[MR] Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?

[phillip jones]

I ran across this info while looking at "smalls"

"Tolkien's first job, on returning home from World War I, was as an
assistant on the staff of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Ring of Words
reveals how his professional work on the Oxford English Dictionary
influenced Tolkien's creative use of language in his fictional world. Here
three senior editors of the OED offer an intriguing exploration of Tolkien's
career as a lexicographer and illuminate his creativity as a word user and
word creator.
The centerpiece of the book is a wonderful collection of "word studies"
which will delight the heart of Ring fans and word lovers everywhere. 

The editors look at the origin of such Tolkienesque words as "hobbit,"
"mithril, "Smeagol," "Ent," "halfling," and "worm" (meaning "dragon").
Readers discover that a word such as "mathom" (anything a hobbit had no
immediate use for, but was unwilling to throw away) was actually common in
Old English, but that "Mithril," on the other hand, is a complete invention
(and the first "Elven" word to have an entry in the OED).

And fans of Harry Potter will be surprised to find that "Dumbledore" was a
word used by Tolkien and many others (it is a dialect word meaning
"bumblebee").



I know my house is full of mathom:)





-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of Jewel
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 2:03 PM
To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [MR] Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?


>From what I understand, the term "smalls" was first coined as meaning 
>children by Anne McCaffrey in her Pern series of books (please correct 
>me if I got the wrong author, it may have been Mercedes Lackey?) It is 
>incorrect for medieval settings, and it makes a LOT of people cringe. 
>In the SCA, smalls tend to mean undergarments, and children are either 
>children or urchins (but this causes offense to some parents, because 
>'urchin' is technically a child who lives on the street and makes 
>mischief).

On a side note, sometimes children ARE unmentionables...*snicker*

Vivats the Dream,
Julienne fille Gaspard, mka Jewel
Scribe of Atlantia

Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:38:45 -0500
From: jbrmm266 at aol.com
Subject: [MR] Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?

There was some discussion a while ago about the usage "smalls."  Some used
it to refer to children, while others maintain that (as a shortening of
"smallclothes") it refers to what we would call underwear.
 
This site contains a rather detailed discussion of the topic.
 
 http://slumberland.org/sca/articles/smalls.html
 
For the record, I understand that "Children" is a perfectly period term. No
need to use obscure or esoteric expressions for everything!
 
Your servant aye
Donal

 
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