Moths
"...thousands of dark-grey and black moths, some nearly as big as your hand"[1]
Moths were nocturnal insects of a kind closely related to butterflies. Bilbo Baggins found them fluttering at nightfall on his first visit to Rivendell.[2] Curiously, they are also mentioned as dwelling in Mirkwood, where the moths were black or dark grey, and grew to a huge size.[1]
Names
In Gnomish, one of Tolkien's early conceptions of an Elven language, the word for "moth" is fufril.[3]
Other versions of the legendarium
In The Tale of Tinúviel, white moths flittered about the head of the dancing Tinúviel, as the evening fell. It is told that Tinúviel "being a fairy minded them not as many of the children of Men do, although she loved not beetles, and spiders will none of the Eldar touch because of Ungweliantë".[4]
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "Flies and Spiders"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "A Short Rest"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "I-Lam na-Ngoldathon: The Grammar and Lexicon of the Gnomish Tongue", in Parma Eldalamberon XI (edited by Christopher Gilson, Arden R. Smith, and Patrick H. Wynne), p. 36
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales Part Two, "I. The Tale of Tinúviel", pp. 10-11
