Bindbole Wood
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]
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 (Hammond and Scull suggest that perhaps writing this, Tolkien referred to the printed map and fell victim too of the misprinted o); as a result, in dutch it was translated (after Tolkien's suggestion) as Pakkebaal Bos which includes baal "bale".[3][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
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Part of the Shire" map
- ↑ David Salo, "Hobbitish Place-names (1.21)" dated 23 November 1998, Elfling (accessed 9 October 2014)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. lvii
