Baggins Family
The Baggins Family were a remarkable and rich Hobbit family from The Shire which included two Ring-bearers: Frodo and Bilbo.
History[edit | edit source]
The Baggins clan traced their origin to the first recorded Baggins, one Balbo Baggins, who was born in or near Hobbiton in S.R. 1167.
The Baggins family lived all around in the Shire, mostly in or near the town of Hobbiton. They were seen as well to do and respectable, as well as very predictable, for it was said one could tell what a Baggins would say on any occasion without even the bother of asking him.[1] They had many connections to other aristocratic Hobbit families, like the Brandybucks and the Tooks; other branches were the Sackville-Bagginses and the Chubb-Bagginses.
Although generally speaking they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected,[2] its members with Took blood were more adventurous. A notable example was Bilbo Baggins who set out on the quest for Erebor with Gandalf the Grey and thirteen Dwarves; during his absence he was presumed dead and the headship of the family was in doubt, with Otho of the Sackville-Baggins branch having the ambition of being head of two major families, until Bilbo returned alive.[3][4] He was seen as odd or queer, but also extremely rich.
Bilbo adopted his "nephew" Frodo Baggins, who inherited the smial of Bag End (which did not sit well with Otho[3]) after Bilbo left. Frodo himself was involved in the quest which ended the War of the Ring.
Other Bagginses include the descendants of Posco Baggins, as well as Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, who had maternal Baggins blood.
In S.R. 1421 both Bilbo and Frodo went over the Sea but it was still impossible to presume death, so when Samwise Gamgee was elected Mayor of the Shire, he established a rule of succession and inheritance in such situations. Presumably Ponto Baggins II became the head of the family.[4]
Genealogy[edit | edit source]
Family Tree of the Baggins of Hobbiton[edit source]
Showing the prominent members of the Baggins clan.[5] The figures after the names are those of birth (and death where that is recorded). A dashed line indicates marriage, or when extended vertically, indicates a line of descent with one or more generations not shown. Names in italics signify those who attended Bilbo's Farewell Party on 22 September S.R. 1401. Names in parentheses represent significant hobbits related to the Baggins.
Family Tree Notes[edit source]
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The name Baggins is a translation in English of the actual Westron name Labingi, which was believed to be related to the Westron word laban, "bag". The name is associated with Bag End.[9]
The name Baggins is translated in most translations of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, often keeping the "bag" or "sack" meaning:[10]
- In the Breton translation it is Sac'heg.
- In the Cornish translation it is Baggyn.
- In the Czech translation it is Pytlík.
- In the Dutch translation it is Balings.
- In the Estonian translation it is Paunaste.
- In the Finnish translation it is Reppuli.
- In the French translation it is Sacquet in most books, but Bessac in the new Hobbit translation.
- In the Frisian translation it is Balsma.
- In the German translation the family name is Beutlin.
- In the Hungarian translation it is Zsákos.
- In the Norwegian translation it is Lommelun.
- In one of the Polish translations it is Bagosz.
- In the Portuguese translation it is Bolseiro.
- In the Slovak translation it is Bublík.
- In the Slovene translation it is Bisagin.
- In the Spanish translation it is Bolsón.
- In the Swedish translation it is Secker; Bagger in the old translation by Åke Ohlmarks.
Inspirations[edit | edit source]
- "Intended to recall bag — cf. Bilbo’s conversation with Smaug in The H. [Chapter 12] — and meant to be associated (by hobbits) with Bag End..."
- ― Nomenclature
References
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 J.R.R. Tolkien; Humphrey Carpenter, Christopher Tolkien (eds.), The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 214, (undated, written late 1958 or early 1959)
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix C, "Baggins of Hobbiton"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Scouring of the Shire"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, "Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings" in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (eds), The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, p. 753
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings", published in A Tolkien Compass (edited by Jared Lobdell), entry Baggins
