There’s no doubt that the growing anticipation for Peter Jackson’s upcoming Hobbit films, based on the classic by J.R.R. Tolkien, has led to further interest in the book and encouraged new translations to become available within the last year.
Last July, The Hobbit was translated in Marati, and in March we reported that a Gaelic translation (An Hobad) had become available as well. This September, HarperCollins will publish a Latin translation of The Hobbit, titled Hobbitus Ille, to mark the story’s 75th birthday. Translated by classicist Mark Walker (author of Latin for Everyday Life and other Latin books), Hobbitus Ille will see Tolkien’s songs and verses translated into classical Latin metre.
Hobbitus Ille is “great for students learning Latin, but also for fans who want to dip in and find favourite passages,” said the publisher, who also shared the first line of the translation: “In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus.”
And for those interested in learning Latin, Mythgard Institute is offering a course on Elementary Latin this summer – just in time for the release of Hobbitus Ille!
Loading ...
How about a Futhark Rune translation? Check out our Hobbit translator ring…
http://shopretroworks.com/?product=rune-translator
I wish more classics would be translated into Latin. It would make for some more interesting prose fiction selections to choose from when reading Latin rather than being restricted to Petronius as one of the few true prose fictions in Latin. Sometimes a guy gets sick of epic poetry and odes.
I’ve long hoped some Oxfordian scholar would get off his ass and translate Salammbô by Flaubert and Ben Hur by Lewis Wallace. If I tried to translate them, I would get slammed for using the word “ille” too many times, haha. Really, though.
Hopefully this is the first of many, because I love hearing discussions of “I would have translated this passage thusly…” Good stuff!
Pingback: Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Hobbit: There and Back Again (1937) « humanitysdarkerside
Pingback: Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Hobbit: There and Back Again (1937) | humanitysdarkerside