JRR Tolkien gave us a LITERAL translation of Entish...it's weird

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]J.R.

[00:00:44]like translated understanding of that.

[00:00:46]So, it's word-for-word translation, and then it's like the the actual meaning um of what that is translated. And I want to read two paragraphs in this that kind of talk about him in the creation of the Entish language that I just thought was just phenomenal for how he creates this language and how he creates this world and how he creates these these things to be more believable because like the Entish language feels like something that not necessarily I can learn, but something that is like obviously ancient and deep and old and something that really gives his world that much more credence and believability. Which is weird cuz it's trees talking or are Ents trees? That's maybe the the bigger question here. But this is the thing that he writes about the Entish language.

[00:01:30]Ents.

[00:01:31]The most ancient people surviving the Third Age were Onodrim or Eyn Ennedyth.

[00:01:38]Ent was the form of their name in the language of Rohan. They were known to the Eldar in ancient days, and to the Eldar indeed the Ents ascribed not their own language, but the desire for speech.

[00:01:47]The language that they had made was unlike all others, slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed long-winded, formed of a multiplicity of vowel shades and distinctions of tone and quality, which even the masters of the Eldar had not attempted to represent in writing.

[00:02:03]They used it only among themselves, but they had no need to keep it secret for no others could learn it.

[00:02:10]Ents were however themselves skilled in tongues, learning them swiftly and never forgetting them, but they preferred the languages of the Eldar and loved best the ancient High Elven tongue.

[00:02:22]The strange words and names of the hobbits recorded as used by Treebeard and other Ents are thus Elvish or fragments of Elf speech strung together in Ent fashion.

[00:02:31]Some are Quenya. Now, forgive me for this pronunciation cuz my pronunciation is terrible, but it says this in the Quenya.

[00:02:40]Taura uh Taura Laloman, Taura Lalome, Tumbal Morna, Tumbal Tauriel, Lomeanor.

[00:02:51]And this may be rendered forest many shadowed, deep valley black, deep valley forested, gloomy land.

[00:03:00]Now, it's crazy when you're thinking about what the heck does this mean? What are they talking about? But the actual translation of this in he says and by which Treebeard meant more or less, there is a black shadow in the deep dales of the forest.

[00:03:13]That is so cool to me. And I think that J.R.R. Tolkien having this little translation of these Ents and what they're saying and their literal translation, the little literal translation of what their words are is forest many shadowed, deep valley black, deep valley forested gloomy land. And it does make sense that this says there is a black shadow in the deep dales of the forest. I think that's such a great thing that he's doing here. And it just again makes his world more believable.

[00:03:38]And I just wanted to talk about and just share how I thought that was such a cool little point that J.R.R. Tolkien is trying to do. And it makes the Entish language something that I actually want to know and understand. And I wish that we got more of it because it'd be fun to actually be sit down and be able to translate some of the things that these Ents are saying and understand what the actual like word-for-word translation is and then smooth that out later in an actual translation. So, again, such a cool thing that J.R.R. Tolkien is trying to do here, and I love this so much. But that's all I got for you. So, make sure you subscribe if you made it this far in the video. You can like the video, too.

[00:04:11]You can become a member for some members-only content and early access to videos and stuff like that. And as always, remember to look toward Numenor that was and beyond to Elvenhome that is and to that which is beyond Elvenhome and will ever be. I'll see you in the next one.