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The Hobbit in Latin


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I was happy to discover at the recent Conventiculum Lexingtoniense that not only am I not the only stay-at-home father involved, but there was also a lovely homeschooling family. There was a buzz this year about a new translation of The Hobbit into Latin. Apparently I'm just not on whatever grapevine it was where this news was going around months ago.

 

Lo, it is true.

 

Since little actual text is available to peruse, I couldn't say yet how the translation stands up, but some samples of the translator's verses have appeared on line in his own Latin poetry journal Vates. So far, I find the spirit and the sounds of the chants have been pretty well preserved. I keep reading that these are supposed to be in Classical meter, but the author himself states that they are accentual. Here's an example:

 

Chip the glasses and crack the plates!

Blunt the knives and bend the forks!

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates -

Smash the bottles and burn the corks!

 

frange vitra et catilla!

cultrōs tunde, furcās flecte!

Bilbō Baggīns ōdit illa –

nunc et corticēs incende!

 

He had to leave out the mention of the bottles, but that's pretty well within the license of a translator of verse. I can't wait to see the whole book.

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