![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Another theme week of words that struck me while rereading a book, in this case The Lord of the Rings -- and since Tolkien was a philologist by trade, he used some interesting words for specific effects.
glede or gleed (GLEED) - n., a live coal, an ember.
Gandalf relates that Isildur described the Ring, fresh from Sauron's hand, as hot as a glede and scorching his hand. In Scots it's always gleed, while Middle English it was usually glede, and in Old English it was glēd, related to glōwan, to glow, ultimately from PIE root *ǵʰelh₃-, to shine (which also gave us gall and yellow).
---L.
glede or gleed (GLEED) - n., a live coal, an ember.
Gandalf relates that Isildur described the Ring, fresh from Sauron's hand, as hot as a glede and scorching his hand. In Scots it's always gleed, while Middle English it was usually glede, and in Old English it was glēd, related to glōwan, to glow, ultimately from PIE root *ǵʰelh₃-, to shine (which also gave us gall and yellow).
---L.
