Oliphaunts

The last documented oliphaunts were seen in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields on 15 March III 3019. We have to assume that they died out some time after that battle, because (as far as we know) they no longer exist anywhere in the world.

It should be emphasised that this derivation from the Germanic word for camel is Tolkien's own theory, and is not supported by all etymologists. Others link the word to the Greek elephantos (meaning both 'ivory' and 'elephant'). While Tolkien acknowledged this connection, he thought olbenta to be a more likely direct ancestor of oliphaunt, which is just one of many variant spellings of the word going back into history. Tolkien's choice of this word was perhaps influenced by the character of Sir Olifaunt, a giant knight who appears in Chaucer's 'Sir Thopas' among the Canterbury Tales.