someone is WRONG on the INTERNET

[jazzfish]

So this is going around the internets lately:



This is of course completely wrong-headed. As everyone knows, the mountain's name in Elvish was Orodruin ("Fiery Mountain") or Amon Amarth ("Mountain of Fate"). "Mount Doom" is just how it translates into Westron / English.

And really, if you're going to complain about the names in LotR, why not start with the Shire's Brandywine River? It's not even a literal translation, it's a corruption of Baranduin ("Yellow River"). Sheesh.

Comments

[shanaqui]

I approve of this post.

[jazzfish]

It's as if 1) everything is seen (and named) from the hobbits' perspective, and 2) the hobbits were entirely lower-class. It's especially interesting to compare the use of Elvish in The Hobbit vs LotR. Of course now I'm just preaching to the choir.

[shanaqui]

I think that's because The Hobbit and LotR are supposedly the hobbits' records of the events surrounding the ring -- Bilbo and Frodo's memoirs, respectively. So definitely!

[jazzfish]

*blink* *blink* *headdesk* absolutely, and now I feel rather foolish for not seeing that myself. Thank you!

(Clearly it is time to reread Tolkien. Been far too long.)

[shanaqui]

I've had the advantage of a whole module of my MA being all about Tolkien and the way he constructs texts within texts and so on. *grin* Plus I reread it just last week. (Fun but exhausting: reading LotR from start to finish in 24 hours.)

[merseine.livejournal.com]

The husband just commented "I do hope that your friend Jazzfish knows that he's a geek."

I just nodded...which didn't help because he's in his office on the other side of the wall that's just past this monitor that you see here. "Jazzfish? A geek?? Yeah, he knows."

Thing is, the husband is a geek and knew most of these things off the top of his head too.

[jazzfish]

:) It's right there in the cut text! "Unrepentant Tolkien geekery"!

[merseine.livejournal.com]

My fault for not reading him the cut text. Still, I thought you should know that you're not the only one to know such things...as in "you don't have to look them up to spell them right" sort of knowing.

[quixotic-goat.livejournal.com]

Oh I think he knows, if for no other reason than our high school was rife with tolkien geekery. I seem to recall a trivia conversation about what the true (original) name of the Witch King of Angmar was :)

As for the actual pic, while I grant the observations about the the second statement, I do like the first one, I can think of at least 3 Elvish languages off the top of my head, but best was the translation commentary at the bottom.