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Dates
Gríma died 3 November III 30191
Race
Men
Culture
Rohirrim
Meaning
'Snake-tongue'1
Title of
Gríma

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2014
  • Updates planned: 1

Wormtongue

The insulting surname given to Gríma

A surname given to Gríma, counsellor to Théoden the King of Rohan, who was in fact a spy of Saruman.


Notes

1

Gríma's title in the language of the Rohirrim was wyrm-tunga, which is modernised as 'Wormtongue'. In fact Anglo-Saxon (used by Tolkien to represent the speech of Rohan) used wyrm for various types of creatures, from what we would today call 'worms' to snakes and even Dragons. The meaning intended by wyrm-tunga was actually 'snake' (suggesting deviousness and deceptiveness) rather than 'worm' in the modern sense, though actually either reading would suit Gríma's character.

See also...

Láthspell, Master, Pimple, Worm

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2014
  • Updates planned: 1

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2014. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

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Wormtongue

The insulting surname given to Gríma

Dates
Gríma died 3 November III 30191
Race
Men
Culture
Rohirrim
Meaning
'Snake-tongue'1
Title of
Gríma

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2014
  • Updates planned: 1

Wormtongue

The insulting surname given to Gríma

A surname given to Gríma, counsellor to Théoden the King of Rohan, who was in fact a spy of Saruman.


Notes

1

Gríma's title in the language of the Rohirrim was wyrm-tunga, which is modernised as 'Wormtongue'. In fact Anglo-Saxon (used by Tolkien to represent the speech of Rohan) used wyrm for various types of creatures, from what we would today call 'worms' to snakes and even Dragons. The meaning intended by wyrm-tunga was actually 'snake' (suggesting deviousness and deceptiveness) rather than 'worm' in the modern sense, though actually either reading would suit Gríma's character.

See also...

Láthspell, Master, Pimple, Worm

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 30 June 2014
  • Updates planned: 1

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2014. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.
The Discus personality profiler itself is free to use; you only pay for the profiles you create using the system.