Bindbole Wood

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Bindbole Wood was a small wood in the southern part of the Northfarthing in the Shire.[1]

Etymology

The name presumably contains bind and bole "trunk of a tree".[2] In dutch it was translated (after Tolkien's suggestion) as Pakkebaal Bos.[3]

Misspelling

The name appears in the map of the Shire, but the letter o in the 1954 edition was not very clear; thus the name has been rendered Bindbale in many later maps (e.g. by Barbara Strachey and Karen Wynn Fonstad), and elsewhere, like in Robert Foster's The Complete Guide to Middle-earth (s.v. Bindbale).

Even Tolkien himself referred to Bindbale in a manuscript note when he was preparing the document later known as Nomenclature.[3]

Inspiration

Christopher Tolkien would reminisce that there is an actual English place named "Bindbole Wood", being one of the real place-names borrowed while drawing A Part of the Shire map with his father. However this must be a false memory as there is no trace of such a place, not even Christopher himself was able to find any information afterwards.[3]

References