Hem, hem. Why no, my humour isn’t morbid at all…

Fricka–the words that Gandalf mutters in FoR are actually variations of elvish phrases. Spells, apparently, were spoken in native language in Middle-Earth. Thus, an elvish door has an elvish spell. Presumably, magic in middle earth is bound up in the substance of language, rather than individual words. And I think silent spells certainly play a role. Galadriel disparages the term ‘magic’ as being to broad and vague to refer to all the various sorts of power in Middle-Earth.

Tolkien, as Eric points out, actually created three functional languages (!), two related (Sindar and Quenya) and one independent (Dwarvish–forget the actualy name). They had detailed linguistic histories. For the Rohirrim, he used formal Anglo-Saxon.

What he would have probably detested about JKR’s spells is precisely the ‘playful’ aspect you mention. He was terribly serious about language (as an Oxford professor in philology, I guess he can be excused!).

And, for all you total geeks out there–Gandalf utters a spell to light wood for a fire on Caradharas. Geek points to you if you know what it is without peeking! (I don’t!)

What style of music were you thinking for this band… perhaps Heavy Mithril?

Actually, you should form a band and provide some music. We’ve already got one wrocker in Library Lily. Perhaps another few bands, and we can have music every night.

What do you call a composer who breaks up with his girlfriend?
Homeless.

Ok – another one:

What does a composer say when he gets to work?
Do you want fries with that?

“You have not experienced Shakespeare, until you have read it in the original Klingon.”

However, I recall (without double-checking sources) that, as a philologist, Tolkien preferred made-up languages to follow the rules of language rather than simply sounding evocative. JKR scores major points in the latter but not so much (as far as I can tell) in the former. Though she obviously isn’t just creating sounds at random–there are clear echoes from Latin, Old French, etc.– the etymologies don’t seem to be there. (“Haphazard abuse” in my previous comment was probably too strong; “Unsystematic evocation,” maybe.) That doesn’t bother me a bit, myself, but then I’m not a fastidious professor of philology. And Tolkien’s literary tastes were known to be a bit, shall we say, selective.

The best book I know of for examining Tolkien on linguistic and literary grounds is The Road to Middle-Earth by Tom Shippey. [Amazon link.] Buy, read, devour.

He supported Esperanto which can be seen at http://www.tolkienbooks.net/html/esperanto.htm

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