English and Welsh

From Tolkien Gateway
"...there is much else that may be told." — Glóin
This article or section is a stub. Please help Tolkien Gateway by expanding it.

English and Welsh is the title of J.R.R. Tolkien's inauguration speech for the O'Donnell Lectures.[1] Tolkien presented the paper on 21 October 1955 at the University of Oxford.[2]

The lecture was first published in Angles and Britons: O'Donnell Lectures (8 July 1963). In 1983, it was reprinted in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays.

Contents[edit | edit source]

In a lengthy sidenote, Tolkien discusses his notions of "native tongue" as opposed to "cradle tongue", and of an inherited taste of language. The lecture sheds light on Tolkien's conceptions of the connections of race, ethnicity and language.

See also[edit | edit source]

References