Meriadoc Brandybuck to be an actual phonetic transcription of the name in Tolkien's invented language of Westron, which Tolkien said he transliterated to English as follows: The nickname "Merry" represents his actual nickname "Kali" which meant "handsome, happy", and "Meriadoc" serves as a plausible name from which a nickname meaning "happy" could be derived. Alternately, "The Middle-Earth Encyclopedia" writes that Meriadoc means "joyful" or "cheerful," while Merry means "having high spirits." Théoden called Merry "Holdwine", and the Hobbit was thus known as such in the records of Rohan. It most probably derives from the Old English words "hold" and "wine", respectively meaning
Red Book of Westmarch gardener Samwise Gamgee. Tolkien provides a "title page" inscribed with various titles that had been subsequently rejected; the final title is Frodo's: Bilbo had translated material from Elvish lore from the Elder Days. This work, "Translations from the Elvish, by B.B.", comprised three volumes, also bound in red leather. After the defeat of Sauron (the Lord of the Rings) Bilbo gives these volumes to Frodo. These four volumes were "probably" (according to Tolkien) kept in a single red case. The volumes then pass into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, Frodo's servant and later mayor of the Shire. In time, the