Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. A trinket or piece of bric-a-brac; a knick-knack, often used in regifting.
Etymologies
- From Old English māþum ("treasure, object of value, jewel, ornament, gift"), from Proto-Germanic *maiþmaz (“present, gift”), from Proto-Indo-European *moyt-, *meyt- (“to exchange”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, swap”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐌼𐍃 (maithms, "gift, present"), Latin mūtō ("change, exchange, barter"). The word survived into Middle English as mathem, madme ("treasure"), but became obsolete thereafter. It was revived by J. R. R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“And Hobbit names and special words are intended to be pronounced accordingly: for example, Bolger has g as in bulge, and mathom rhymes with fathom.”
“Most notable were the names of days, months, and seasons; several other words of the same sort (such as mathom and smial) were also still in common use, while more were preserved in the place-names of Bree and the Shire.”
“The Peabody Essex Museum is fabulous -- the mathom-house of all the cool stuff however obtained that came home on Yankee sailing ships.”
“I believe the correct word for "stupid little thingy gift that no one really wants" is mathom.”
“Perhaps, even, I do not want a little snowman mathom.”
“Well, no, perhaps I do not need a little snowman mathom.”
“One thing I especially love about hobbit birthdays is the ‘mathom’ tradition.”
“A mathom is something handed down, passed around and given away.”
“This goes double for major research libraries, which are textual mathom-houses.”
“He also wrote a short treatise on Old Words and Names in the Shire, having special interest in discovering the kinship with the language of the Rohirrim of such 'shire-words' as mathom and old elements in place names.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mathom’.
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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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wordn't-you-just-know-it
autopolyploid, stimthought, vandanbladderstiddle, word's eye view, ménagerie à trois, technonotice, bluebell, slanticular, ante-jentacular, splunge, turkish room, uxorial and 770 more...
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Book Words
List of words I've run across whilst reading.
vesper, mathom, gallant, exculpate, bodily, quixotic, adumbrate, abjure, numpty, acuity, acumen, copacetic and 4 more...
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ChatOmbre's Words
fwah, lulz, apotheosis, snazzy, interrobang, hemidemisemiquaver, dieselpunk, oriflamme, sesquipedalian, apotheosis, addlepated, umbrage and 12 more...
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litany of lexical likes
words I find interesting or that stuck in my head or that I want to revisit at some point
loblolly, animadvert, misoneism, outrance, chokedamp, appropinquate, noesis, cataphor, flabbergastment, godforsaken, mendacity, sussurus and 88 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mathom.
reesetee That's what I always say, gangerh--at least they reach the ground. :-) Feb 9, 2008
sionnach The vast underground chamber where I store all my mathoms has got a high cavernous roof, and it's stuffed to bursting. To put it another way, I've got fathoms o' mathoms. Feb 9, 2008
gangerh Is someone who understands all these things and can track them all and calculate their properties called a mathomatician? Feb 9, 2008
gangerh I will. As soon as they hit the pillow.
I did check them ante-nuptial and I noticed they reached the ground. Isn't that the most important thing? Feb 9, 2008
super-julia yes, i think so reesetee, indeed. though i think it could be anything, even furniture; a tolkien scholar can correct me on that.. and i'm glad it was you that made the foot joke, now gangerh won't get mad at me... ; ) Feb 9, 2008
reesetee Haha! Better check out her feet. ;-)
Sort of trinket-y rather than cluttery, julia? Feb 9, 2008
gangerh So that's it then. Now I understand. My bride is a Hobbit. Feb 8, 2008
super-julia i imagine it sort of like tribbles, just multiplying exponentially over and under and tucked away inside of.. a far more toothsome word than clutter, to my mind. : ) Feb 8, 2008
reesetee Wow. I have a lot of mathoms in my house, too. Feb 8, 2008
super-julia "Anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort."
~ J.R.R. Tolkien Feb 8, 2008