Tolkien makes me smarter

I was reflecting on this the other day. One reason why I love reading is that it expands my vocabulary. I see words I've never seen before and see them used in a context that exemplifies how I might use them. 

Tolkien routinely uses many words I cannot ever remember hearing before (although in writing almost 100 years ago--many of those words are almost obsolete now. A quick example from the last post: 

• lief: This was a new word for me. After doing some quick searching it seems to mean happily/gladly.
• liever: This also was new and took a little more research. Best I came up with was: preferably or rather.
• untrammeled: this seemed vaguely familiar--not being deprived of freedom or action. I must plan to use this sometime in the next week. 

So one sentence: "'What is Valinor to us,' they say, 'now that its light is come to little--as lief and liever would we have the untrammeled world'" (p. 163, The Book of Lost Tales - Volume I), that seemed exceedingly difficult was made much more simple by applying myself. 

I think reading Tolkien makes me smarter.