Latest comment: 22 May 2024 by Akhorahil in topic Merge
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Merge
We already have Smials so this page seems a tad unnecessary. Maybe make this a redirect page to Smials? (also redacting my statement due to comments below) Éowyn (talk) 17:08, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
I agree, this page really should just be a redirect.(redacting my agreement due to comments below) JR Snow (talk) 14:23, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
- I am under the impression that Smials were a specific type of Hobbit-hole. Perhaps the text should be analyed in order to see if there is any distinguishment by Tolkien at all? I think that this page should be improved first with more references.Dour1234 (talk) 16:07, 21 May 2024 (UTC)
- I disagree with changing the Hobbit-holes page to a redirect page that redirects to the Smials page. The following passage on p. 6 of the section Concerning Hobbits from the Prologue of FR implies that the term smial only applied to the more luxurious holes with large and ramifying tunnels ("The poorest went on living in burrows of the most primitive kind, mere holes indeed, with only one window or none; while the well-to-do still constructed more luxurious versions of the simple diggings of old. But suitable sites for these large and ramifying tunnels (or smials as they called them) were not everywhere to be found;"). The word smial is not used in H (only hobbit-hole) and PM also does not provide further information on the subject. The entry for Smials on the Encyclopedia of Arda seems to share my interpretation while the section about Smials on The Thain's Book seems to equate Smials with hobbit-holes and to also include more primitive hobbit-holes. Footnote 84 of Letter 214 to A.C. Nunn (draft) mentions "In more primitive communities, as those still living in clan-smials, the byrding also made a gift to the 'head of the family'." A smial for a whole clan of hobbits also implies that it is a larger hole with lage tunnels. Unfortunately there is no citing from an entry for Smial in the Unfinished Index in RC and although other entries in the Nomenclature in RC refers to an entry for Smials in the Things section of the Nomenclature, this entry seems to be missing in RC. --Akhôrahil (talk) 09:19, 22 May 2024 (UTC)