How is Shelob's name known?

Question

In Tolkien's world, there are quite a few "magical" beasts that have proper names: dragons for example, like Smaug. One can assume that their names are known either because their creator was still around at that time (and thus could tell their name) or because the creature can speak (like Smaug).

What about Shelob however? She is said to be the last daughter of Ungoliant, and was in her lair even before Sauron got to Mordor, so her origins are long forgotten. She also doesn't seem to be very talkative. And from her behavior as presented by orcs, it doesn't seem like she would engage in conversations even with them, assuming she could talk.

Yet, we can quote Shagrat in the chapter "The choices of master Samwise":

"But Shelob was on the go."

"Nothing gets by Shelob when she's on the hunt."

How can Shagrat possibly know Shelob's name?

Answer 1

From Letter 144:

Shelob (English representing C.S 'she-lob' = female spider) is a translation of Elvish Ungol 'spider'.

'Shelob' is therefore not, strictly speaking, a name, but rather a description. People aren't calling her by name, they're calling her "the Spider".

Answer 2

"Shelob" probably wasn't her name

Fun fact, Sam's name is actually Banazîr and his father Ham is Ranugad. Tolkien's stories are meant to be translations of old books into English. He did, however, take certain liberties as to how to translate names.

"Shelob" is a simple compound word containing she, for "female", and lob, an archaic word for "spider", deriving from Old English loppe:

sense of "spider, silkworm" from Proto-Germanic *lubbō, *lubbǭ ‎(“that which hangs or dangles”), from Proto-Indo-European *lep- ‎(“to peel, skin”).

(yuck, so lob and leper seem to have a common origin)

Going from "female spider", we can translate this back into the original Quenya¹ (of which there are many forms, but let's take the good old Parmaquesta, the high-elvish form) and you'd get something like Ungoliel. It's rather close to Ungoliantë, but liantë means "shadowy, dark"², whereas the -iel suffix means female (Tinúviel, etc.)

From there, knowing the original Quenyan, we can come up with the proper English name of She-Spider or the more baroque Fem-Spider.

My assumption therefore is that the original work, passed down through the ages, did not name the spider, but used the name Ungoliel instead. Tolkien did not want to use the uncouth She-Spider and decided to be creative and use Shelob.

As for her real name, it seems to have, unfortunately, been lost. She might never have had one.

^{1The Lord of the Rings is derived from the Red Book, texts compiled by, among others, Bilbo and Frodo. Strictly speaking, it was written in Westron, the "common speech", but there isn't much information about that language, so I chose Quenya instead.}

^{2The etymology of Ungol and liantë are unclear and have been switched a few times. Ungol was initially "dark", but that obviously wasn't the case in the Lord of the Rings. That would be an awesome new question though.}

Answer 3

“Shelob” may be a name of the orcs’ invention

Shelob is what the orcs call her, not necessarily her real or original name.

‘You won’t go again, you say? Curse you, Snaga, you little maggot! If you think I’m so damaged that it’s safe to flout me, you’re mistaken. Come here, and I’ll squeeze your eyes out, like I did to Radbug just now. And when some new lads come, I’ll deal with you: I’ll send you to Shelob.’

_{Return of the King}

Indeed, we know she has names in other languages:

Presently they were under the shadow, and there in the midst of it they saw the opening of a cave. ‘This is the way in,’ said Gollum softly. ‘This is the entrance to the tunnel.’ He did not speak its name: Torech Ungol, Shelob’s Lair.

_{The Two Towers}

Neither of the words in the phrase meaning “Shelob’s Lair” seems to contain the word Shelob, or any derivative thereof. Indeed, one word is “Ungol, ” as in Ungoliant, which is probably the part that means “Shelob.” “Ungol” may even just mean “spider,” but then so might “Shelob.”

It’s also true that the narrator calls her “Shelob.” This should not surprise us, though: the narrator also uses the name “Gandalf,” which is neither what the elves called Gandalf in his earliest days as an Istari, nor his original name as a Maia.

The point is this: Shelob would not need to be capable of communication in order to have a name.

Even if it’s not, Shelob might be able to communicate

The spiders of Mirkwood could communicate in Bilbo’s tale (The Hobbit). Even if we account for dramatic license, Shelob’s progenitor, Ungoliant, was certainly capable of speech (as illustrated in the Silmarillion). Let us not forget that neither Ungoliant nor Shelob was any mere beast: Ungoliant was a spirit of great power, and Shelob was closely descended from her. It’s not suprising that she might be capable of speech, or might have been capable of speech in bygone times when her hunger was not so great.

Answer 4

Shelob is an orkish moniker for her, not her actual name

In his guide for translators, (published in A Tolkien Compass and The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion), Tolkien says that "Shelob" was meant to sounds like a suitable spider name in an Orkish tongue, and this was done by deriving the name from dialectal english for spider, to give it a foreign feel.

Tolkien therefore includes it on his list of names he'd recommend translating, and gives the etymology.

Shelob. Though it sounds (I think) a suitable name for the Spider, in some foreign (Orkish) tongue, it is actually composed of She and lob (a dialectal E. word for ‘spider’). (Cf. The Hobbit, Chapter 8.) The Dutch version retains Shelob, but the Swed. has the rather feeble Honmonstret.
_{Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings}

The reference made to The Hobbit is to the song Bilbo sings to antagonize the spiders:

Lazy Lob and crazy Cob
are weaving webs to wind me.
I am far more sweet than other meat,
but still they cannot find me!
_{The Hobbit - Chapter 8 - "Flies and Spiders"}

Answer 5

As described on Shelob's Wikipedia page:

As Tolkien admitted in a letter to his son, Shelob "is of course only 'she + lob'," - lob being an archaic English word for spider, influenced by Old English loppe or "spider". The word is not related to "cob" nor "cobweb". Old English attercoppe (meaning "spider") is derived from atter meaning "poison" and coppe meaning "head"; Tolkien used "attercop" as well as "cob" and "lob" in The Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins sings songs taunting the giant spiders in Mirkwood: "Attercop, Attercop, Old Tomnoddy" and "Lazy Lob and Crazy Cob".

She is also referred to as "Her Ladyship", but I cannot find the reference at the moment.