The One Ring - How Many Can We Find?

Cyneburga

Cyneburga

New Member
Starting with Old Norse, since that class is about to start:




Þrír hringar fyrir álfakonungunum undir himni

Three rings for elf-kings-the under heaven

Sjáu fyrir dvergadróttnunum í þeira steinhöllum

Seven for dwarf-lords-the in their stone-halls

Níu fyrir mönnum dauðligum ok dauðadœmdum

Nine for men mortal and death-doomed

Einn fyrir dróttni inum døkkva á hans døkkum stóli

One for lord the dark on his dark throne

Í landinu Mordors er skuggar liggja.

In land-the of Mordor, where shadows lie.

Einn hringr at ráða þeim öllum, einn hringr at finda þá,

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,

Einn hringr at bringa þá alla ok í myrkri binda þá

One ring to bring them all and in darkness bind them,

Í landinu Mordors er skuggar liggja.

In land-the of Mordor, where shadows lie.
 
Traditional characters for Mandarin Chinese! The poem starts out pretty similar, but takes a turn in the middle, per the translator's perogative; to the best of my knowledge, this is from the 2013 translation. I don't have a recording, but the pinyin is included, and a primer for understanding proper pinyin pronunciation in the more-or-less-standard pronunciation can be found here . I've provided a literal character-for-character translation as well as a "proper English" translation so you can get the full effect.

天下精靈鑄三戒， (tiānxià jīnglíng zhù sān jiè,)
(heaven beneath elves cast three rings) Under heaven the Elves cast three rings,

地底矮人得七戒， (dìdǐ ǎirén dé qī jiè,)
(earth bottom dwarves obtain seven rings) Underground the Dwarves obtained seven rings

壽定凡人持九戒，(shòu dìng fánrén chí jiǔ jiè,)
(life fixed mortal men hold nine rings) Fixed-life mortal men hold nine rings,

魔多妖境暗影伏，(mó duō yāo jìng ànyǐng fú,)
(Mordor monster land shadow lie-in-wait) In the evil land of Mordor where shadows lie waiting.
-Note: These two lines are out-of-order compared to the original English!
闇王坐擁至尊戒。(àn wáng zuò yōng zhìzūn jiè.)
(dark king sitting possess supreme ring) The dark lord sits possessing his master ring.

至尊戒，馭眾戒；(zhìzūn jiè, yù zhòng jiè; )
(possess supreme ring, controls crowd ring) Possessing the master ring, he controls the other rings,

至尊戒，尋眾戒；(zhìzūn jiè, xún zhòng jiè; )
(possess supreme ring, search crowd ring) Possessing the master ring, he searches out the other rings,

魔戒至尊引眾戒，(mó jiè zhìzūn yǐn zhòng jiè,)
(demon ring possess supreme lead crowd ring) Possessing the demon ring, he is supreme leader of the other rings

禁錮眾戒黑暗中，(jìngù zhòng jiè hēi'àn zhōng,)
(Imprison crowd ring black dark middle) He imprisons the other rings in the darkness

魔多妖境暗影伏，(mó duō yāo jìng ànyǐng fú,)
(Mordor monster land shadow lie-in-wait) In the evil land of Mordor where shadows lie waiting.

There's a couple of spots where the translation is especially difficult because the character doesn't translate well. In particular my wife explained that "至" zhì means to hold or possess something, but in particular that it is easy and appropriate for the possessor to have that thing, it's a possession that implies ease, appropriateness, and ownership in a way that can't be easily communicated in a single word in English. I'm really curious to see if I can find a copy of the text in Chinese at a bookstoe somewhere, doubtless that trying to read it would be a terrible slog for me (my vocabulary is on the smaller side), but I'm interested to compare the texts side-by-side this way for other parts of the story!
 
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That is truly amazing! I always love how a literal translation can bring out something of the core beauty of a language!
 
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