Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A trinket or piece of bric-a-brac; a knick-knack, often used in regifting.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English māþum ("treasure, object of value, jewel, ornament, gift"), from Proto-Germanic *maiþmaz (“present, gift”), from Proto-Indo-European *moyt-, *meyt- (“to exchange”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, swap”). Cognate with Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐌼𐍃 (maithms, "gift, present"), Latin mūtō ("change, exchange, barter"). The word survived into Middle English as mathem, madme ("treasure"), but became obsolete thereafter. It was revived by J. R. R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings.

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Examples

  • And Hobbit names and special words are intended to be pronounced accordingly: for example, Bolger has g as in bulge, and mathom rhymes with fathom.

    The Lord of the Rings Tolkien, J. R. R. 1954

  • Most notable were the names of days, months, and seasons; several other words of the same sort (such as mathom and smial) were also still in common use, while more were preserved in the place-names of Bree and the Shire.

    The Lord of the Rings Tolkien, J. R. R. 1954

  • The Peabody Essex Museum is fabulous -- the mathom-house of all the cool stuff however obtained that came home on Yankee sailing ships.

    Making Light: The "agency model" as I understand it 2010

  • One thing I especially love about hobbit birthdays is the ‘mathom’ tradition.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Donna Farley 2008

  • One thing I especially love about hobbit birthdays is the ‘mathom’ tradition.

    Happy Birthday Bilbo! Donna Farley 2008

  • I believe the correct word for "stupid little thingy gift that no one really wants" is mathom.

    Great Christmas Giveaway Continues: Stupid Little Thingy Anne Johnson 2008

  • Perhaps, even, I do not want a little snowman mathom.

    Christmas Giveaway, Spun Anne Johnson 2008

  • A mathom is something handed down, passed around and given away.

    Archive 2008-09-01 Donna Farley 2008

  • Well, no, perhaps I do not need a little snowman mathom.

    Christmas Giveaway, Spun Anne Johnson 2008

  • A mathom is something handed down, passed around and given away.

    Happy Birthday Bilbo! Donna Farley 2008

Comments

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  • "Anything that Hobbits had no immediate use for, but were unwilling to throw away, they called a mathom. Their dwellings were apt to become rather crowded with mathoms, and many of the presents that passed from hand to hand were of that sort."

    ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

    February 9, 2008

  • Wow. I have a lot of mathoms in my house, too.

    February 9, 2008

  • i imagine it sort of like tribbles, just multiplying exponentially over and under and tucked away inside of.. a far more toothsome word than clutter, to my mind. : )

    February 9, 2008

  • So that's it then. Now I understand. My bride is a Hobbit.

    February 9, 2008

  • Haha! Better check out her feet. ;-)

    Sort of trinket-y rather than cluttery, julia?

    February 9, 2008

  • yes, i think so reesetee, indeed. though i think it could be anything, even furniture; a tolkien scholar can correct me on that.. and i'm glad it was you that made the foot joke, now gangerh won't get mad at me... ; )

    February 9, 2008

  • I will. As soon as they hit the pillow.

    I did check them ante-nuptial and I noticed they reached the ground. Isn't that the most important thing?

    February 9, 2008

  • Is someone who understands all these things and can track them all and calculate their properties called a mathomatician?

    February 9, 2008

  • The vast underground chamber where I store all my mathoms has got a high cavernous roof, and it's stuffed to bursting. To put it another way, I've got fathoms o' mathoms.

    February 9, 2008

  • That's what I always say, gangerh--at least they reach the ground. :-)

    February 10, 2008

  • ""It was a sore subject. Once upon a time it was full of trinkets and junky glass stuff, the sort people give you but you never really need."

    "Mathoms.""

    The Bone People by Keri Hulme, p 100

    February 7, 2017