Worms
From Tolkien Gateway
Worms was a name for the race of Dragons, and especially those wingless kinds (such as Glaurung himself) who crawled on the ground.
Names
In Gnomish, one of Tolkien's early conceptions of an Elven language, "worm" is gwem.[1]
Inspiration
Worm is an actual old word for dragon,[2] derived from Old English wyrm, Old Norse ormr ("serpent").
References
- ↑ 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. 45
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien; Verlyn Flieger, Douglas A. Anderson (eds.), Tolkien On Fairy-stories: Expanded edition, with commentary and notes, p. 108