Comments on: The various translations of Bilbo Baggins

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 13:13:30 +0000

Good point, zhayena. I know the appendices in the back of Return of the King has quite a bit on the languages and names of Middle Earth.

By: zhayena

zhayena — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:47:57 +0000

kaylinda: There’s always the Apendix in LotR, II I believe.

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:02:31 +0000

Kaylinda: Not that I know. Have you checked out his Letters, though?

By: kaylinda

kaylinda — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:08:48 +0000

hey there,

right now im in my 5th year working on my final paper, diploma work we call it here…its actually on tolkien’s LOTR….translation of proper names….i found the book recommended by one of you- a tolkien’s compass, but really, is there anything else that could be of any use? does anybody know?

By: Zeitlos

Zeitlos — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 11:07:23 +0000

In the German movie it’s also “Beutlin”.

Harry Potter’s name hasn’t been translated, you are right. But Voldemort has different names in nearly every language, because it has to be an acronym of “I am Lord Voldmort”, or “Ich bin Lord Voldemort”, etc.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 08:51:46 +0000

Kristin: Thanks for pointing that out. I’d never heard of that book before (which is probably true about many Tolkien-related books; there seem to be ‘a few’)

By: Kristin K. W.

Kristin K. W. — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 08:26:46 +0000

But Tolkien also wrote some guidelines for translators (Published in ‘A Tolkien Compass’) saying:

The Language of translation now replaces English as the equivalent of the common speech, the names in English form should therefore be translated into other language according to their meaning (as closely as possible)