Owen Barfield
Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 - 14 December 1997) was a philosopher and fellow Inkling with J.R.R. Tolkien. He did not attend a great deal of the Inklings meetings due to living and working in London, a ways away from the Eagle and Child.
Barfield argued that language was more "poetic" in its more ancient forms noting that the same word described both a spiritual and physical reality for the ancient speakers, making no distinction. He noted, for example, that in some languages the word for "heaven" is the same as the word for "sky".
Tolkien was very fond of Barfield's works and his linguistic views were most influenced by Barfield, specifically his concept of ancient and original unity between meaning and sound.
Bibliography, selected
Excerpts
Barfield said that Tolkien's children were very fond of his book The Silver Trumpet and regarded it as a sort of Bible:
In a letter to Barfield, dated June 28, 1936, Lewis wrote:
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 28/05/2026.
