Editing Treebeard (section)

== Analysis ==

=== Medieval echoes ===

{{further|Tolkien and the medieval}}

The word "Ent" was taken from the [[Old English]] ''[[wikt:ent|ent]]'' or ''eoten'', meaning "giant". Tolkien borrowed the word from a phrase in the Anglo-Saxon poems ''[[The Ruin]]'' and ''[[Maxims II]]'', ''orþanc enta geweorc'' ("cunning work of giants"),<ref>{{cite book |first=Tom |last=Shippey |author-link=Tom Shippey |title=[[J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]] |year=2001 |page=88 |isbn=978-0-618-12764-1}}</ref> which describes [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] ruins in Britain.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#163 to [[W. H. Auden]], 7 June 1955}}</ref>{{sfn|Shippey|2005|p=149}}

The philologist and Tolkien scholar [[Tom Shippey]] notes that Treebeard says farewell to the elf-rulers Celeborn and Galadriel "with great reverence" and the words "It is long, long since we met by stock or by stone",<ref name="Many Partings" group=T/> in words which echo a line in the [[Middle English]] poem ''[[Pearl (poem)|Pearl]]'': "''We meten so selden by stok other stone''". Where in ''Pearl'' the mention of stock and stone means in earthy reality, Shippey writes, the phrase fits the Fangorn context well, since Treebeard's "sense of ultimate loss naturally centres on felled trees and barren ground."{{sfn|Shippey|2005|page=205}}

=== Environmentalism ===

{{further|Environmentalism in The Lord of the Rings}}

[[Matthew T. Dickerson]] and [[Jonathan Evans (scholar)|Jonathan Evans]] see Treebeard as vocalizing a vital part of [[Environmentalism in The Lord of the Rings|Tolkien's environmental ethic]], the need to preserve and look after every kind of wild place, especially forests.{{sfn|Dickerson|Evans|2006|pp=119–144}} Tolkien's biographer [[John Garth (author)|John Garth]] writes that "A deep feeling for trees is Tolkien's most distinctive response to the natural world."{{sfn|Garth|2020|pp=112–131}}

=== Professorial figure ===

Shippey, who like Tolkien had been a university professor, writes that Fangorn's explanations are "authoritative and indeed .. 'professorial'. They admit no denial."{{sfn|Shippey|2005|pp=150–151}} Tolkien's biographer, [[Humphrey Carpenter]], wrote that Treebeard's deep booming voice with his "hrum, hoom" mannerism was based on that of Tolkien's friend, fellow-[[Inklings|Inkling]], and professor of English at the [[University of Oxford]], [[C. S. Lewis]].{{sfn|Carpenter|1977|p=198}}