How would you know?

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Lastande Took

Oooh, good thread! I don't have much to offer, though, because I know nothing about Elfwine or Old English translations of the Red Book. I've never heard about this before. Is it in the "History of Middle-earth", "Letters", or where?

In The History of Middle-Earth we actually find Old English versions of some of the Annals for example (as written by Elfwine in ancient English), and Quenta Silmarillion at one point had a 'translator's note' which indicated that the histories here given in the English of the day were translated from the version of Elwine of Angelcynn.

Of course that's a very simplified summation of the scenario as it existed at one point (externally speaking), but we are only speculating as to whether or not Tolkien might later imagine that an Old English version of the Red Book existed to help with translation.

After somewhat quickly reading (most of) Appendix F, On Translation, to me it seems to give the impression that JRRT went from Westron to modern English, and one would further wonder why he did not mention any Old English version especially when he raises the matter of the language of the Rohirrim (as he used some Old English in representing the tongue of the Rohirrim).


I don't know if Tolkien himself would necessarily think that the phrasing in Appendix F might be too hard to get around, but I agree that The Notion Club Papers could provide a nice path here in any case.