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I'm currently reading Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. One sentence says:

[...] where there be mountains of gold, they say.

English is not my mother tongue, but I've found the same expression somewhere else, probably in song lyrics as well. I would like to know if it is correct to use (apart from literature context) and what it means and how it is different from "where there are mountains of gold". Thank you!

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    The language in LOTR is consciously archaic. Nobody talks that way any more. That particular construction is a hypothetical use of be (hypothetical because of the they say at the end), which some might call a 'subjunctive'; it has the kind of meaning that real subjunctive verbs often have in languages with subjunctive mood inflection.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 16:47
  • In some West Country dialects (i.e. South West England), "be" is used for "is" (and "am", "are") even today. But not in any standard varieties.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 18:10
  • I cannot accept that "nobody talks that way any more". There are plenty of people of erudition who would deliberately employ such language for its elegance - in the same way people readily employ Shakespearian dialogue in order to get their point across. And long may it continue, in my opinion.
    – WS2
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 18:46

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Yes, "there be" is from the past. And nowadays only used when imitating the past. Searching "there be" in Shakespeare's plays returns 86 matches ...

I think there be six Richmonds in the field
King Richard III: V, iv

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  • You mean the dragons aren't there anymore?
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 17:03
  • But even in Shakespeare, be would not be used in a simple declarative sentence, "there be dragons there": it was subjunctive, and only used in a hypothetical or counterfactual way - here, because of "I think".
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 18:09
  • @ColinFine Would it not be perfectly normal for the chair of a meeting, in Britain, to say something like "If there be no further business, may I propose that we adjourn to the bar"? It is in everyday use.
    – WS2
    Commented Jun 10, 2018 at 18:50
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    And my comment about a misapplied archaism was because that is a realis not an irrealis context, so the subjunctive would not normally have been used there anyway.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 19:14
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    @ColinFine - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Here_be_dragons
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jun 11, 2018 at 20:12

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