I’ve received this very interesting e-mail from someone who has made an intriguing discovery about the possible etymological roots of the name of Aragorn:
 
Dear Mr. Pearce,
 
I have often heard you on Catholic radio and enjoyed your discussions on Tolkien.  It is easy to understand his popularity with many types of readers.
 
In reading a work on Indo-European cultures, I think it was in the section on Greek social structure, that I came across a reference that perhaps you are unaware of (and it seems the author himself didn’t draw the connection).  I couldn’t get through the whole book though, it is just too dense to read.
 
Anyway, the book is:  J. P. Mallory- In search of the Indo-Europeans. London: Thames and Hudson, 1989, see page 125, six lines from the bottom. (There is a revised edition too)
 
I quote:  ”  Scharfe does observe that the correspondence between Sanskrit rajan  – and Greek aregon suggests a Proto-Indo-European word for “protector” or “person with power or charisma”, but not “king”. The highest socio-political level that Scharfe attributes to the Proto-Indo-European is our “weik-potis” “the master of the clan” which we have already reviewed above”.
 
Leave it to Tolkien to find the perfect name for Aragorn before he comes into his kingship.  A study on other names in Tolkien might be fruitful.
 
Pax Christi,
 
Steve Griffin