View source for Letter 290a

{{letter infobox
 |#=290a
 |to=[[Gene Wolfe]]
 |date=[[7 November]] [[1966]]
 |subject=
}}
{{letterExtended|290a}}
The letter is held at the collections of the [[Marion E. Wade Center]].<ref>{{webcite|author=|articleurl=http://www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter/Collections-and-Services/Collection%20Listings/~/media/Files/Centers-and-Institutes/Wade-Center/RR-Docs/Letter%20Collections/JRRT_Papers.pdf|articlename=The J.R.R. Tolkien Papers|dated=|website=[http://www.wheaton.edu/wadecenter The Marion E. Wade Center]|accessed=6 April 2012}}</ref>
==Summary==
Tolkien answers a fan letter, discussing the origin of the names ''[[Orcs|orc]]'' and ''[[Wargs|warg]]''. 

==Transcription==
{{blockquote|Dear Mr Wolfe,<br/><br/>Thank you very much for your letter. The etymology of words and names in my story has two sides: (1) their etymology within the story; and (2) the sources from which I, as an author, derive them. I expect you mean the latter. Orc I derived from Anglo-Saxon, a word meaning demon, usually supposed to be derived from the Latin Orcus -- Hell. But I doubt this, though the matter is too involved to set out here. Warg is simple. It is an old word for wolf, which also had the sense of an outlaw or hunted criminal. This is its usual sense in surviving texts.* I adopted the word, which had a good sound for the meaning, as a name for this particular brand of demonic wolf in the story.<br/><br/>Yours sincerely,<br/><br/>J. R. R. Tolkien<br/><br/><br/><nowiki>*</nowiki>O.E. wearg<br/><br/>O. High German warg--<br/><br/>O. Norse varg-r (also <nowiki>=</nowiki> "wolf", espec. of legendary kind)}}
The body of the letter is typewritten but the footnote is in script.

The essay "The Best Introduction to the Mountains", in which the transcription of the letter is contained, was offered by Mr Wolfe to the anthology ''[[Meditations on Middle-earth]]'', edited by [[Karen Haber]], but was rejected. ''Interzone'' magazine published the essay in December 2001 (in [[Interzone 174|issue 174]]). The essay can also be found on [http://home.clara.net/andywrobertson/wolfemountains.html here (external link)].

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{{letters}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter 290a}}
[[Category:Letters to Gene Wolfe]]