Seek for the Sword that was broken...
 

There's a post about the Ring poem in other languages, but what about the poem, that Boromir tells at the Council of Elrond? What's IT in other languages?

English:
Seek for the Sword that was broken;
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be councels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.

Danish:
Bruden er den søgte klinge,
Hviler i Imladris' muld,
Stærke råd de frem må mane:
Overvindes skal Morgul.
Men et tegn må tiden bringe,
Nærmere er Dommens Dag,
Vågne skal Isildurs Bane,
Halvlang ruster sig til slag.

I actually like the meaning of the Danish one... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

*Mele

German:

Das geborstne Schwert sollt ihr suchen,
Nach Imladris ward es gebracht,
Dort soll euch Ratschlag werden,
Stärker als Morgul-Macht.
Ein Zeichen soll euch künden,
Das Ende steht bevor,
Denn Isildurs Fluch wird erwachen,
Und der Habling tritt hervor.

Spanish:

Busca la espada quebrada
que está en Imladris;
habrá concilios más fuertes
que los hechizos de Morgul.

Mostrarán una señal
de que el Destino está cerca:
el Daño de Isildur despertará,
y se presentará el Mediano.

[ May 22, 2002: Message edited by: Nufaciel ]

[ May 22, 2002: Message edited by: Nufaciel ]

I don't have the Dutch LotR-version here now... but I'll soon give it to ya.

greetings, lathspell

Here it is in Swedish:

Sök det svärd, som vart brutet!
det finns på Imladris mark.
Rådslags väg vi ej sakna,
än Morguls trolldom mer stark.
Tecken stunda mot slutet,
att domen kommer med hast:
Isildursbane skall vakna
och halvlängdsmannen stå fast.

Russian version:

Сломал свой верный меч Элендил,
В бою себя не щадя.
А Исилдур в том бою добыл
Проклятие для себя.
Но в Имладрисе скуют опять
Сломанный меч вождя.
И невысоклик отважится взять
Проклятие на себя.



Approximate translation (not literally, not line-by-line):

Elendil didn't spare himself in battle, when he broke his faithful sword. In that battle, Isildur found a Curse upon himself. But in Imladris the sword shall be reforged, and the halfling will have the courage to take the Curse.


It's quite different from the English version

Wow, the Russian translator was clearly having fun!

Finnish:

Käy murtunut miekka noutamaan,
se on kätköissä Imladrisin;
siellä neuvot vahvemmat laaditaan
kuin taiat Morgulin.
On merkki siitä nähtävä vaan
että tuomio lähestyy,
Isildurin Turma kun havaitaan,
Puolituinen ilmestyy.

Well, it sounds waaaaaaaaaay better in Russian, even with the changes, than on the translation I provided. The only thing I ws really confused about (before I read LOTR n English) was why Boromir says "than this is the last hour of Minas Tirith" (the line translated from my Russian copy). I figured out in the end that the original poem had to contain something about "doom" or "last hour" or something like that, and the translator left it out. It took me a while, though. :p

Does the Finnish version translate more accurately?

It is kind of weird - in the sense that the grammar is rather obscure and it's difficult to say what things refer to, but I would maybe translate it as something like:

Go to fetch the Broken Sword, it is hidden in Imladris. There will councils be made that are stronger than the spells of Morgul. A sign only should be seen that the doom is nearing closer, when Isildur's Bane is observed a Halfling will appear.

Bad English, I know, but the Finnish is kind of bad too!

PS. G55 - have you seen this thread: Pleased to meet you, Frodo... Reppuli? ? Maybe you would be interested in reading it or contributing something to it? :)

Ye-es, in a way, I guess. But it's more me being a bad translator. ;) When I translated it, the whole thing just fell apart.