Places in Middle-earth
Mathom-house
Type: Buildings, Halls, Houses
Region: Bree/The Shire
Meaning: *see text
Location: Michel Delving, The Shire
Description: The Mathom-house at Michel Delving was a museum:
So, though there was still some store of weapons in the Shire, these were used mostly as trophies, hanging above hearths or on walls, or gathered into the museum at Michel Delving. The Mathom-house it was called; for anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom.
(LotR: FotR: Book One: Chapter I - A Long Expected Party)
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*For the meaning, see the Bosworth-Toller entry for mathom-house:
máðum-hús, es; n. A treasure-house, treasury:... [follow link to see complete entry]~*~
More quotes pertaining to the Mathom-house at Michel Delving:
'It's a pretty thing, isn't it?' said Bilbo, moving it in the light. 'And useful. It is my dwarf-mail that Thorin gave me. I got it back from Michel Delving [i.e. the Mathom-house] before I started, and packed it with my luggage: I brought all the mementoes of my Journey away with me, except the Ring...'
(LotR: FotR: Book Two: Chapter III - The Ring Goes South
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'...Bilbo had a corslet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel Delving Mathom-house, I suppose.' [Gandalf speaking]
(LotR: FotR: Book Two: Chapter IV - A Journey in the Dark)
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Contributors: ~Nessime 2/02/05