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Lebethron was a hardwood tree that grew in Ithilien.


Lebethron was said to be fair, and beloved by the woodworkers of Gondor.[1] The staves given by Faramir to Frodo and Sam were made of lebethron,[1] as was the casket in which he brought the Crown of Gondor to the coronation of Elessar.[2]


Lebethron was a Gondor Sindarin word. The fist element, lebeth, was related to Quenya lepsë,[3] "finger".[4] The second element was said to be derived from oron, "tree", though a later addition also ties it to the root RUN, "rub, grind, smooth, polish". In this light, the tree was named lebethorn, and the wood of the tree lebethron, and the two words merged into one over time.[3] Didier Willis has speculated that it was the "finger-oak", or Quercus Digitata,[5] though the identification of the second element as oron rather than doron, "oak", made that interpretation questionable.


  3. 3.0 3.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Gilson (ed.), "Words, Phrases & Passages in The Lord of the Rings", published in Parma Eldalamberon #17 (July 2007), page 89.
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, The Lost Road and Other Writings, "The Etymologies"
  5. Didier Willis, "Un arbre mystérieux : le lebethron" (original, in French), "Behind the leaves of the lebethron: Tree and Oak" (English draft), Hiswelokë, 2003