Cram was a biscuit-like special[1] substance made by the Dale-men[2] and the Lake-men that indefinitely remained fresh.[3] It was said to be very[1] nutritious, and was used as sustenance on long journeys.[3] It was notably used by Thorin and Company on the last stage of the Quest of Erebor.[3]
After bringing the recipe back to The Shire, Bilbo Baggins used cram on some of the "long and mysterious walks" he underwent. Gandalf also used cram on his many travels, supposedly softening it in water.[1]
When Gimli first saw a lembas cake, he looked at it with a doubtful expression and thought that it was cram, but when he tasted a bit, he ate the whole cake with relish.[2]
Basic cram was a biscuitish and flavorless cake that was primarily used "as a chewing exercise" due to its uninteresting nature.[3] It was made out of meal or compressed flour, but sometimes milk and honey was added to it to make it more palatable.[1][4]
In Samwise Gamgee's[5] poem Perry-the-Winkle, Perry was given "cramsome bread" and "cram-some cake" by the Lonely Troll,[6] which may be comparable to cram.[7]
The Dale-man shared their Cram with the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.[8]
Etymology
Cram is a word in the Mannish[9] language of the Dale-men and the Lake-men.[1]
The Oxford English Dictionary contains the word cram, derived from Old English crammian,[9] which means "a mass of dough or paste used for cramming fowls, etc: any food used to fatten". It also defines the word "cram-cake" as "?fried-cake, pancake".[7]
In other versions
In The Etymologies, cram or cramb is said to be a Ñoldorin word, from the root KRAB- ("press"),[4] which seems to have been written in late 1937 or early 1938.[9][10]
An earlier manuscript version of what would later become the chapter "A Knife in the Dark" mentions that cram was "a word in the language of the" Dale-men and the Lake-men.[1] This version seems to have been written before late summer 1938.[11] In the final published version of the chapter "Farewell to Lórien", Gimli says after trying lembas that he "thought it was only a kind of cram" which the Dale-men would make for travel.[2]
In The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, John Rateliff gives a detailed analysis of all the texts involving the word cram and concludes that Tolkien’s Elvish etymology of the word was quickly abandoned in favor of his original Mannish origin of cram.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The First Phase, X: "The Attack on Weathertop", pgs. 177, 186 (note 1)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, ch. VIII: "Farewell to Lórien", pg. 369
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Hobbit, ch. XIII: "Not at Home"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", pg. 365 (entry "KRAB-")
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, "Preface"
- ↑ The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, no. 8: "Perry-the-Winkle"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, pg. 328
- ↑ "Cram" on The Encyclopedia of Arda
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The History of The Hobbit: Mr Baggins and Return to Bag-End, The Second Phase, "While the Dragon's Away...", (iii) A Note on Cram
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", introduction, pg. 382
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The First Phase, XII: "At Rivendell", pg. 214