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Hobbitus Ille: The Latin Hobbit [Hardcover]

J. R. R. Tolkien , Mark Walker
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
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Book Description

13 Sep 2012

Fascinating for Latin learners and for Tolkien fans of all ages, The Hobbit has been translated into Latin for the first time since its publication 75 years ago.

In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus. (‘In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.’)

The Hobbit, is one of the world’s most popular classic stories, appealing to adults as much as to the children for whom J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote the book. Translated worldwide into more than 60 modern languages, now Hobbitus Ille is finally published in Latin, and will be of interest to all those who are studying the language, whether at school or at a higher level.

In the great tradition of publishing famous children’s books in Latin, professional classicist and lifelong Tolkien fan Mark Walker provides a deft translation of the entire book. His attention to detail, including the transformation of Tolkien’s songs and verses into classical Latin metres, will fascinate and entertain readers of all ability, even those with only a minimal acquaintance with the language.


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Frequently Bought Together

Hobbitus Ille: The Latin Hobbit + Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis (Latin language edition) + Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Harrius Potter Et Camera Secretorum (Latin Edition)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins (13 Sep 2012)
  • Language: Latin
  • ISBN-10: 0007445210
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007445219
  • Product Dimensions: 13.6 x 3 x 20.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 98,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

‘One of the best loved characters in English fiction… a marvellous fantasy adventure’
Daily Mail

‘Finely written saga of dwarves and elves, fearsome goblins and trolls… an exciting epic of travel, magical adventure, working up to a devastating climax’
The Observer

‘A flawless masterpiece’
The Times

About the Author

J.R.R. Tolkien is creator of Middle-earth and author of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. He was awarded a CBE and an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Oxford University, and died in 1973.
Mark Walker has taught Latin to adults and children for several years. His published work includes the English translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s The Life of Merlin (Vita Merlini), the historical novel Amida, and three Latin-themed books: Annus Horribilis: Latin for Everyday Life, Annus Mirabilis: More Latin for Everyday Life, and Britannica Latina: 2,000 Years of British Latin. He is also the founder and editor of VATES: The Journal of New Latin Poetry.


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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Nunquam mens: ignis procul 21 Nov 2012
Format:Hardcover
It's really quite hard to know how to review a book like this: the intention is so excellent and the execution so jarring.

For some readers, the purpose of a book like this is simply to allow you to follow the story and say "Hey, look at me! I'm reading real live Latin, and enjoying it!" And it is indeed engaging: the slower pace of reading allows you to notice things which slip by when you are re-reading the English. On this level, it's just a bit of fun: no point in being pompous about it.

Unfortunately, such books are equally likely to be used as a learning aid by those actually studying Latin. In that case there is a serious purpose in these translations: to make the reading easy and enjoyable by using a familiar and much-loved story while at the same time painlessly giving you a feel for how Latin prose actually works. This is where it fails badly. It's not a question of not conforming to some Augustan canon of elegance: misunderstandings, often amounting to howlers, occur on almost every page. I'm not saying I could do better; but I can tell when a table wobbles even though I do not know how to make tables.

The trouble starts on the title page: where _do_ so many English people get the idea that "ille" can be used as the definite article? All right, it is the ancestor of the definite article in most Romance languages, and was legitimately used in "Winnie Ille Pu", but there the idea was to render the extra emphasis in "Winnie THER Pooh". "There and back again" is rendered as "Illuc et rursus retrorsum". "Back again" is an English idiom, which does not exist in Latin. "Rursus retrorsum" is an ugly duplication: etymologically it amounts to "reversus retroversum".
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Latin 23 Sep 2012
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a very pretty book, which would sit nicely on the bookshelf of any Latinist or fan of Tolkien. However, if anyone actually opens it with the intention of reading it, for pleasure and/or to learn something, they are up for a disappointing experience. It is a huge task to translate such a classic novel, and the translator should be commended for attempting it. Unfortunately, however, he is clearly not up to it, seeing that literally every page contains basic grammatical errors, such as

* erroneous usage of words; consider, for example, the sentence "paene in aliquo loco paene ex aliquo, cum uento aut nullo, nani ignem accendere possunt". (In the original: "Dwarves can make a fire almost anywhere out of almost anything, wind or no wind.") The main problem is that "aliquis" simply does not mean "any" in this sense; it means "some". So the Latin translates to "Dwarves can make a fire almost in some place, almost out of some thing..." (or even "... from some place"; the meaning is unclear.) Poor dwarves!

Another example: "crebro dixit se excusari" (in the original "said he was sorry so many times...") However, that can only, as far as I understand, be translated as "he said he was being excused", or possibly "said that he declared himself free from blame/liability", which is a quite different thing. (Better, though not perfect, would have been "petebat" in place of "dixit".)

* faulty morphology: "utamus" instead of "utamur", "ulterias" in place of "ulteriores", "eum" once when it should be "id", "arboris suis" instead of "arboris suae", "reficeri" for "refici", to name just a few examples. (To be fair, note that these are isolated mistakes, and that the forms are not consistently faulty throughout.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have never been so eager to acquire a book. Mark Walker was bold enough to announce that he was marketing his Latin Hobbit at people who like to read Latin just because they can - kudos to him for being so perceptive, at least in my case! Unfortunately, he seems to completely miss the fact that his target audience, people who read Latin just because they can, DOES generally expect it to be good Latin that might be spoken by a Roman. What concerns me most is not the presence of mistakes in the Latin, already more than adequately illustrated by other reviewers. That's forgiveable - who could check it? - although the quantity IS somewhat worrying. I am more alarmed by the reason they were made, which to me is transparent, and as galling as it is baffling.

Walker declares in his preface that he decided to translate the book literally, rather than imitating Roman authors. Aside from the fury I felt personally, having spent 8 years slavishly imitating Roman authors, I would have thought that Tolkien's pages of description were just begging for a potential translator to plunder Vergil's Georgics. I felt as though Walker had proudly announced he'd thrown away the Sibylline books. Nonetheless I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. One good thing that did come of his approach was that, despite not having read 'The Hobbit' in English, I got the impression that I was indeed reading Tolkien - the tone and syntax were very close. I should also point out that the songs have all been translated into varied Latin metres, which was very gratifying.
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