An early member of the Cotton family, and in fact the first to use 'Cotton' as a surname. He came from Bywater near Hobbiton, and presumably farmed the same land, down South Lane, as his son Tolman years later. Holman's cousin was his namesake, Holman Greenhand the gardener, whose gardening tradition would eventually pass on to Hamfast Gamgee and his son, Sam.
Notes
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The name Holman is stated to derive from 'hole man', and though Tolkien does not state this explicitly, the 'hole' can probably be safely taken to refer to a Hobbit-hole. Indeed, Holman is a real English name, understood to mean 'dweller in a hollow', so Holman Cotton's name can be interpreted as 'dweller in a Hobbit-hole'.
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- Updated 24 February 2020
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