paradigmatic

folk etymology made "Brandywine"
when Elvish was no longer understood
by Hobbits tracing their ancestral line
to ages when the Shire was weeds and wood
a metaphor for Rome's stamp on the land
and Latin giving us a word or three
a fanciful attempt to understand
conflates folklore with real philology
as sure as Homer or the brothers Grimm
the Tolkien oevre conforms to all the rules
without a regulator over him
intuiting the rhapsode's kit of tools
the Parry/Lord hypothesis looks good
more firmly rooted than yon Birnham Wood