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Dates
Approximately III 2820 - III 2912 (1220 - 1312 by the Shire-reckoning)1
Race
Hobbits
Culture
Shire-hobbits
Family
Originally a Hornblower; married into the Baggins family
Settlements
The folkland of the Hornblowers was around Longbottom, while the Baggins family was associated with Hobbiton
Meaning
Uncertain2

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 7 June 2019
  • This entry is complete

Tanta Hornblower

One of Frodo’s great-grandmothers

A member of the Hornblower family, and perhaps a descendant of the famous Tobold Hornblower who first brought pipe-weed to the Shire, Tanta lived about two hundred years after Tobold's time. She married into the Baggins family when she wed Largo Baggins. They had just one recorded child, a son named Fosco, but through Fosco arose a line of descent through Drogo to Frodo Baggins, making Tanta Hornblower a great-grandmother of Frodo.


Notes

1

We have no dates for Tanta herself. The dates shown here are for her husband Largo Baggins, to whom Tanta's lifetime was presumably approximately comparable.

2

We have no real clues about the origin of the name Tanta. It likely originates in Old English (like that of her illustrious forebear Tobold Hornblower) though its origins are obscure. To the Anglo-Saxons the word tān meant 'fate' or 'fortune', and a seer or fortune-teller was a tānhlyta. This is close enough to 'Tanta' that it may represent the intended meaning, but Tolkien himself states that the name was meaningless (or at least that it held no meaning to the Hobbits of the Shire).

See also...

Hornblower Family, Largo Baggins

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 7 June 2019
  • This entry is complete

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2012, 2016, 2019. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by myDISCprofile, the free online personality test.
Explore the benefits of using a personality profile to discover yourself and make the most of your career.
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Tanta Hornblower

One of Frodo’s great-grandmothers

Dates
Approximately III 2820 - III 2912 (1220 - 1312 by the Shire-reckoning)1
Race
Hobbits
Culture
Shire-hobbits
Family
Originally a Hornblower; married into the Baggins family
Settlements
The folkland of the Hornblowers was around Longbottom, while the Baggins family was associated with Hobbiton
Meaning
Uncertain2

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 7 June 2019
  • This entry is complete

Tanta Hornblower

One of Frodo’s great-grandmothers

A member of the Hornblower family, and perhaps a descendant of the famous Tobold Hornblower who first brought pipe-weed to the Shire, Tanta lived about two hundred years after Tobold's time. She married into the Baggins family when she wed Largo Baggins. They had just one recorded child, a son named Fosco, but through Fosco arose a line of descent through Drogo to Frodo Baggins, making Tanta Hornblower a great-grandmother of Frodo.


Notes

1

We have no dates for Tanta herself. The dates shown here are for her husband Largo Baggins, to whom Tanta's lifetime was presumably approximately comparable.

2

We have no real clues about the origin of the name Tanta. It likely originates in Old English (like that of her illustrious forebear Tobold Hornblower) though its origins are obscure. To the Anglo-Saxons the word tān meant 'fate' or 'fortune', and a seer or fortune-teller was a tānhlyta. This is close enough to 'Tanta' that it may represent the intended meaning, but Tolkien himself states that the name was meaningless (or at least that it held no meaning to the Hobbits of the Shire).

See also...

Hornblower Family, Largo Baggins

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 7 June 2019
  • This entry is complete

For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page.

Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 1998, 2001, 2012, 2016, 2019. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ.

Website services kindly sponsored by myDISCprofile, the free online personality test.
Explore the benefits of using a personality profile to discover yourself and make the most of your career.