as you might say.

(TT, III, iv, 68)

Thus comments Treebeard—the enormous, troll-like, tree-like creature whom Merry and Pippin have just met—regarding the hobbits' unusual (to him) haste in revealing their "name," Hobbit, to a stranger: which, at this point in the story, he certainly is. Names are powerful things, he suggests, and one should not be too quick to give others access to them. There are Ents and Ents, after all. "You'll be letting out your own right names if you're not careful" (TT, III, iv, 68).

Notable, in this exchange, is the ent's already emerging preoccupation with words, one which matches that of J.R.R. Tolkien, his (sub)creator. A more subtle linguistic joke also lies just beneath the surface in the line "there are Ents and things that look like Ents but ain't." Ain't may seem out of place in this utterance, and, based on the rest of Treebeard's dialogue, it is not a word he uses terribly often.1 What is it doing here, then? Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull illuminate its placement: "Ain't, a dialectal contracted form of 'are not,' 'am not,' etc., is sometimes pronounced [ent]" (RC 383, 2014 rev. ed.). Treebeard is, apparently, making a pun, having some fun with words. Words, whether functioning as a source of amusement or information, are of great importance to Treebeard: that is immediately clear.

It is my aim in this paper to draw out what I will argue is another linguistic Easter egg hovering just beneath the surface of Treebeard's dialogue: his marked use of the preposition with in an early conversation with Merry and Pippin. Treebeard's usage of and apparent quibbling over the meaning of the preposition, I will argue, hints at Treebeard's—and Tolkien's—tendency to think of language from a long-term point of view, accessing multiple current and archaic meanings while communicating with others. I will close with some brief remarks on how this glimpse into Treebeard's diachronic perspective [End Page 235] hints toward another trend in his linguistic characterization: his careful use of language to facilitate productive communication and potential partnership with others.

The passage I wish to analyze in detail occurs in Book III, shortly after Treebeard first encounters Merry and Pippin, decides that they are not "little Orcs," and learns their names. Despite the un-Entish hastiness with which they name themselves, the hobbits—understandably, given their recent captivity—are not immediately assured of Treebeard's good intentions. He is first described to readers as "a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck" (TT, III, iv, 66): no doubt an alarming sight to the two lost hobbits. It is no wonder, then, that Merry is not overly generous with news about the Fellowship's activities during their first conversation. In response to a series of questions initially posed by Treebeard upon their meeting—including "What is going on? What is Gandalf up to? And… these Orcs, and young Saruman down at Isengard?"—Merry replies rather cagily: "But you told us not to be hasty. Ought we to tell you anything so soon? Would you think it rude, if we asked what you are going to do with us, and which side you are on?" (TT, III, iv, 69).

Treebeard's response to Merry's questions can, on the surface, read as equally cagy: "I am not going to do anything with you: not if you mean by that 'do something to you' without your leave. We might do some things together. I don't know about sides. I go my own way; but your way may go along with mine for a while" (TT, III, iv, 69). The focus on the prepositions with versus to may appear unnecessarily pedantic—splitting hairs over word choice with the potential effect of obfuscating or misconstruing the...

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