Frodo

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The small, good-hearted hobbit who carries the One Ring to Mount Doom in J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ; a masculine given name often chosen in tribute to that fictional character
2. A fictional hobbit from Tolkien's Middle-earth novels who bears the One Ring on a perilous quest ; a first name for boys that also evokes that literary figure
3. The hobbit hero of Tolkien's epic fantasy tales, known for his courage in destroying the Ring ; a personal name for men, sometimes given as an homage to the character

Etymology: Frodo is a name first, and the word's story begins with J. R. R. Tolkien's invention of a hobbit called Frodo Baggins for The Lord of the Rings. The name became a common noun because readers and fans took the character's qualities and applied them to others: a person who endures a hard, thankless burden on behalf of others, usually without seeking glory. Tolkien's hobbit is the emblem of that quiet, reluctant courage, carrying the One Ring toward Mordor when stronger figures might have seemed better suited to the task. The word is therefore a eponym in the strict sense, a common noun built from a single fictional character rather than from any older English or classical root. It follows the same pattern as "quixotic" and "Scrooge," where an author's creation outlived its story and entered everyday speech. Because the word is a coinage from a twentieth-century novel, it has no earlier history to trace, and its meaning rests entirely on the character.