prepositions - when to use "of" and when not?


I have a question:
it's been months that I watch movies for improving my listening skill(it was quite awful:-D). now my question. I know that we should use "warlord" instead of "Lord of war" or "landlord" instead of "Lord of land" but I don't know why "The lord of the rings" is correct? isn't it better to use Ringslord ???
I meant how to know when I should use "of" ?



Answer



"Warlord" and "landlord" are English words.


"Lord of war" and "lord of land" do not happen to be established English phrases, but they can certainly be used: but they do not mean the same as the words. (For example, a "landlord" may be quite a humble person, provided only that they have some property which is let to somebody else - and that is leaving aside the special meaning of "landlord" as "publican" or "proprietor of a pub").


In a feudal setting, you could reasonably use the phrase "lord of the land" - this would mean the lord who ruled over the land: a quite different meaning from "landlord".


In the case the Rings, neither "Ringlord" nor "Lord of the rings" existed in English before Tolkien wrote them, as far as I know. We cannot know why he used the phrase for the title, but my guess is



  1. it has a more sonorous sound

  2. at the time he wrote it, I think that using a neologism like "Ringlord" in the title of a book would have puzzled both editors and readers.


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