b r n r d .net

Weblog since 2004, reviews and inspiration about literature, film, art and whatnot.
Subscribe to the RSS feed.


mathom

Moving houses is always a confrontation with all the stuff that you've allowed to accumulate over the years. P.K. Dick called this 'kipple' (and considered it a lost battle to get rid of it), but J.R.R. Tolkien invented the rather more benevolent 'mathom' to describe the useless objects that clutter your house.

...anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort.

The word itself, like many Tolkien coinages and names, derives from Old English. In this case rather ironic, as 'maðm' or 'maðum' meant a precious thing, gift or treasure.

More on Tolkien's use of Old English at Wordorigins.

No comments yet

Leave a comment

(optional field)
(optional field)

To prevent automated commentspam you need to answer this silly question...
Remember personal info?
Notify
Hide email
Small print: All html tags except <b> and <i> will be removed from your comment. You can make links by just typing the url or mail-address.