The Tolkien Translation Game!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ah!

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[Jude]

That would be Legolas' exclamation upon seeing the Balrog: "Ai!".

[Voronwë the Faithful]

LOL! (Actually, when I ran that through at translationparty, it came out as "Artificial Intelligence."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This should be fun.

"The cursed despicable peach!"

[Inanna]

PEACH? is That there in the original?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yes, though it is not the full word in the original.

It is not said by a major character. And it is neither Man, Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit.

[Jude]

Was it spoken by someone who used to be a hobbit, or used to be a man?

Or a woman?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No. (Though there are some questions about whether his or her ancestors may have been human.)

[Inanna]

Is it spoken by Ghân <automatic umlaut is missing!>

[Jude]

Might his or her ancestors have been elves?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Inanna, no. (The full name Ghân-buri-Ghân was included in the word replacement list, but not Ghân. I have remedied that oversight.)

Jude, yes, exactly. It is also possible that the speaker was nothing more than a talking "beast" animated by Melkor's (and/or Sauron's) fell power. I think it highly unlikely, however, that this particularly speaker was a minor Maia taking an earthly form in service of its master(s).

[Inanna]

Ok, now am lost.

I thought Jude was tending towards Orcs, but V's response has completely confused me.

[Jude]

I'm still leaning towards an orc. Voronwë's explanation refers to the fact that there is some dispute as to their origin.

I'm puzzled by the fact that it mentioned a peach, though - I always thought they were dedicated carnivores.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yes, an orc. The origin of the orcs is certainly in dispute, with Tolkien at different points stating that they were perverted men, or perverted Elves, or simply beasts that were not really sentient but were able to speak through being animated by Melkor and/or Sauron. He also noted that some "great orcs" (which he called "Baldogs" were actually minor Maiar that took that form in the service of their masters.

And yes the reference to a peach is puzzling, but I can confirm that the reference to "peach" was not in regard to eating (and remember, I said that while "peach" is in the original, it is not the full word in the original). I can also honestly say that in all of the literally dozens of readings of the book that I have done in the past, I have never noticed the use of the word before.

[Inanna]

I have no memory of reading/discussing that Orcs could be minor Maia taking earthly forms. Wow, you think you know your lore.

Maybe its "peachy" - describing the situation rather than the fruit.

[Jude]

So it's an orc, discussing peaches in a non-food context.

Um - from The Hobbit?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not The Hobbit.

Edited to add because I missed Inanna's post:

The discussion about some Orcs being minor Maiar is in the "Myth's Transformed" section of Morgoth's Ring.

The word in the original is not "Peachy" but you are someway on the right track (in the sense that the word in the original is "Peach" with an extra syllable).

[Jude]

Rats. I was pretty sure it was in one of their goblin songs

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not part of a song (and see my edit to my post above).

[Frelga]

Is the word "impeach"? Is it Rudy Giuliani?

Look, I have resisted making that joke for 24 hours, but I'm only human.