Vorige keer beschreef ik wat er zoal opvalt als we een tekst als The Lord of the Rings door een taalkundige deeltjesversneller halen. Met software als Wordsmith Tools kunnen we statistiek en taal verenigen: we likkebaarden bij keurige lijstjes van gemiddelde woord- en zinslengte, alfabetische volgorde, concordantie, ga zo maar door, én natuurlijk de frequentielijst. Welke woorden komen vaker voor, en welke slechts enkel?
Lijst: A-M
Wie helemaal onderin de frequentielijst kijkt, ziet 5685 woorden die slechts éénmaal voorkomen in een groot literair meesterwerk van duizend pagina’s. Dit is een bijzondere collectie woorden; het toont het immense vocabulair van Tolkien.
Van sommige woorden begrijpen we onmiddelijk dat ze slechts éénmaal voorkomen, andere woorden vallen juist op door hun gewoonheid, je zou denken dat ze vaker gebruikt zouden worden.
Hieronder som ik enkele van mijn opvallendste vondsten op. De woorden beginnend met de letter ‘a’ sla ik hier over, die hebben we al bekeken. Ook de woorden beginnend met ‘un-’ en ‘dis-’ laat ik hier weg, evenals andere derivaten en eigennamen, tenzij ze bijzondere aandacht trekken.
Dit zijn er 688, van A t/m M. De tweede helft volgt hierna, in Wordsmith Tolkien (3).
Dank aan Bas Rozema voor het scripten van het overbodige overboordgooien.
- bachelors
- backarappers
- badness
- baffled
- bamfurlong
- banquet
- barrow-wightish
- bath-songs
- beardless
- beautifuller
- beaver
- bedewed
- bed-song
- beechbone
- befit
- begotten
- begrudged
- belching
- bellows
- bellying
- bemused
- bendable
- bereaved
- berry-o
- bestow
- Bifur
- bird-tamer
- birthday-party
- bitten
- bitter-sweet
- bivouac
- bivouacked
- blackberry
- blanco
- bliss
- blizzard
- bloodthirsty
- blunder
- blush
- bodiless
- boldness
- booming
- botanical
- bottled
- bowlegged
- bowman
- boxes
- brackets
- brain
- brandishing
- brandmarks
- brazier
- breastwork
- breathlessness
- Breeland
- breezy
- bringer
- brisk
- broom
- bruise
- brutal
- builders
- bulky
- bumpkin
- burrow
- bustle
- busybody
- butt
- bye
- cage
- calculate
- calendar
- calm
- candlelight
- canopied
- caper
- capital
- card
- career
- caress
- cargo
- carpenter
- carrier
- carrock
- carrots
- carrotses
- cascade
- cask
- casual
- catering
- cauldron
- cavalcade
- ceaselessly
- cell
- ceremony
- cesspool
- chained
- chalk
- challenger
- chamberlain
- champ
- champion
- charcoal
- chariots
- charm
- chat
- cheerfulness
- cherry
- chessboard
- childish
- circumstances
- clamorous
- clap
- clever-handed
- cleverness
- clocks
- clop
- clothing
- clumsily
- clutter
- collapse
- collector
- college
- column
- comb
- combat
- commentaries
- commit
- commodity
- communicative
- comparative
- compensation
- compiled
- complex
- complicated
- compliments
- composition
- compulsion
- computed
- condor
- confederates
- confess
- conflict
- congratulate
- conical
- conqueror
- conquest
- conscience
- consequence
- console
- conspirator
- consume
- contemporary
- contents
- continuously
- contrast
- convenient
- convex
- cooking
- cooks
- cordially
- coronal
- corpses
- correction
- correspondence
- corrupt
- cottage
- counter
- countrymen
- craven
- crazy
- credible
- creek
- crevice
- crew
- cricket
- crimson
- critic
- croak
- crook
- crop
- crotch
- crucial
- crumbles
- crumples
- crunch
- crust
- culmination
- cupboard
- customers
- cypress
- daddy
- daffadowndilly
- dagger
- dam
- dame
- dammed
- damned
- damper
- darling
- darn
- dauntless
- daytime
- deadmen
- deafest
- dealer
- deceptive
- decipher
- deck
- defiant
- define
- delete
- deliberate
- delicious
- delta
- denial
- dent
- depression
- descendant
- desirable
- destiny
- detail
- development
- devil
- devious
- digesting
- diggings
- diminishing
- dimness
- diner
- dinted
- dirge
- discourse
- disease
- display
- dissipate
- dissuade
- distaste
- distributed
- distribution
- disturber
- ditch
- divers
- diving
- divining
- dizziness
- doer
- downlands
- downright
- drab
- dragonets
- drainage
- dreamless
- driftwood
- drowns
- drowse
- drumming
- drunken
- dubious
- duck
- dumbness
- dungeon
- durst
- dwindles
- earn
- earnestness
- earthier
- earthquake
- eastfold
- eastlands
- ebony
- eclipse
- economic
- edgewise
- eel
- eerie
- efficient
- egg
- elaborate
- elderly
- elements
- elevenses
- elixirs
- elsewhither
- elusiveness
- Elvendom
- emerald
- emergency
- emissary
- enchanting
- encounter
- endurance
- energetic
- England
- enhanced
- enlighten
- enquiry
- enthroned
- enthusiastic
- enting
- entmaiden
- envy
- equal
- equivalent
- errandless
- error
- Esmeralda
- essays
- evasively
- ever-approaching
- evereven
- evermore
- evernight
- ewer
- excavation
- exceptionally
- excite
- exit
- expectation
- explosion
- extensive
- eyeholes
- eyeless
- eyesight
- fabulously
- facts
- fainthearted
- fairbairns
- fairspoken
- famine
- famousest
- fanfare
- fanned
- farmhouse
- farseeing
- farthing
- fatherless
- fathomless
- fax
- feeble
- female
- fencing
- fending
- ferries
- festering
- festers
- fibre
- fierceness
- fiercest
- fillet
- finders
- firebrand
- fireless
- fireside-story
- fireside-tales
- firework
- firmament
- fitly
- five-stringed
- flabbergasted
- flagstone
- flammifer
- flappy
- flavour
- flaw
- flawless
- flets
- flinthearted
- flounder
- flourdumpling
- flowery
- fluffy
- flute
- flutter
- folding
- fondly
- footing
- footman
- forbade
- forbear
- forbodes
- forefront
- foreknowledge
- foremother
- foreshadow
- foresighted
- forestall
- forester
- forestry
- forthcoming
- foulbellied
- fowl
- frantic
- freer
- fret
- fried
- fringe
- frisky
- froglike
- frothing
- fruitful
- fulfilment
- furry
- gaffers
- gagged
- gainsaying
- Gamgees
- garden-lore
- genealogies
- genuinely
- Gerontius
- giddy
- gladder
- glistens
- gloves
- goat
- goings-on
- goldenhaired
- Goldilocks
- gongs
- government
- graceful
- gram
- grandsires
- gravel
- greed
- greycloaked
- grieving
- grit
- groundless
- growl
- gum
- gums
- gut
- guttering
- guttural
- hack
- handicrafts
- handkerchief
- happenings
- harden
- harpstring
- hatch
- haunting
- havoc
- headaches
- heals
- heartless
- heating
- hedgehog
- hello
- helplessness
- hereabouts
- heredity
- hey-diddle-diddle
- highland
- hilltops
- hinge
- hips
- hisself
- historical
- hitch
- hits
- hobbitlike
- hobbitry
- hobnobbing
- holbytlan
- holdwine
- holy
- homecoming
- homelessness
- homestead
- honestly
- honours
- hoofbeats
- hook
- hooray
- hoots
- hopped
- hornrock
- horrified
- horsebreeders
- horsemaster
- horsethieving
- hose
- hugest
- hulk
- human
- hurtful
- identity
- idiot
- ignorance
- illuminate
- imperishable
- impervious
- imply
- impotent
- impregnable
- impress
- imprint
- imprisonment
- impromptu
- impudence
- inattentive
- inclination
- incompatible
- incurable
- indefinitely
- infection
- inform
- infuriate
- infusion
- inimitable
- inrush
- insatiable
- insecure
- inset
- inspection
- insult
- intact
- intake
- intelligible
- intensely
- intentions
- interior
- interpret
- interpreted
- interrupt
- intertwining
- intriguing
- introduction
- intrusion
- inventory
- investigate
- investigator
- inviting
- iris
- irksome
- ironmongery
- irresponsible
- irrevocable
- islands
- issues
- itch
- ivory
- january
- jeopardy
- jewellery
- jolt
- jovial
- joyful
- july
- justify
- keenest
- kettle
- Khand
- kingfisher
- kitten
- knighthood
- knob
- knowingly
- knowledgeable
- label
- laborious
- ladle
- lamplight
- landmark
- larder
- lark
- latch
- lavishly
- lawful
- leaderless
- leadership
- leanness
- learner
- leech
- lengthen
- lengthening
- lengthwise
- lessens
- lessons
- lettuce
- levelled
- lick
- lied
- lifelong
- lighted
- likeliest
- lime
- limes
- limit
- limits
- linden
- links
- livelihood
- loaves
- loitering
- lone
- longs
- longwise
- loot
- loremaster
- Lorien
- lovers
- lung
- lush
- lusty
- luxurious
- luxury
- magician
- magnificence
- magnitude
- maid
- major
- malt
- manful
- manifestations
- mansion
- manuscript
- marbles
- marigold
- mariner
- market
- marksmen
- masks
- mast
- masterless
- matriarch
- mature
- mayoralty
- maze
- meadow
- meagre
- meaningless
- meddlers
- meetings
- melancholy
- mellon
- melodious
- mementoes
- memo
- memorable
- memorial
- mercilessly
- metalwork
- method
- mices
- midmorning
- midmost
- midyear
- mightily
- mindless
- mingle
- mirage
- mirky
- miscarry
- misconstruing
- mister
- mixture
- moan
- mock
- moderate
- modest
- moisture
- mondays
- moonbeams
- moonrise
- morrowless
- mortality
- mostways
- motive
- moulded
- mounded
- mountaineers
- mountainous
- mourning
- mouse
- mouthfuls
- muddled
- mugworts
- multitudinous
- mumblings
- murky
- murmurs
- musings
- myrtles
- mythology