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OliphauntIn J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe of Middle-earth, an oliphaunt, or mûmak, is an animal related to but larger than the elephant. Oliphaunts lived during the Third Age in the southern land of Harad, and were notably used in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields on March 15th, 3019 of the Third Age, perhaps later becoming extinct. The word Oliphaunt is a variant spelling of the archaic word oliphant meaning "elephant", "ivory", "elephant-tusk", "musical horn made of an elephant tusk", or "a musical instrument resembling such a horn". It appears in Middle English as olifant or olifaunt, and was borrowed from Medieval French olifanz. The French word owes something to both Old High German olbenta "camel", and to Latin elephantus "elephant", a word of Greek origin. OHG olbenta is a word of old Germanic origin; cf. Gothic ulbandus also meaning "camel". But the form of the OHG and Gothic words suggests it is also a borrowing, perhaps indeed directly or indirectly from Greek elephas, though apparently with some confusion as to the animal the word referred to. Oliphaunt is also the title of a short comic poem about the beast quoted by the Hobbit Samwise Gamgee, based on traditional bestiary lore. An oliphaunt was called a mûmak (plural mûmakil) by the Men of Gondor. The word "Oliphaunt" is only used by Hobbits. See also: war elephant
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