Mathom

n. hobbitish. A birthday present, esp. one whose use has been forgotten.

"Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays. Not very expensive ones, as a rule, and not so lavishly as on this occasion; but it was not a bad system."

-- The Fellowship of the Ring, pp. 50-51.

"It was a tendency of hobbit-holes to get cluttered up; for which the custom of giving so many birthday-presents was largely responsible. Not, of course, that the birthday-presents were always new; there were one or two old mathoms of forgotten uses that had circulated all around the district; but Bilbo had usually given new presents and kept those that he received."

-- The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 65.


Mathom-house

"The museum of Michel Delving, a repository of arms and other mathoms. Bilbo lent his mithril-mail to the Mathom-house, but reclaimed it before leaving the Shire in TA 3001."

-- The Complete Guide To Middle-Earth, p. 324.

citing The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 25,
and The Hobbit, p. 285.


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Last updated July 23, 1999.