[I'm approving this for the list, but I ask that any further discussion of the
project be conducted off list. I am myself very dubious about the value and
chances for success of such a project, other than as a mental exercise for those
keenly interested in English regional dialects. Tolkien himself chose his
nomenclature and the speech manners of his characters with an eye towards
English regional (and class) dialects, and disrupting or supplanting this scheme
with another seems, well, really beside the point, certainly for this list.
Perhaps this is the time and occasion for someone to create a list dedicated to
the topic of translating Tolkien? CFH]

Tolkien was interested in the dialects of England. Besides using dialect words
in the Middle-earth Legendarium (even "baggins" is a Warwickshire dialect word
for "packed lunch"), he was a member of the Yorkshre Dialect Society from 1920
to 1938 and wrote the foreword to A New Glossary of the Dialect of the
Huddersfield District by Walter E. Haigh.

There is a movement in England to recognize these varieties as regional
languages in their own right. See for example, the Lost in Translation project
which teaches Norfolk Traditional English in Norfolk schools:
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,1737459,00.html. I would like
to see the Middle-earth Legendarium used as a vehicle to preserve and cultivate
the traditional dialects of England. The ideal would be to publish a localized
County Edition of the Middle-earth Legendarium for each of the thirty-nine
traditional counties of England (reference map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_counties_of_England). Each edition would
be translated into the dialect or dialects of that county. The Hobbit and The
Lord of the Rings would be the priority, though other works in the Legendarium,
such as The Silmarillion and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil could be added if
interest warranted. The idea would be to pack in as many rich local words and
sayings as feasible into the story, even archaic words that are no longer used,
like was done the recent Scots translation of the Bible. This series would be
following in the footsteps of other minority language translations of the
Legendarium, such as Faeroese, Basque, Catalan, Galician, and Luxembourgish
(with Irish apparently forthcoming: http://www.evertype.com/gram/hobad.html).

Tolkien explicitly stated that the Shire of the Hobbits is evocative of the
County of Warwickshire in 1897. In this series, the Shire would be evocative of
other English counties. However, even the Warwickshire Edition would be quite
different than the Standard English version of the Legendarium, since it would
be entirely in Warwickshire Traditional English (except for the parts of the
books that are in languages other than Westron). The text of each edition would
include several different registers or varieties of each county's speech. The
narrator's voice in the books would be in a "literary standard" of the main
traditional dialect of the county...even if such a standard had to be invented
expressly for this series. Though none of the text would be in Standard English,
there would be a variety of registers used to represent differences between
formal Westron (of the Gondorians and the Bagginses) and the broad rustic
Westron of Samwise. Depending on
the dialect diversity of the county, the speech of Merry and Pippin could be
represented by two different local varieties, since they are from two different
"folk-lands": Buckland and Tookland. The selection of which local varieties to
use would be based on the location of Buckland (east of the Shire) and Tookland
(in the southwestern part of the Shire) as compared to the location of varieties
within the county. Likewise, the dwarves' Westron speech could be represented by
whatever local variety is (or was) typical for miners, metalworkers, or similar
laborers, such as Pitmatic in the County Durham Edition.

Each of the translations would even have redrawn maps, with the labels redrawn
in traditional dialect. Likewise, there would be new modes of futhark, cirth,
and tengwar invented to represent each dialect, and these would be included in
place of Tolkien's Standard English modes in maps and charts in the books.

As members of this list are aware, Tolkien invented a fictive translation scheme
whereby the Mannish languages of Middle-earth are translated into latter-day
languages so that they appear more familiar to the reader. Translated languages
include:
Westron = Modern English
"Middle Westron" (of the Yellowskin book) = Middle English
"Old Marish-hobbitish" = (Old) Welsh
Fallohide Hobbit given names = Frankish (a variety of Old High German)
"Bree-landish" = Eastern Brythonic (the variety of the British Celtic language
spoken in Logria, before it became "England")
The Northern language (including the Dwarves' outer names) = Old Norse
Mark-speech and "Old Hobbitish" = Old English
The early Northman language of eastern Rhovanion = Gothic
A few hobbit names of Elvish origin are translated as Latin or Frenchified Latin
names, such as Gerontius, Paladin, and Peregrin.

Though most of the above-listed equivalencies would remain the same in the
County Editions, a few would change, depending on the specific linguistic
situation of each county. For example, in the counties of the North-of-England,
Cumbric and North Brythonic forms would be used for Bucklandish and Bree-landish
names; the "Middle Westron" of the Yellowskin Book would be given Northern
Middle English forms; and Mark-speech and "Old Hobbitish" would be represented
as Old Northumbrian. For southwestern English counties, there'd be Cornish,
South-Western Brythonic, South-Western Middle English, and Old West Saxon,
respectively. Most importantly, Englished Westron place names would be remade
based on the toponymy of each county. For example, "Mickleburg" would become
"Muckleburgh" in the Durham Edition of The Silmarillion. Tolkien's Guide to the
Names in the Lord of the Rings would be a key resource.

Tolkien loved England and her dialects. It would be wonderful for his works to
be a vehicle for the enlivening of the various flavors of English.


All the best,
Travis Henry

Here is a sample of what some of the translations might look like:

Yorkshire Edition [(-) indicates a part of the word that I don't know the
dialect equivalent for]

Eru, the One > Eru, t' Ean
Baggins > Baitins "a packed meal, contents of a lunchbox", since Tolkien
'translated' the antediluvian Westron name <Labingi> as 'Baggins', the
Warwickshire dialect word for 'bagged lunch'. This would be a controversial
translation since it might be better to retain the element "bag".
The Marish > Tą Moss
The Old Bridge > T' Owd Brig
Mickleburg > Micklebrough
Norbury > Norbrough
Farmer Maggot > Farmer Mawk
barrow-(wight) > barugh-(-)
Sack(ville) > Poke(-)
Scary > Scar or Scaur
Rushey > Seavey
Bridge(fields) > Brig(-)
kings(foil) > coneys(-)
Brandy(wine) > Brunt(-)
Variag of Khand > Wigging of Khand. Though <Variag> is said to be an actual word
of in a language of the Men of Darkness, "wigging" (the dialect's preservation
of "viking") might be used for "Variag" since the historical "varyags" were
Russo-Norse vikings in the service of the Byzantine emperor. I realize this
would be a controversial translation.
Appledore > Appersett
Standelf > Stain(-)
Redhorn > Raw(-)
Eastemnet > Owstemnet
Easterling > Owsterlin
Fallow(hide) > Blake(-)
Falls of Rauros > Foss of Rauros
Isengard > Isengarth
Oat(bar)ton > Haver(-)ton
(Hoar)well > (-)keld or kell
Heather(toes) > Ling(-)
Rivendell > Rivengill

Northumberland Edition:

hobbit > hobbig. "Big" is a Northumberland word for "build". "Hobbit" is
supposed to a worn-down version of "Old Hobbitish" "hol-bytla" (meaning
"hole-builder"). Since the Northumbrian dialect has a stronger Norse element
than Standard English, the Northumbrian translation of Old Hobbitish <kud-dukan>
and Westron <kuduk> could be "hol-byggja" and "hobbig". This would be
rationalized by the influence of the Northern language on the speech of the
Middle Andiun. Tolkien even stated that such influence occurred, such in the
name of the Rohan's King Gram, with <gram> borrowed from the Northern (=Old
Norse) language.

Baggins > Battens. A Northumbrian translation could make a philological pun
using the Northumbrian word for 'feed well'.

The Blue > Thi Blee (the mountains to the west of the Shire)

Michel Delving > Muckle Delvin

Norfolk Edition

The Hobbit > Thur Hobbi'
The Shire > Thur Sheer
great spider > gri' spoider
The Prancing Pony > Thur Prancin' Haarby
Hollin > Hulverlan

Cumberland Edition:

halfing > hawflin
Frogmorton > Paddickmworton
Fallowhide > Blakehide

Michel Delving > Meikle Delvin
Little Delving > Laal Delvin
Scary > Skerr
The High Hay > T' High Dyke
The Old Bridge > T' Auld Brig
The Marish > T' Moss
The Three Farthing Stone > T' Three Fardin Stean

Midgewater > Mawkwater
Rivendell > Ryvengill
The Misty Mountains > T' Rowky Fells (or T' Daggy Fells)
goblin > boggle
Goblin-gate > Boggle-yat
The Great Goblin > T' Girt Boggle
Goblin-town > Boggle-wohl
Falls of Rauros > Force o' Rauros
Isengard > Isengarth

gorcrow > dambcrow
Eru, the One > Eru, t' Yan