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Here is a remarkable anecdote related by Tom Shippey in his book The Road to Middle-earth:

"Perhaps the most revealing remark ... comes in a letter from Tolkien to his son Christopher after the latter had read a paper on the heroes of northern legend ..."

'... I suddenly realized that I am a pure philologist. I like history, and am moved by it, but its finest moments for me are those in which it throws light on words and names! Several people (and I agree) spoke to me of the art with which you made the beady-eyed Attila on his couch almost vividly present. Yet oddly, I find the thing that thrills my nerves is the one you mentioned casually: atta, attila. Without those syllables the whole great drama ... loses savour for me.'

"The point is that Attila, though a Hun ... nevertheless does not appear to bear a barbarian name. 'Attila' is the diminutive form of the Gothic word for 'father', atta: it means 'little father', or even 'dad', and it suggests very strongly the presence of many Goths in Attila's conquering armies who found loot and success much more attractive than any question of saving the West ... the word tells the story."

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