[Lexicog] Is it 'dwarfs' or 'dwarves'?

[Mike Sangrey]

I have a somewhat off-topic question.

My wife is doing some study of Tolkien and discovered he spelled
'dwarfs' wrong consistently throughout his writings.  When she told me
that I immediately questioned it, thinking that some critic was being
overly critical.  Well, it turns out that Tolkien admitted "the colossal
error' in one of his letters (always go back to the sources <smile>).

Well, we looked up 'dwarf' in our dictionary and discovered that it
pluralizes 'dwarf' as 'dwarfs' and 'dwarves'.  So, we wondered, has
Tolkien single-handedly introduced the new spelling?

Would someone lookup 'dwarf' in the OED and tell me what their entry
says regarding the origin of the plural 'dwarves'?

Thanks!

-- 
Mike Sangrey
msangrey AT BlueFeltHat.org
Landisburg, Pa.
                        "The first one last wins."
            "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth."



 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    lexicographylist-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/