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#REDIRECT ] |
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'''Thain''' is a variant spelling of ''Thane'' or '']'', an ] term for a minor noble, probably best known from ]'s ''].'' (''Thane'' is the usual spelling in modern ].) The Oxford English Dictionary explains why the modern spelling has diverged from what would have been expected had the word continued in common use: |
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{{Rcat shell| |
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{{Quotation|The regular modern repr. of OE. {th}e6n, if the word had lived on in spoken |
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{{R to anchor}} |
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use, would have been thain (cf. fain, main, rain), as it actually appears |
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{{R with history}} |
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in some writers, chiefly northern, from 1300 to near 1600. But thain was in |
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}} |
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15-16th c. Sc. written thane (in L. thanus), and this form, being used by |
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Boece, Holinshed, and Shakespeare (in Macbeth), was adopted by Selden, |
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Spelman, and the legal antiquaries and historians of the 17th c. to represent |
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the Anglo-Saxon {th}e6n, and became the usual form in Eng. history. Recent |
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historians, as Stubbs, Freeman, and Green, in order to distinguish the |
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Anglo-Saxon use from the Sc. in sense 4, have revived the OE. en as THEGN, |
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q.v.|The Oxford English Dictionary}} |
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==In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien== |
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In ]'s ]al universe of ], the '''Thain''' was the traditional military leader of the ] of the ]. The Hobbits first chose a Thain to "hold the authority of the king" when ], last King of ], was lost and the kingship in the North discontinued. The Thainship was originally held by the ] Clan. In 1740 ], it passed to the ], and has remained a hereditary position in their clan ever since. Though a viceregal position, the Thain never wielded significant political authority, as the Shire remained a very loosely organized society and rarely faced military threats from outside. |
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Other offices in the Shire include the ], the ] in the ], and (in the Fourth Age) the ''Warden of ]'' created by King ]. |
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=== List of Thains of the Shire === |
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====]==== |
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*] (first Thain, elected in ] 1979 after Arvedui of Arnor died) |
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*Eleven additional Thains of the Oldbuck clan (the clan was probably named for Bucca) |
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*Gorhendad Oldbuck (possibly the 12th Thain), crossed over the Brandywine and became the first Master of Buckland |
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*Isumbras Took I (became 13th Thain and first of the ] line in 2340) |
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*Eight Took Thains (including Isengrim I, Isumbras II, Ferumbras I, and Paladin I) |
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*Isengrim Took II (22nd Thain and 10th of the Took line. Died 2672) |
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*Isumbras Took III (23rd Thain in 2672) |
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*Ferumbras Took II (24th Thain); older brother of Bullroarer Took. |
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*Fortinbras Took I (25th Thain) |
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*Gerontius Took, the Old Took (26th Thain in 2848) |
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*Isengrim Took III (27th Thain) |
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*Isumbras Took IV (28th Thain) |
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*Fortinbras Took II (29th Thain) |
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*Ferumbras III Took (30th Thain, died childless in 3015) |
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*Paladin II Took (31st Thain in 3015); cousin of Ferumbras III |
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====]==== |
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*] I (became 32nd Thain in 13 ], ] 63) |
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*] (became 33rd Thain after his father left for ] in 63 F.A.) |
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*] (of Rowanhayes, became 34th Thain) |
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The line of Thains continued in the Fourth Age of ] until the end of the ]. |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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] |
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