The Secret of Old Entish: How Words Carry the Soul of the World

There’s only one power that can lift the curse of Babel — the power of poetic imagination.

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Treebeard had just climbed a hill with Merry and Pippin in his long, knotty arms. He wanted to say where they were but forgot the word for “hill” in the Common Tongue. So, he said part of the word for hill in Old Entish: “a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lind-or-burúmë.”

It wasn’t the full word — only part of it, meaning “rockshelf.” He said it …