: : : Another point i thought about: after thousands of years, names tend to
: : : change, as do language, which is not the case in tolkien's writings. If
: : : he would have wanted to make the thousands look more realistic, wouldn't
: : : he need to change language as well, instead of doing this simple reuse of
: : : names?

: : Yes, you are quite correct. Sort of. I've often wondered myself why there seemed to be so little change in language in Middle-earth.

: : In fact the Elven languages changed a great deal. They were constantly evolving. But there were two forces at work which helped to preserve Sindarin (and the Sindarin name set) in Gondor.

: : One force was the traditional mindset of the Numenoreans. For comparison, let us look at Latin today. Many people would say it's a "dead language" -- it is no longer spoken by a living population. The classical Latin of Ovid and Caesar is not used any more, that's true. But the language didn't die it. It evolved. It became French, Spanish, Romanian, Italian, and many other Romance languages. And yet we have at least two groups of scholars (religious and secular) who have preserved classical Latin in several forms through the past two thousand years despite the natural evolutionary process which has occurred.

: : We don't exactly reuse old Latin names the way the Dunedain reused old Sindarin names, but anyone who's heard of Caesar's Palace, ordered a Little Caesar's pizza, been to a city named Augusta (I used to live in one), or encountered any of dozens or perhaps hundreds of other Latin names knows that we still use them. Of course, our legal professions still use Latin, too.

: : In this sense, Tolkien's preservation of Sindarin through the Numenorean cultures was very natural. It simply reflects what has happened in the real world with Latin (and doubtless other ancient languages).

: : The other force, however, I think was the Rings of Power themselves. After all, the Elves set out to stop change in Middle-earth. And if there's one thing about Middle-earth which everyone seems to notice, the cultures don't seem to change all that much.

: : Let's look at what Tolkien had to say about the Elves' intentions in Letter 154:

: :

: :   Some reviewers have called the whole thing simple-minded, just
: :   a plain fight between Good and Evil, with all the good just
: :   good, and the bad just bad.  Pardonable, perhaps (though at
: :   least Boromir has been overlooked) in people in a hurry, and
: :   with only a fragment to read, and, of course, without the
: :   earlier written but unpublished Elvish histories.  But the
: :   Elves are NOT wholly good or in the right.  Not so much because
: :   they had flirted with Sauron; as because with or without his
: :   assistance they were 'embalmers'.  They wanted to have their
: :   cake and eat it: to live in the mortal historical Midlde-earth
: :   because they had become fond of it (and perhaps because they
: :   there had the advantages of a superior caste), and so tried
: :   to stop its change and history, stop its growth, keep it as
: :   a pleasaunce, even largely a desert, where they could be
: :   'artists' -- and they were overburdened with sadness and
: :   nostalgic regret.   In their way the Men of Gondor were
: :   similar: a withering people whose only 'hallows' were their
: :   tombs.  But in any case this is a tale about a war, and if
: :   war is allowed (at least as a topic and setting) it is not
: :   much good complaining that all the people on one side are
: :   those on the other.  Not that I have made even this issue
: :   quite so simple: there are Saruman, and Denethor, and
: :   Boromir; and there are treacheries and strife even among
: :   the Orcs.
: : 

: : In Letter 131 he described the common powers of the Rings so:

: :

: :   The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention
: :   or slowing of DECAY (i.e., 'change' viewed as a regrettable
: :   thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its
: :   semblance -- this is more or less an Elvish motive....
: : 

: : Further on:

: :

: :   The Third Age is concerned mainly with the Ring....The Ring
: :   is lost, for ever it is hoped; and the Three Rings of the
: :   Elves, wielded by secret guardians, are operative in
: :   preserving the memory of the beauty of old, maintaining
: :   enchanted enclaves of peace where Time seems to stand still
: :   and decay is restrained, a semblance of the bliss of the
: :   True West.
: : 

: : And in Letter 144:

: :

: :   The High Elves met in this book are Exiles, returned back
: :   over Sea to Midlde-earth, after events which are the main
: :   matter of the SILMARILLION, part of one of the main kindreds
: :   of the ELDAR: the Noldor (Masters of Lore).  Or rather a
: :   last remnant of these.  For the SILMARILLION proper and the
: :   First Age ended with the destruction of the primeval Dark
: :   Power (of whom Sauron was a mere lieutenant), and the
: :   rehabilitation of the Exiles, who returned again over
: :   Sea.  Those who lingered were those who were enamoured of
: :   Middle-earth and yet desired the unchanging beauty of
: :   the Land of the Valar.  Hence the making of the Rings; for
: :   the Three Rings were precisely endowed with the power of
: :   preservation, not of birth.  Though unsullied, because they
: :   had not been made by Sauron, nor touched by him, they were
: :   nonetheless partly products of his instruction, and ultimately
: :   under the control of the One.  Thus, as you will see, when
: :   the One goes, the last defenders of High-elven lore and
: :   beauty are shorn of power to hold back time, and depart.
: : 

: : I've recently been of the opinion that the Rings' effective range was limited, but it may be that, like gravity (though I doubt Tolkien would have compared the Rings to gravity), their power may have diminished but not wholly vanished as the distance from the Ring increased. Hence, perhaps the Rings were helping to hold back change in Gondor in small ways.

:
: In Middle Earth there is a total absence of the concept of progress, in fact the opposite is the case. There is no progression of material or intellectual culture, the whole ethos is one of decay. Minas Tirith is a shadow of Osgilliath, and what are either compared to the splendour of Numenor, and this in turn of Gondolin or Tirion?

: This attitude probably entered western thought in the Middle Ages and was reinforced in the Renaissance when looking back on the achievements of Antiquity and is one with Tolkien's professional interests. The Anglo-Saxon poet spoke of the Roman remains he saw in England as "Eald enta geweorc" - the work of ancient giants, this is Tolkien's attitude throughout.

: This was not the case in antiquity. They did have the legend of the Golden Age, but they really only thought of the past as being simpler, more morally upright, not as being intellectually or culturally superior to the present. Augustus boasted that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. Justinian with understandable hubris, when entering the new church of Hagia Sophia, cried out "O Solomon I have outdone thee!" In his attitudes Tolkien was as one with the Mediaeval scholars and men of letters he studied.

I don't think that this attitude has to do (directly) with the time period (Roman/Byzantine Era vs. Middle Ages/Renaissance). I think that it has more to do with the ideas of Christianity (and more specifically Catholicism). Man was created at the height of power and bliss. Throughout time, there is nothing for him to do but lose what he once had. Eventually, things will become so bad that the world will end (Armaggeddon). The Church came to view ANY advance has hastening the decay of humanity. Undoubtedly, Tolkien put many of his Catholic beliefs into his stories. It would follow that the idea of "fighting the long defeat" is Catholic in nature, not Anglo-Saxon.