Your discovery of 'Numinor' in C.S.L.'s That Hideous Strength is discovery of a plagiarism: well, not that, since he used the word, taken from my legends of the First and Second Ages, in the belief that they would soon appear. They have not, but I suppose now they may. The spelling Numinor is due to his hearing it and not seeing it. Númenóre or Númenor means in High-elven simply West-land. As for the shape of the world of the Third Age, I am afraid that was devised 'dramatically' rather than geologically, or paleontologically. I do sometimes wish that I had made some sort of agreement between the imaginations or theories of the geologists and my map a little more possible. But that would only have made more trouble with human history.
J.R.R. Tolkien
#169 From a letter to Hugh Brogan 11 September 1955
Nice map of Numenor.
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful gem of a find! I am reading that hideous strength, and quite flipped my lid when I saw CS mention Numinor (and spell it incorrectly...)! This is a fantastic explanation of what I've just found on page 201. Thanks so much for posting
ReplyDeleteSame here. I just got to that point in That Hideous Strength and had to investigate, knowing that Lewis and Tolkein knew each other and each other's work.
DeleteSomehow missed this use by old CS first time I read the Trilogy. This time I ran to the 'puter and found this answer. Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! I also am re-reading THS and was startled to see Numinor mentioned. I missed it the first time around (and I don't think the spelling was the reason). Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteNuminor was Yumi's brother in Ulysses31
ReplyDeleteI also just came across this in THG and was so curious about the reference. In trying to find information about it, I stumbled across this blog post. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAt one point, Ransom defines Numinor as "the true West". There is also a reference to Middle Earth. Is there any insight on that?