golem from Yiddish goylem, from Hebrew golem (shapeless mass).

Gollum (as Smeagol) is the fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's book, The Hobbit, and he becomes a more important character later in the series The Lord of the Rings. He develops a form of schizophrenia as the fight between his old, good self and the new Gollum (who is a slave to the ring) fight for survival.

I wonder if the name gollum came to being from the word golum?

"Smeagol was a person of Hobbit-kind who committed murder to obtain the One Ring. The Ring consumed his mind and body and he became the creature known as Gollum, but a part of his former self survived. When the Ring was lost he set out to recover it, but in the end he was instrumental in the Ring's destruction. (quote from the encyclopaedia below)

An encyclopedia of Middle-earth and Numenor

The name Sméagol is derived from the Old English smygel meaning "retreat, burrow." J.R.R. Tolkien.


Golem is used in the Bible to refer to an embryonic or incomplete state. (Psalm 139:16)
Golems are seen today as a metaphor for brainless people or those who serve under controlled conditions, and are hostile to everyone. At the same time, golem is Yiddish slang insult for someone who is clumsy or slow.

Tolkein was a professor of Old English Language and created all of the languages in LOTR and TABA before any of the characters so he had a pretty good ear for language. It might be true that Smeagol's name change to Gollum could be linked to his being a slave to the One Ring, but I always read that it came from the g/hollum g/hollum noise (very hard to write phonetically without the book on me!) he made after his long stay in the Misty Mountains with the goblins. I've never really thought about it, but I wouldn't put it past him, he was very clever with his words. Next time I read it I will definitely see it with that in mind!

Bexter

ps
I know Terry Pratchett uses the word golem in his discworld series for the, well, golems in them. Feet of Clay is all about them and in the more recent Going Postal, Adora Belle Dearheart is part of the Golem Trust... (also Making Money contains a fair few of them (currency base))

As a computer geek, I was a bit disappointed not to see "glitch" in this list, but with a plethora of Yiddish words to choose from, and only room for five, we can't all have everything we want.

I read a book called The Lost Traveller by Steve Wilson, which dealt with a post-apocalyptic society in which the descendants of a the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang acted as paramilitary forces for one of the communities that had formed after the "Blam." Over the years, they developed their own pantheon of gods and spirits, on of whom was Glitch, the godlet of hangups, goofs, and, well, glitches.

Sounds like a fun book. Will try and look it up.

WELCOME B