01-09-2003, 13:26
Après quelques recherces, voici des éléments de réponse…<p>Tout d’abord les sources « tolkiéniennes ».<br>Le <i>Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings</i> (dans <i>Tolkien Compass</i>), un guide rédigé par Tolkien à l’attention des traducteurs du Seigneur des Anneaux, ne nous apprend rien d’intéressant au sujet des noms des Touque :<br> « The Took personal names should be kept in the form and spelling of the text, as <i>Peregrin</i>, <i>Paladin</i>, <i>Adelard</i>, <i>Bandobras</i>. Note that Bandobras' nickname 'Bullroarer' is in Common Speech and should be translated by sense (if possible alliterating on B). »<p>L’Appendice F II du SdA (<i>On translation</i>) est par contre plus intéressant :<p>« In some old families, especially those of Fallohide origin such as the Tooks and the Bolgers, it was, however, the custom to give <i>high-sounding first-names</i>. Since <i>most of these seem to have been drawn from legends of the past, of Men as well as of Hobbits, and many while now meaningless to Hobbits closely resembled the names of Men in the Vale of Anduin, or in Dale, or in the Mark</i>, <i>I have turned them into those old names, largely of Frankish and Gothic origin, <u>that are still used by us or are met in our histories</u></i>. I have thus at any rate preserved the often comic contrast between the first-names and surnames, of which the Hobbits themselves were well aware. » (les emphases sont miennes) <p>On apprend donc que les noms des Touque sont tirés de légendes du passé (des Hommes comme des Hobbits) et qu’ils ressemblent aux noms des Hommes du Val de l’Anduin, de Dale ou de la Marche (Rohan). Du point de vue « externaliste », ils ont été rendus par des noms d'origine franque et gothique, <u>des noms que nous utilisons encore ou qui apparaissent dans nos histoires</u>.<p>Tolkien dit également : « Names of classical origin have rarely been used; for the nearest equivalents to Latin and Greek in Shire-lore were the Elvish tongues, and these the Hobbits seldom used in nomenclature. » Une exception notable est le nom <i>Gerontius</i>, évidemment dérivé du grec <b>gerôn</b>, <b>gerontos</b>.<p>Enfin, en ce qui concerne les noms gallois, « celtiques » ou « britanniques » (ce dernier, par opposition à anglais, fait référence à l’origine celtique et non germanique : cf. Grande <i>Bretagne</i>) : « The names of the Bucklanders were different from those of the rest of the Shire. […] <i>They had a style that we should perhaps feel vaguely to be Celtic elements in England</i>, I have sometimes imitated the latter in my translation. Thus <i>Bree</i>, <i>Combe</i> (Coomb), <i>Archet</i>, and <i>Chetwood</i> are modelled on relics of British nomenclature, chosen according to sense: <b>bree</b> hill, <b>chet</b> "wood*. But only one personal name has been altered in this way. <i>Meriadoc</i> was chosen to fit the fact that this character's shortened name. Kali, meant in the Westron 'jolly, gay', though it was actually an abbreviation of the now unmeaning Buckland name <i>Kalimac</i>. »<p>En ce qui concerne <i>Seredic</i>, je pencherais plutôt pour une influence mérovingienne (cf. les nombreux noms en –ic : Childeric, etc.). Voir plus bas.<p>Devant les « maigres » résultats des sources « tolkiéniennes », je me suis tourné vers d’autres sources… qui révèlent de bonnes surprises.<p><i>Fortimbras</i> est sans aucun doute un « emprunt » (hommage ?) à Shakespeare, puisqu’on trouve un <i>Fortinbras</i> Prince de Norvège dans Hamlet !<p>Après recherche sur internet, il se révèle que les noms <i>Ferumbras</i> et <i>Isumbras</i> apparaissent dans le titre de romans carolingiens en moyen anglais (<i>Sir Ferumbras</i> et <i>Sir Isumbras</i>), des œuvres qu’un philologue comme Tolkien devait connaître et avoir peut-être même étudié.<p> Les citations suivantes sont tirées du <i>Cambridge History of English and American Literature</i> (18 Volumes (1907–21) / Volume I. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance) :<p> « <i>Sir Ferumbras</i> relates the capture of Rome by the Saracen hosts and its relief by Charlemagne. The usual combat takes place, this time between Olivier and Ferumbras, son of the sultan of Babylon. The Saracen is, as usual, overcome and accepts Christianity. His sister Floripas, who is in love with the French Sir Guy, afterwards her husband, assists the Christians, and both brother and sister are subsequently rewarded with territory in Spain. » (XIV. Metrical Romances, 1200–1500 / § 1. The Carolingian Element)<p> « The theme of <i>Sir Isumbras</i> is that of Christian humility, the story itself being an adaptation of the legend of St. Eustace. Sir Isumbras is a knight who, through pride, falls from his high estate by the will of Providence. He is severely stricken; his possessions, his children and, lastly, his wife, are taken away; and he himself becomes a wanderer. After much privation nobly endured, he has learnt his lesson and arrives at the court of a queen, who proves to be his long-lost wife. His children are then miraculously restored and he resumes once more his exalted rank. » (XIV. Metrical Romances, 1200–1500 / § 7. Ipomedon, Amis and Amiloun, Sir Cleges, Sir Isumbras, The Squire of Low Degree)<p>Par cntre, je n'ai pas trouvé d'origine « réelle » pour <i>Bandobras</i>, probablement un nom « forgé » par Tolkien sur le modèle des autres noms. <p>Toko<br>