As the story goes, Tolkien’s first draft of Fellowship of
the Ring was rejected by his editor because it contained the word “dwarfs,”
while according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the proper plural of dwarf is
“dwarves.” Supposedly, Tolkien’s reply was, “Don’t correct me. I WROTE the Oxford
English Dictionary.” It’s an amusing tale, and well worth repeating when you’re
in a pub and everyone has had a pint or two, even though it probably never
happened. Which isn’t to say the author and philologist never had to answer for
his unusual spelling. At times he claimed he used the term “dwarfs” to distinguish his fierce, stout characters from Snow White’s silly companions. Sometimes he
admitted he’d accidentally misspelled the word and had to “go with it.” Occasionally
he’d add the actual historical plural was “dwarrows.” For the record,
Tolkien didn’t single-handedly “write” the OED. But he contributed to entries
and etymologies.
