Quote:
Originally Posted by Morthoron
One of my favorite puns was elicited by Treebeard, when he said, "There are Ents and Ents, you know; or there are Ents and things that look like Ents but ain't, as you might say."
Interestingly enough, according to the OED, 'en't' and 'ent' are but two of many regional and nonstandard variations of 'ain't' (and from Oxfordshire yet!).
In addition, Tolkien would probably be aware of the following:
https://blog.oup.com/2006/08/the_much_vilifi/geometry dash world |
The Middle English roots of "han" and "hath" as predecessors to "have" and "has" are indeed intriguing. The transition from "hath not" to "hain't" is a natural evolution, especially considering the linguistic patterns and tendencies found in various British dialects, like dropping or adding letters in specific contexts.