Tiny Tolkien-related snippet

[radegund]

From this morning's paper in proof: "Mariadac" king of Limerick is cited in an English Roll under the year 1210.

My Tolkien-nerd muscle isn't very developed, but it gave a little twitch when I read this. "Mariadac" > "Meriadoc"? It's just the sort of thing Tolkien might have come across.

Comments

[natural20.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's any consolation I read your entry, reread it and still saw Meriadoc...

[radegund.livejournal.com]

My speculation is that Tolkien read the Limerick king's name somewhere and adapted it for LOTR. It's reasonably plausible - he was an inveterate harvester of material from ancient texts. I remember seeing a list of names from the Icelandic Edda and realising that Tolkien had simply lifted them wholesale for his Hobbit dwarves. Wish I could remember where I'd seen the list - I can't remember who or what the names belonged to in the Edda.