From: Patricia
Message: 4783
Date: 2005-01-25
http://www.neko.com/Hobbit_IS_FO.html When I googled "Hobbit in Icelandic" I was asked if I really meant Hobbit in ICELAND - Google are annoying when they do that. Eventually they gave me the url quoted here with a very interesting page of extracts, I hope they will be of interest"þat gegnir
sællífi" for "that means comfort" is pure genius.
Said Haukur -I have to agree, But then the whole idea of translating the Hobbit into Old Norse had a touch of Genius about it.I was impressed because I understood immediately the source, and went to my bookcase to find the well-thumbed copy of The Hobbit to compare.Google are strange, I know of no reference of Bilbo or Frodo going to IcelandPatricia----- Original Message -----From: Haukur ÞorgeirssonSent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 2:22 AMSubject: [norse_course] Hobbit byggði jarðhús (was Re: Tolkien)> This is probably way off the mark, but here goes:
>
> Hobbit byggði jörðhús. Þat var eigi hola saurfull ok aurig, drjúp
> ok blaut, eða maðkfull ok fúl, né enn hola þurr ok auð, söndug ok án
> sætis. Heldr var hobbithola, ok þat gegnir sællífi.
I think this is very amusing and well done :)
One correction; 'jörðhús' is, I think, not a
valid combination. The usual one is 'jarðhús'.
We might nativise 'hobbit' as 'hobbitr' or 'hobbiti'.
The last is one MI version. Another is 'hobbi'. I think
it's actually a bit interesting *not* to nativise it.
I wouldn't have thought of that. Nor would I have thought
of some of the adjectives you use and I think "þat gegnir
sællífi" for "that means comfort" is pure genius.
> Hopefully someone will correct my mistakes. I wonder how the Modern
> Icelandic edition begins...
I think yours is much more idiosyncratic and interesting.
The modern translations (I think there are two) are probably
too loyal to the English version to interest us.
Kveðja,
Haukur
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