Sigelwara Land

"Sigelwara Land" is an essay by J. R. R. Tolkien that appeared in two parts, in 1932 and 1934.J. R. R. Tolkien, "Sigelwara Land
''Medium Aevum'' Vol. 1, No. 3. December 1932
an
''Medium Aevum'' Vol. 3, No. 2. June 1934.
/ref> It explores the etymology of the Old English word for the ancient Aethiopians, , and attempts to recover what it might originally have meant. Tolkien suggested that its two elements were most likely sun/jewel and coal/hearth, perhaps meaning something like a soot-black fire-demon.

The Tolkien scholar and philologist Tom Shippey suggests that Tolkien's detailed study of the word may have influenced him in his creation of elements of his fantasy world of Middle-earth, including the Silmarils or forged sun-jewels, the Balrogs or dark fire-demons, and the Haradrim, men of the hot south.

Essay

Tolkien's essay treats the etymology of the Old English word for the ancient Aethiopians, . Tolkien concluded that, while the meaning of the first element was evidently "Sun", the meaning of the second element was not definitely recoverable, but might be guessed at:

The phrase appears in ''Exodus'', a free translation of the Book of Exodus (Codex Junius 11):

The main thrust of Tolkien's argument in this two-part paper seems to have been that was a corruption of , and had come to mean something different in its later form than it had in its original. He begins by pointing out that Ethiopians in the earliest writings are presented in a very positive light, but by the time they written of as "Sigelwarans", the perception has become the opposite. He does not speculate why, but instead demonstrates a clear relationship between and and shows how discovering the original meaning of the word is almost impossible; that trying to do so must be "for the joy of the hunt rather than the hope of a final kill".

The word as a conflation of two words, the inherited word for Sun, the feminine and an Old English neuter or for "jewel, necklace", loaned from Latin .

Suggesting a connection of with Gothic "coal", Old Norse "fire", Old English "to roast", "hearth", Tolkien tentatively concludes that in the we may be looking at "rather the sons of Muspell than of Ham", an ancient class of demons "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot", English equivalent of the Norse fire giants ruled by Surtr,
that had been forgotten even before the composition of this version of ''Exodus''.

Influence on Tolkien's fiction

Tom Shippey notes that the demons "with red-hot eyes" make appearances in Tolkien's fiction as Balrogs.Tom Shippey (2005), ''The Road to Middle-earth'', Houghton Mifflin, ch. 3 'Philological Inquiries', pp. 48-49;

One of the many peoples encountered in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are "black men like half-trolls". This description recalls the as black demons; furthermore their homeland of Far Harad, the great southern region of Middle-earth, recalls Sub-Saharan Africa, sometimes referred to as in pre-modern times. In drafts of ''The Lord of the Rings'' Tolkien toyed with names such as ''Harwan'' and ''Sunharrowland'' for the Haradrim generally and their land; Christopher Tolkien notes these names are derived from the Old English Sigelwara, and refers to Tolkien's essay ''Sigelwara Land''.J. R. R. Tolkien (1989), ed. Christopher Tolkien, ''The Treason of Isengard'', Unwin Hyman, ch. XXV p. 435 & p. 439 note 4

See also

* White Aethiopians
* Sowilō

Notes

References

{{J. R. R. Tolkien

Essays by J. R. R. Tolkien
1932 essays
Works originally published in British magazines
Africa in mythology
Old English