The Hobbit as Gaeilge!

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The Hobbit as Gaeilge!

Post by Alatar »

Dunno why put this put a huge grin on my face!

http://www.evertype.com/books/hobad.html
The Hobbit in Irish • An Hobad as Gaeilge
an Hobad
By J.R.R. Tolkien, translated by Nicholas Williams

PRESS RELEASE PREAS-RÁITEAS
Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard, the dwarves, Smaug the dragon -- soon you will be able to read about them all in Irish -- and about all the other characters in Tolkien's children’s classic, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

An Irish-language version entitled An Hobad, nó Anonn agus Ar Ais Arís is in preparation at the moment. The translator is Nicholas Williams, who has recently translated Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There, both of which received high praise from Irish-speakers.

An Hobad will be published by Evertype, Westport, County Mayo, on 25 March 2012. The translation will contain Tolkien's original illustrations.
The Hobbit begins with the famous first sentence "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." This is how Williams renders the whole paragraph:
"I bpoll sa talamh a bhí cónaí ar hobad. Níor pholl gránna, salach, fliuch é, lán le giotaí de phéisteanna agus le boladh láibe. Níor pholl tirim, lom, gainmheach a bhí ann ach an oiread, gan aon rud ann le n-ithe ná le suí síos air; poll hobaid ab Eä é agus is ionann sin agus compord."

Biolbó Baigín, Gandalf draoi, na habhaic, Smóg an dragan -- ní fada go mbeifear in ann léamh fúthu uile as Gaeilge agus faoi na carachtair eile sa chlasaic do pháistí a scríobh J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.

Tá leagan Gaeilge faoin teideal An Hobad, nó Anonn agus Ar Ais Arís á ullmhú i láthair na huaire. Is é Nicholas Williams an t-aistritheoir, an duine a chuir Gaeilge le gairid ar Eachtraí Eilíse i dTír na nIontas agus ar Lastall den Scáthán agus a bhFuair Eilís Ann Roimpi le Lewis Carroll, dhá aistriúchán a fuair ardmholadh ó phobal na Gaeilge.

Is é Evertype, Cathair na Mart, Contae Mhaigh Eo, an foilsitheoir agus beidh an leabhar amuigh ar 25 Márta 2012. Bainfear feidhm san eagrán Gaeilge as na maisiúcháin a rinne Tolkien féin.

Is leis an abairt cháiliúil "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" a thosaíonn an bunleagan Béarla. Seo an chéad alt ar fad in aistriúchán Williams:

"I bpoll sa talamh a bhí cónaí ar hobad. Níor pholl gránna, salach, fliuch é, lán le giotaí de phéisteanna agus le boladh láibe. Níor pholl tirim, lom, gainmheach a bhí ann ach an oiread, gan aon rud ann le n-ithe ná le suí síos air; poll hobaid ab Eä é agus is ionann sin agus compord."
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Re: The Hobbit as Gaeilge!

Post by Impenitent »

Alatar wrote:Dunno why put this put a huge grin on my face!
Well, of course it did! Reading that it put a huge grin on your face has put a pretty big smile on mine...I feel your joy vicariously. :)

I think it's pretty derned terrific that the Tolkien estate has acknowledged and validated the need for a Gaelige language translation.

Martin, excuse a question which signposts my ignorance, but do you speak and read Irish fluently? I don't know how vigorously the language is taught throughout Ireland.
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Post by axordil »

Ever so cool.
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Post by Alatar »

We learn Irish till we leave Secondary School, so that's like High School for Americans. Also, I took Higher Level so by the time I finished school I'd say I was pretty fluent. I know I had to pass an Oral exam as part of my finals. I wasn't a native speaker, but well able to converse. Now, 25 years on, I've forgotten most of it, but if presented with a book I could probably read most of it through context. For something like The Hobbit, that I know really well, I'd expect to be able to fill in the blanks even better.
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Post by Old_Tom_Bombadil »

That is very cool indeed! :)

For those who are curious, I found lists of Translations of the Hobbit and Translations of The Lord of the Rings on Wikipedia. Surprisingly, there are none yet in Welsh, a language that the Professor dearly loved.

I do not own any non-English translations of The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. However, I do own both a German and a Hebrew translation of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. (Big surprise, eh? :D )
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Post by Alatar »

I own a German translation of Lord of the Rings that I bought while working there in 1989. I can figure out most of it from context. ;)
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Post by Teremia »

Oh, I'd love to try to read a Welsh Hobbit!

(though that brings Welsh rarebit to mind--the mysterious food that used to show up in British children's books so as to perplex little Californian children)

Seriously, though, let's campaign for a Welsh edition.
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Post by Old_Tom_Bombadil »

John Rhys Davies is Welsh, is he not? Maybe he could have a go at it. =:)
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Post by Alatar »

Found this quote while reading up on the new publication of An Hobad.
In 1979, Prof George Sayer recounted a conversation he had with Tolkien, a devout Catholic, who described Ireland as “naturally evil”.

He could “feel”, Sayer said, “evil coming up from the earth, from the peat bogs, from the clumps of trees, even from the cliffs, and this evil was only held in check by the great devotion of the southern Irish to their religion.”
How bizarre!
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Post by Primula Baggins »

And so the Barrow Downs were born?

Very weird, I agree. :scratch:
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Where's the quote from, Al? What's the context? I believe I have seen this before and that it was debunked or contradicted, but don't recall where or when.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Post by Alatar »

There's no citation V, its at the bottom of a review I read.
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

Ah, okay. I'll see if I can figure out where I think the subject came up before. It would be worth exploring further, I think.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Post by Voronwë the Faithful »

I think I have found it. John Rateliff had two blog posts on the subject, with some comments made by others:

Evil Emanating (Tolkien on Ireland) (Tuesday, December 15, 2009)

Tolkien on Ireland, part two (Monday, January 4, 2010)

There were also two threads at the LOTR Fanatics Plaza, one sparked by John's original blog post:

http://www.lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_po ... led-rumour

And an older thread referred to in that thread, that also cites that quote:

http://www.lotrplaza.com/forum/forum_po ... TID=218285

For what it is worth.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
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Post by ToshoftheWuffingas »

Yes it is bizarre. The Professor could sometimes explore an unusual idea and test out his support for it. I remember once in a discussion about deserts and wastelands he said he sometimes felt vegetation was a fungoid growth on the Earth. I don't remember the exact quote or its location but it shows a readiness to take an unorthodox idea contrary to his familiar opinions.
But that isn't the feel of this quotation. I am reminded about the sense of evil you get in M R James' ghost stories. Or perhaps Tolkien just wanted to shock his companion a little or was being particularly pious. Or he was affected by the meres of Beowulf. Still strange though.
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Post by Alatar »

Thanks for digging that out V.
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Post by Crucifer »

On a side note to this, Nicholas Williams (the translator) is my significant other's father and happens to loathe Tolkien...
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Post by Alatar »

So any chance of a free copy Crucifer :)
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Post by Crucifer »

Afraid not... I had to pay for mine! He did sign it, though reluctantly. He really really has issues with Tolkien! :scratch:
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