Therefore 'Brandy Hall' would be the 'hall on, or across, the border' (of the Shire, that is). There's room for doubt here, because the element 'Brandy-', as a connection between the names 'Brandywine' and 'Brandybuck', only really exists in Tolkien's anglicised versions. In principle the Hall might have been named after the river - Bralda-hîm to the Hobbits - making it something close to 'Ale Hall', but this seems rather less likely. |