Translations of The Lord of the Rings

Translations of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings have been made, with varying degrees of success, into dozens of languages from the original English. Tolkien, an expert in Germanic philology, scrutinized those that were under preparation during his lifetime, and made comments on early translations that reflect both the translation process and his work. To aid translators, and because he was unhappy with some choices made by early translators such as Åke Ohlmarks with his Swedish version,^[1] Tolkien wrote his Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings in 1967 (released publicly in 1975 in A Tolkien Compass, and in full in 2005, in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion).

Challenges to translation

 

According to Tom Shippey, Tolkien invented parts of Middle-earth to resolve the linguistic puzzle he had accidentally created by using different European languages for those of peoples in his legendarium.^[2]

Because The Lord of the Rings purports to be a translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, with the English language in the translation purporting to represent the Westron of the original, translators need to imitate the complex interplay between English and non-English (Elvish) nomenclature in the book. An additional difficulty is the presence of proper names in Old English and Old Norse. Tolkien chose to use Old English for names and some words of the Rohirrim, for example, "Théoden", King of Rohan: his name is simply a transliteration of Old English þēoden, "king". Similarly, he used Old Norse for "external" names of his Dwarves, such as "Thorin Oakenshield": both Þorinn and Eikinskjaldi are Dwarf-names from the Völuspá.^[2]

The relation of such names to English, within the history of English, and of the Germanic languages more generally, is intended to reflect the relation of the purported "original" names to Westron. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that Tolkien began with the words and names that he wanted, and invented parts of Middle-earth to resolve the linguistic puzzle he had accidentally created by using different European languages for those of peoples in his legendarium.^[2]

Early translations

The first translations of The Lord of the Rings to be prepared were those in Dutch (1956–7, Max Schuchart) and Swedish (1959–60, Åke Ohlmarks). Both took considerable liberties with their material, apparent already from the rendition of the title, In de Ban van de Ring "Under the Spell of the Ring" and Härskarringen "The Ruling Ring", respectively.^[3]

Most later translations, beginning with the Polish Władca Pierścieni in 1961, render the title more literally. Later non-literal title translations however include the Japanese 指輪物語 (Hepburn: Yubiwa Monogatari) "Legend of the Ring", Finnish Taru Sormusten Herrasta "Legend of the Lord of the Rings", the first Norwegian translation Krigen om ringen "The War of the Ring", Icelandic Hringadróttinssaga "The Lord of the Rings' Saga", and West Frisian, Master fan Alle Ringen "Master of All Rings".

Tolkien in both the Dutch and the Swedish cases objected strongly while the translations were in progress, in particular regarding the adaptation of proper names. Despite lengthy correspondence, Tolkien did not succeed in convincing the Dutch translator of his objections, and was similarly frustrated in the Swedish case.

Dutch (Schuchart)

Regarding the Dutch version of Max Schuchart, In de Ban van de Ring, Tolkien wrote

In principle I object as strongly as is possible to the 'translation' of the nomenclature at all (even by a competent person). I wonder why a translator should think himself called on or entitled to do any such thing. That this is an 'imaginary' world does not give him any right to remodel it according to his fancy, even if he could in a few months create a new coherent structure which it took me years to work out. [...] May I say at once that I will not tolerate any similar tinkering with the personal nomenclature. Nor with the name/word Hobbit.

— 3 July 1956, to Rayner Unwin, Letters, #190, pp. 249–51

However, if one reads the Dutch version, little has changed except the names of certain characters, this to ensure that no reading difficulties emerge for Dutch speakers who don't understand English. Schuchart's translation remains, as of 2008, the only authorized translation in Dutch. However, there is an unauthorized translation by E.J. Mensink-van Warmelo, dating from the late 1970s.^[4] A revision of Schuchart's translation was initiated in 2003, but the publisher Uitgeverij M decided against publishing it.

Swedish

Main article: Translation of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish

Ohlmarks 1959–1961

Åke Ohlmarks was a prolific translator, who during his career besides Tolkien published Swedish versions of Shakespeare, Dante and the Qur'an. Tolkien intensely disliked Ohlmarks' translation of The Lord of the Rings (which Ohlmarks named Härskarringen, 'The Ruling Ring'), however, more so even than Schuchart's Dutch translation. Ohlmarks' translation remained the only one available in Swedish for forty years, and until his death in 1984, Ohlmarks remained impervious to the numerous complaints and calls for revision from readers.^[3]

After The Silmarillion was published in 1977, Christopher Tolkien consented to a Swedish translation only on the condition that Ohlmarks have nothing to do with it. After a fire at his home in 1982, Ohlmarks incoherently charged Tolkien fans with arson, and subsequently published the book Tolkien och den svarta magin (Tolkien and the black magic) - a book connecting Tolkien with "black magic" and Nazism.^[5]

Andersson and Olsson 2005

Ohlmarks' translation was superseded only in 2005, by a new translation by Erik Andersson with poems interpreted by Lotta Olsson. The work was retitled Ringarnas herre, 'The Rings' Lord'. ^[6]

Volume titles and a sample as translated into Swedish^[3]

Tolkien 1954–1955 The Lord of the Rings	Ohlmarks 1959–1961 Härskarringen 'The Ruling Ring'	Andersson and Olsson 2005 Ringarnas herre 'The Rings' Lord'
The Fellowship of the Ring	Sagan om Ringen 'The Saga of the Ring'	Ringens brödraskap 'The Ring's Brotherhood'
The Two Towers	Sagan om de två tornen 'The Saga of the Two Towers'	De två tornen 'The Two Towers'
The Return of the King	Sagan om konungens återkomst 'The Saga of the King's Return'	Konungens återkomst 'The King's Return'
(Sample:) Indeed, few Hobbits had ever seen or sailed upon the Sea, and fewer still had ever returned to report it.	Det var ju så, att sjömanslivet alls inte passade samman med hobernas allmänna läggning. Ytterst få hade sett havet, ännu färre befarit det, och av dem som verkligen seglat hade blott ett försvinnande fåtal återvänt och kunnat berätta om vad de upplevat.	Över huvud taget var det få hobbitar som hade sett havet eller färdats på det, och ännu färre hade återvänt och berättat om det.
(Translation of samples:)	It was the case that a sailor's life did not fit in at all with the general disposition of the hobbits. Extremely few had seen the sea, even fewer had sailed it, and of those who really had sailed, only a vanishingly few had returned and been able to tell what they had experienced.	Indeed there were few hobbits who had seen the sea or travelled on it, and even fewer had returned and told about it.

German

Carroux 1969–1970

As a reaction to his disappointment with the Dutch and Swedish translations, Tolkien wrote his Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings, gaining himself a larger influence on translations into other Germanic languages, namely Danish and German. Frankfurt-based Margaret Carroux qualified for the German version published by Klett-Cotta on basis of her translation of Tolkien's short story Leaf by Niggle, that she had translated solely to give him a sample of her work. In her preparation for The Lord of the Rings (Der Herr der Ringe), unlike Schluchart and Ohlmarks, Carroux even visited Tolkien in Oxford with a suitcase full of his published works and questions about them. Yet, mainly due to a cold that both Tolkien and his wife were going through at the time, the meeting was later described as inhospitable and 'chilly', Tolkien being 'harsh', 'taciturn' and 'severely ill'.^[7] Later correspondences with Carroux turned out to be much more encouraging with Tolkien being generally very pleased with Carroux's work, with the sole exception of the poems and songs, that would eventually be translated by poet Ebba-Margareta von Freymann.

On several instances Carroux departed from the literal, e.g. for the Shire. Tolkien endorsed the Gouw of the Dutch version and remarked that German Gau "seems to me suitable in Ger., unless its recent use in regional reorganization under Hitler has spoilt this very old word." Carroux decided that this was indeed the case, and opted for the more artificial Auenland "meadow-land" instead.

"Elf" was rendered with linguistic care as Elb, the plural Elves as Elben. The choice reflects Tolkien's suggestion:

With regard to German: I would suggest with diffidence that Elf, elfen, are perhaps to be avoided as equivalents of Elf, elven. Elf is, I believe, borrowed from English, and may retain some of the associations of a kind that I should particularly desire not to be present (if possible): e.g. those of Drayton or of A Midsummer Night's Dream [...] I wonder whether the word Alp (or better still the form Alb, still given in modern dictionaries as a variant, which is historically the more normal form) could not be used. It is the true cognate of English elf [...] The Elves of the 'mythology' of The L.R. are not actually equatable with the folklore traditions about 'fairies', and as I have said (Appendix F[...]) I should prefer the oldest available form of the name to be used, and leave it to acquire its own associations for readers of my tale.

The Elb chosen by Carroux instead of the suggested Alb is a construction by Jacob Grimm in his 1835 Teutonic Mythology. Grimm, like Tolkien, notes that German Elf is a loan from the English, and argues for the revival of the original German cognate, which survived in the adjective elbisch and in composed names like Elbegast. Grimm also notes that the correct plural of Elb would be Elbe, but Carroux does not follow in this and uses the plural Elben, denounced by Grimm as incorrect in his German Dictionary (s.v. Alb).

On many instances, though, the German version resorts to literal translations. Rivendell Tolkien considered as a particularly difficult case, and recommended to "translate by sense, or retain as seems best.", but Carroux opted for the literal Bruchtal. The name "Baggins" was rendered as Beutlin (containing the word Beutel meaning "bag").

Another case where Carroux translated the meaning rather than the actual words was the name of Shelob, formed from the pronoun she plus lob, a dialectal word for "spider" (according to Tolkien; the OED is only aware of its occurrence in Middle English). Tolkien gives no prescription; he merely notes that "The Dutch version retains Shelob, but the Swed. has the rather feeble Honmonstret ["she-monster"]." Carroux chose Kankra, an artificial feminine formation from dialectal German Kanker ('Daddy-longlegs', cognate to cancer).

Krege 2000

In 2000, Klett-Cotta published a new translation of The Lord of the Rings by Wolfgang Krege, not as a replacement of the old one, which throughout the years had gained a loyal following, but rather as an accompaniment. The new version focuses more on the differences in linguistic style that Tolkien employed to set apart the more biblical prose and the high style of elvish and human 'nobility' from the more colloquial 1940s English spoken by the Hobbits, something that he thought Carroux's more unified version was lacking. Krege's translation met mixed reception, the general argument of critics being that he took too many liberties in modernising the language of the Hobbits with the linguistic style of late 90s German that not only subverted the epic style of the narrative as a whole but also went beyond the stylistic differences intended by Tolkien. Klett-Cotta has continued to offer and continuously republishes both translations. Yet, for the 2012 republication of Krege's version, his most controversial decisions were partly reverted.

Russian

Main article: Translations of The Lord of the Rings into Russian

Interest in Russia awoke soon after the publication of The Lord of the Rings in 1955, long before the first Russian translation. A first effort at publication was made in the 1960s, but in order to comply with literary censorship in Soviet Russia, the work was considerably abridged and transformed. The ideological danger of the book was seen in the "hidden allegory 'of the conflict between the individualist West and the totalitarian, Communist East'", while, ironically, Marxist readings in the west conversely identified Tolkien's anti-industrial ideas as presented in the Shire with primitive communism, in a struggle with the evil forces of technocratic capitalism.^[8][9]

Russian translations of The Lord of the Rings circulated as samizdat and were published only after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but then in great numbers; no less than ten official Russian translations appeared between 1990 and 2005.^[8] Tolkien fandom grew especially rapidly during the early 1990s at Moscow State University. Many unofficial and incomplete translations are in circulation. The first translation appearing in print was that by Kistyakovski and Muravyov (volume 1, published 1982).

Hebrew

 

The rendering of "Elves" in the Hebrew translation as "Children of Lilith" was changed to the transliteration "Elefs" to avoid the connotations of Lilith, mother of all demons.^[10] Painting of Lilith (1887) by John Collier

The first translation of The Lord of the Rings into Hebrew (שר הטבעות) was done by Canaanite movement member Ruth Livnit, aided by Uriel Ofek as the translator of the verse. The 1977 version was considered a unique book for the sort of Hebrew that was used therein, until it was revised by Dr. Emanuel Lottem according to the second English edition, although still under the name of the previous translators, with Lottem as merely "The editor".^[11]

The difference between the two versions is clear in the translation of names. Elves, for an example, were first translated as "בני לילית" (Bneyi Lilith, i.e. the "Children of Lilith") but in the new edition was transcribed in the form of "Elefs" maintained through Yiddish as "עלף". The change was made because "Bneyi Lilith" essentially relates with Babylonian-derived Jewish folklore character of Lilith, mother of all demons, an inappropriate name for Tolkien's Elves.^[10] Since all seven appendices and part of the foreword were dropped in the first edition, the rules of transcript therein were not kept. In the New edition Dr. Lottem translated the appendices by himself, and transcribed names according to the instructions therein. Furthermore, the old translation was made without any connection to the rest of Tolkien's mythological context, not The Silmarillion nor even The Hobbit. Parts of the story relating to events mentioned in the above books were not understood and therefore either translated inaccurately, or even dropped completely. There are also major inconsistencies in transcript or in repetitions of similar text within the story, especially in the verse.^[12]

Tolkien's Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings

The Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings is a guideline on the nomenclature in The Lord of the Rings compiled by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1966 to 1967, intended for the benefit of translators, especially for translations into Germanic languages. The first translations to profit from the guideline were those into Danish (Ida Nyrop Ludvigsen) and German (Margaret Carroux), both appearing 1972.

Frustrated by his experience with the Dutch and Swedish translations, Tolkien asked that

when any further translations are negotiated, [...] I should be consulted at an early stage. [...] After all, I charge nothing, and can save a translator a good deal of time and puzzling; and if consulted at an early stage my remarks will appear far less in the light of peevish criticisms.

— Letter of 7 December 1957 to Rayner Unwin, Letters, p. 263

With a view to the planned Danish translation, Tolkien decided to take action in order to avoid similar disappointments in the future. On 2 January 1967, he wrote to Otto B. Lindhardt, of the Danish publisher Gyldendals Bibliotek:

I have therefore recently been engaged in making, and have nearly completed, a commentary on the names in this story, with explanations and suggestions for the use of a translator, having especially in mind Danish and German.

— Tolkien-George Allen & Unwin archive, HarperCollins, cited after Hammond and Scull 2005

Photocopies of this "commentary" were sent to translators of The Lord of the Rings by Allen & Unwin from 1967. After Tolkien's death, it was published as Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings, edited by Christopher Tolkien in Jared Lobdell's A Tolkien Compass (1975). Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull (2005) have newly transcribed and slightly edited Tolkien's typescript, and re-published it under the title of Nomenclature of The Lord of the Rings in their book The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.

Tolkien uses the abbreviations CS for "Common Speech, in original text represented by English", and LT for the target language of the translation. His approach is the prescription that if in doubt, a proper name should not be altered but left as it appears in the English original:

All names not in the following list should be left entirely unchanged in any language used in translation (LT), except that inflexional s, es should be rendered according to the grammar of the LT.

The names in English form, such as Dead Marshes, should in Tolkien's view be translated straightforwardly, while the names in Elvish should be left unchanged. The difficult cases are those names where

the author, acting as translator of Elvish names already devised and used in this book or elsewhere, has taken pains to produce a CS name that is both a translation and also (to English ears) a euphonious name of familiar English style, even if it does not actually occur in England.

An example is Rivendell, the translation of Sindarin Imladris "Glen of the Cleft", or Westernesse, the translation of Númenor. The list gives suggestions for "old, obsolescent, or dialectal words in the Scandinavian and German languages".

The Danish (Ludvigsen) and German (Carroux) translations were the only ones profiting from Tolkien's "commentary" to be published before Tolkien's death in 1973. Since then, new translations into numerous languages have continued to appear.

List of translations

The number of languages into which Tolkien's works has been translated is subject to some debate since the Portuguese and Brazilian dialects of Portuguese are sometimes counted separately, as are the Nynorsk and Bokmål forms of Norwegian and Traditional and Simplified Chinese editions. Elrond's Library, as of its last updating in 2019, explicitly lists 87 translations in 57 languages for which translations of The Lord of the Rings exist.^[13]

Comparatively few translations appeared during Tolkien's lifetime: when he died on 2 September 1973, the Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Italian, Danish, German and French translations had been published completely, and the Japanese and Finnish ones in part. The Russian translations are a special case because many unpublished and unauthorized versions circulated in the 1970s and 1980s Soviet Union; these were gradually published from the 1990s onwards.^{[citation needed]}

language	title	year	translator	publisher	ISBN
Dutch	In de Ban van de Ring	1957	Max Schuchart	Het Spectrum, Utrecht	—
Swedish	Härskarringen	1959 to 1961	Åke Ohlmarks	Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm	ISBN 978-91-1-300998-8
Polish	Władca Pierścieni	1961 to 1963	Maria Skibniewska (poems by Włodzimierz Lewik and Andrzej Nowicki)	Czytelnik, Warsaw	—
Italian	Il Signore degli Anelli	1967 to 1970	Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca	Bompiani, Milan	ISBN 9788845210273
Danish	Ringenes Herre	1968 to 1972	Ida Nyrop Ludvigsen^[14]	Gyldendal, Copenhagen	ISBN 978-87-02-04320-4
German	Der Herr der Ringe	1969 to 1970	Margaret Carroux and Ebba-Margareta von Freymann (poems)	Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart	ISBN 978-3-608-93666-7
French	Le Seigneur des anneaux	1972 to 1973	Francis Ledoux	Christian Bourgois	ISBN 9782266201728
Japanese	Yubiwa Monogatari (指輪物語, lit. "The tale of the Ring(s)")	1972 to 1975	Teiji Seta (瀬田貞二) and Akiko Tanaka (田中明子)	Hyouronsha(評論社), Tokyo	ISBN 978-4-566-02350-5, ISBN 978-4-566-02351-2, ISBN 978-4-566-02352-9
Finnish	Taru sormusten herrasta	1973 to 1975	Kersti Juva, Eila Pennanen, Panu Pekkanen	—	—
Norwegian (Bokmål)	Krigen om ringen	1973 to 1975	Nils Werenskiold	Tiden Norsk Forlag	ISBN 82-10-00816-1, ISBN 82-10-00930-3, ISBN 82-10-01096-4
Portuguese (BRA)	O Senhor dos Anéis	1974 to 1979	António Rocha and Alberto Monjardim (unauthorized)	Publicações Europa-América	ISBN 978-972-1-04102-8, ISBN 978-972-1-04144-8, ISBN 978-972-1-04154-7
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	1976 (publ. 2002)	A. A. Gruzberg	—	—
Spanish	El Señor de los Anillos	1977 to 1980	Luis Domènech (Francisco Porrúa) and Matilde Horne	Minotauro Buenos Aires	ISBN 84-450-7032-0 (Minotauro)
Greek	Ο Άρχοντας των Δαχτυλιδιών O Archontas ton Dachtylidion	1978	Eugenia Chatzithanasi-Kollia	Kedros, Athens	ISBN 960-04-0308-2
Hebrew	שר הטבעות Sar ha-Tabbaot	1979 to 1980	Ruth Livnit	Zmora-Bitan, Tel Aviv	—
Norwegian (Bokmål)	Ringenes herre	1980 to 1981	Torstein Bugge Høverstad	Tiden Norsk Forlag	ISBN 978-82-10-04449-6
Hungarian	A Gyűrűk Ura	1981	Chapters 1-11: Ádám Réz Rest: Árpád Göncz and Dezső Tandori (poems)	Gondolat Könyvkiadó (1981) Európa Könyvkiadó (since 1990), Budapest	First: ISBN 963-280-963-7, ISBN 963-280-964-5, ISBN 963-280-965-3 2008 reworked: ISBN 978-963-07-8646-1^[15]
Serbian	Господар Прстенова Gospodar Prstenova	1981^[16]	Zoran Stanojević	Nolit, Belgrade	—
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	1982 to 1992	V. S. Muravev (2nd to 6th books, poems), A. A. Kistyakovskij (first book)	Raduga, Moscow	ISBN 5-05-002255-X, ISBN 5-05-002397-1, ISBN 5-05-004017-5
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	1984 (publ. 1991)	H. V. Grigoreva and V. I. Grushetskij and I. B. Grinshpun (poems)	Severo-Zapad	ISBN 5-7183-0003-8, ISBN 5-352-00312-4 (Azbuka)
Catalan	El Senyor dels Anells	1986 to 1988	Francesc Parcerisas	Vicens Vives, Barcelona	ISBN 84-316-6868-7
Korean	반지 이야기 (Banji iyagi), (reprinted as 완역 반지제왕 (Wanyeok Banjijewang))	1988 to 1992	강영운 (Kang Yeong-un)	Dongsuh Press, Seoul	—
Armenian	Պահապաննէրը Pahapannērë	1989	Emma Makarian	Arevnik, Yerevan	Only The Fellowship of the Ring, no ISBN
Korean	반지전쟁 (Banjijeonjaeng), (reprinted as 반지의 제왕 (Banjieui Jewang))	1990	김번, 김보원, 이미애 (Kim Beon, Kim Bo-won, Yee Mi-ae)	Doseochulpan Yemun, Seoul	ISBN 8986834200, ISBN 8986834219, ISBN 8986834227
Russian	Властители Колец vlastiteli kolets	1990	Z.A. Bobyr'	Molodaya Gvardyr	ISBN 5235019466, ISBN 5235019458 (Condensed translation with Hobbit & I in first volume and II & III in second volume)
Bulgarian	Властелинът на пръстените Vlastelinăt na prăstenite	1990 to 1991	Lyubomir Nikolov	Narodna Kultura Sofia	—
Czech	Pán Prstenů	1990 to 1992	Stanislava Pošustová	Mladá fronta, Prague	ISBN 80-204-0105-9, ISBN 80-204-0194-6, ISBN 80-204-0259-4
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	1991	V.A.M. (Valeriya Aleksandrovna Matorina)	Amur, Khabarovsk	—
Korean	마술반지 (Masulbanji)	1992 to 1994	이동진 (Lee Dong-jin)	Pauline (Baorottal), Seoul	Only The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. ISBN 8933103422 (first volume)
Icelandic	Hringadróttinssaga	1993 to 1995, 2nd ed. 2003	Þorsteinn Thorarensen and Geir Kristjánsson (poems)	Fjölvi, Reykjavík	ISBN 9979-58-364-9, ISBN 9979-58-366-5, ISBN 9979-58-365-7
Lithuanian	Žiedų valdovas	1994	Andrius Tapinas and Jonas Strielkūnas	Alma littera, Vilnius	ISBN 9986-02-038-7, ISBN 9986-02-487-0, ISBN 9986-02-959-7
Portuguese (BRA)	O Senhor dos Anéis	1994	Lenita Maria Rimoli Esteves and Almiro Pisetta	Martins Fontes	ISBN 978-85-3360-292-2, ISBN 978-85-3360-314-1, ISBN 978-85-3360-315-8
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	1994	Mariya Kamenkovich and Valerij Karrik	Terra-Azbuka, St. Petersburg	ISBN 5-300-00027-2, ISBN 5-300-00026-4
Croatian	Gospodar prstenova	1995	Zlatko Crnković	Algoritam	ISBN 953-6166-05-4
Slovenian	Gospodar prstanov	1995	Polona Mertelj, Primož Pečovnik, Zoran Obradovič	Gnosis-Quarto, Ljubljana
Esperanto	La Mastro de l' Ringoj	1995 to 1997, 2nd ed. 2007	William Auld	Sezonoj, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad	ISBN 5745004576, ISBN 9785745004575
Polish	Władca Pierścieni	1996 to 1997	Jerzy Łozinski and Marek Obarski (poems)	Zysk i S-ka, Poznań	ISBN 8371502419, ISBN 8371502427, ISBN 8371502435
Estonian	Sõrmuste Isand	1996 to 1998	Ene Aru and Votele Viidemann	Tiritamm, Tallinn	ISBN 9985-55-039-0, ISBN 9985-55-046-3, ISBN 9985-55-049-8
Turkish	Yüzüklerin Efendisi	1996 to 1998	Çiğdem Erkal İpek, Bülent Somay (poems)	Metis, İstanbul	ISBN 975-342-347-0
Romanian	Stăpânul Inelelor	1999 to 2001	Irina Horea, Gabriela Nedelea, Ion Horea	Editorial Group Rao	ISBN 978-606-609-367-5, ISBN 978-606-609-366-8, ISBN 978-606-609-365-1
German	Der Herr der Ringe	2000	Wolfgang Krege	Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart	ISBN 978-3-608-93639-1
Korean	반지의 제왕 (Banjieui Jewang)	2001	한기찬 (Han Ki-chan)	황금가지 (Hwanggeum Gaji), Seoul	6 volumes. ISBN 8982732888, ISBN 8982732896, ISBN 898273290X, ISBN 8982732918, ISBN 8982732926, ISBN 8982732934, ISBN 898273287X (set)
Polish	Władca Pierścieni	2001	Books I – IV: Maria and Cezary Frąc; Book V: Aleksandra Januszewska; Book VI: Aleksandra Jagiełowicz; Poems: Tadeusz A. Olszański; Appendices: Ryszard Derdziński	Amber, Warszawa	ISBN 8372457018, ISBN 8324132872, ISBN 978-83-241-4424-2
Slovenian	Gospodar prstanov	2001	Branko Gradišnik	Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana	ISBN 8611162447, ISBN 8611163001, ISBN 861116301-X
Chinese (Simplified)	魔戒	2001	Book One – Book Two: Ding Di (丁棣); Book Three – Book Four: Yao Jing-rong (姚锦镕); Book Five – Book Six: Tang Ding-jiu (汤定九)	Yilin Press (译林出版社), Nanjing	ISBN 7-80657-267-8
Chinese (Traditional)	魔戒	2001 to 2002	Lucifer Chu (朱學恆)^[17]	Linking Publishing (聯經出版公司), Taipei	—
Galician	O Señor dos Aneis	2001 to 2002	Moisés R. Barcia	Xerais, Vigo	ISBN 84-8302-682-1
Slovak	Pán prsteňov	2001 to 2002	Otakar Kořínek and Braňo Varsik	Vydavatelstvo Slovart, Bratislava	ISBN 8071456063, ISBN 8071456071, ISBN 807145608-X
Thai	ลอร์ดออฟเดอะริงส์ Lord oof doe rings	2001 to 2002	Wanlee Shuenyong	Amarin, Bangkok	ISBN 974-7597-54-3
Macedonian	Господарот на прстените Gospodarot na prstenite	2002	Romeo Širilov, Ofelija Kaviloska	AEA, Misla, Skopje	ISBN 9989-39-170-X, ISBN 9989-39-173-4, ISBN 9989-39-176-9
Russian	Властелин колец Vlastelin kolets	2002	V. Volkovskij, V. Vosedov, D. Afinogenova	AST, Moscow	ISBN 5-17-016265-0
Russian	Властелин Колец Vlastelin kolets	2002	Alina V. Nemirova	AST, Kharkov	ISBN 5-17-009975-4, ISBN 5-17-008954-6, ISBN 966-03-1122-2 (Folio)
Basque	Eraztunen Jauna	2002 to 2003	Agustin Otsoa Eribeko	Txalaparta, Tafalla	ISBN 84-8136-258-1
Indonesian	The Lord of the Rings	2002 to 2003	Gita K. Yuliani	Gramedia, Jakarta	ISBN 9796866935, ISBN 9792200355, ISBN 979220556-X
Latvian	Gredzenu Pavēlnieks	2002 to 2004	Ieva Kolmane	Jumava, Riga	ISBN 9984-05-579-5, ISBN 9984-05-626-0, ISBN 9984-05-861-1
Persian	ارباب حلقه‌ها Arbāb-e Halqehā	2002 to 2004	Riza Alizadih	Rawzanih, Tehran	ISBN 964-334-116-X, ISBN 964-334-139-9, ISBN 964-334-173-9
Ukrainian	Володар Перснів Volodar Persniv	2002	Oleksandr Mokrovolskyi	Школа (Shkola)	ISBN 966-661-063-9 ISBN 966-661-064-7 ISBN 966-661-081-7
Ukrainian	Володар Перснів Volodar Persniv	2003	Alina V. Nemirova^[18]	Фоліо (Folio)	ISBN 966-03-1915-0 ISBN 966-03-1916-9 ISBN 966-03-1917-7
Faroese	Ringanna Harri	2003 to 2005	Axel Tórgarð	Stiðin, Hoyvík	ISBN 99918-42-33-0, ISBN 99918-42-34-9, ISBN 99918-42-38-1
Swedish	Ringarnas herre	2004 to 2005	Erik Andersson^[19] and Lotta Olsson (poems)	Norstedts förlag	ISBN 91-1-301153-7
Ukrainian	Володар Перстенів Volodar Persteniv	2004 to 2005	Olena Feshovets, Nazar Fedorak (poems)	Astrolabia, Lviv	ISBN 966-8657-18-7
Albanian	Lordi i unazave, republished as Kryezoti i unazave	2004 to 2006	Ilir I. Baçi (part 1), Artan Miraka (2 and 3)	Dudaj, Tirana	ISBN 99927-50-96-0 ISBN 99943-33-11-9 ISBN 99943-33-58-5
Norwegian (Nynorsk)	Ringdrotten	2006	Eilev Groven Myhren	Tiden Norsk Forlag, Oslo	ISBN 82-05-36559-8
Arabic	سيد الخواتم، رفقة الخاتم، خروج الخاتمSayyid al-Khawātim, Rafīqat al-Khātim, Khurūj al-Khātim	2007	Amr Khairy	Malamih, Cairo	ISBN 978-977-6262-03-4, only The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I
Belarusian	Уладар пярсьцёнкаў: Зьвяз пярсьцёнка, Дзьве вежы, Вяртаньне караля Uladar pyars'tsyonkaŭ: Z'vyaz Pyars'tsyonka, Dz've vezhy, Vyartan'ne karalya	2008 to 2009	Дзьмітрый Магілеўцаў and Крысьціна Курчанкова (Dźmitry Mahileŭcaŭ and Kryścina Kurčankova)	Minsk	ISBN 978-985-4921-24-3^[20]
Arabic	سيد الخواتم Sayyid al-Khawātim	2009	Farajallah Sayyid Muhammad	Nahdet Misr, Cairo	ISBN 977-14-4114-0, ISBN 977-14-1134-9, ISBN 977-14-1127-6
Georgian	ბეჭდების მბრძანებელი: ბეჭდის საძმო, ორი ციხე–კოშკი, მეფის დაბრუნება Bech'debis Mbrdzanebeli: Bech'dis Sadzmo, Ori Tsikhe-k'oshki, Mepis Dabruneba	2009 to 2011	Nika Samushia (prose and poems) and Tsitso Khotsuashvili (poems in The Fellowship of the Ring)	Gia Karchkhadze Publishing, Tbilisi	ISBN 978-99940-34-04-8, ISBN 978-99940-34-13-0, ISBN 978-99940-34-14-7
West Frisian	Master fan alle ringen	2011 to 2016	Liuwe Westra	Frysk en Frij and Elikser, Leeuwarden	ISBN 978-90-8566-022-4, ISBN 978-90-825871-0-4. Only Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers translated so far
Ukrainian	Володар перснів Volodar persniv	2013	Kateryna Onishchuk-Mikhalitsyna, Nazar Fedorak (poems)	Astrolabia, Lviv	ISBN 978-617-664-022-6, ISBN 978-617-664-023-3, ISBN 978-617-664-024-0
Chinese	魔戒	2013	Deng Jiawan / 邓嘉宛 (story), Shi Zhongge / 石中歌 (preface, prologue, appendix, and checking), Du Yunci / 杜蕴慈 (poems)	Shanghai People's Press	ISBN 9787208113039
Vietnamese	Chúa tể những chiếc Nhẫn	2013 to 2014	(Prose) Nguyễn Thị Thu Yến (f), Đặng Trần Việt (m); Tâm Thuỷ (f); (Poetry) An Lý (f)	Nhã Nam, Hanoi	—
French	Le Seigneur des anneaux	2014 to 2016	Daniel Lauzon	Christian Bourgois	ISBN 9782267027006
Marathi	स्वामी मुद्रिकांचा Swami Mudrikancha (I, II, III)	2015	Mugdha Karnik	Diamond Publications, Pune	ISBN 978-8184836219
Yiddish	דער האַר פֿון די פֿינגערלעך Der Har fun di Fingerlekh	2016	Barry Goldstein	—	ISBN 978-1500410223, ISBN 978-1512129038, ISBN 978-1517654474
Afrikaans	Die Heerser Van Die Ringe	2018 to 2020	Janie Oosthuysen (1), Kobus Geldenhuys (2, 3)	Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria	ISBN 978-1-4853-0975-8, ISBN 978-1-4853-0976-5, ISBN 978-1-4853-0977-2
Azerbaijani	Üzüklərin Hökmdarı	2020 to 2021	Samir Bulut	Qanun Nəşriyyatı	ISBN 978-9-9523-6832-1, ISBN 978-9952-38-002-6 (I, III only, II has no ISBN)
Bengali (Bangladesh)	দি লর্ড অফ দ্য রিংস Di larḍa apha dya rinsa (I only)	2020	Moheul Islam Mithu	Aishwarya Prakash	The ISBN printed in the book is improperly formatted, 978-91288-3-X
Bengali (India)	সর্বাধিপতি আংটি Sarbādhipati āṇṭi (I, II only)	2012 to 2013	Aniruddha	Cinnamon Teal Publishing	ISBN 978-93-81542-61-3, ISBN 978-93-80151-76-2
Uzbek	Uzuklar Hukmdori (I only)	2019	Shokir Zokirovich Dolimov (from the Russian translation of V. S. Muravev and A. A. Kistyakovskij)	Ilm-ziyo-zakovat	ISBN 978-9943-6033-0-1
Sinhala	මුදු වල අධිපතියා Mudu vala adhipatiyā (I only in two parts)	2018 to 2019	Kaveesha Nadun Kaggodaarachchi and Upekha Draupadhi Rajapaksha	Muses Books	ISBN 978-955-37-2703-9, ISBN 978-955-37-2708-4
Portuguese	O Senhor dos Anéis	1981	Fernanda Pinto Rodrigues	Publicações Europa-América	ISBN 972-1-04144-0, ISBN 972-1-04154-8, ISBN 972-1-04102-5
Croatian	Gospodar Prstenova	2018	Marko Maras	Lumen	ISBN 978-953-342-154-4, ISBN 978-953-342-155-1, ISBN 978-953-342-156-8
Italian	Il Signore degli Anelli	2020 to 2021	Ottavio Fatica	Bompiani	ISBN 978-88-452-9919-3, ISBN 978-88-301-0271-2, ISBN 978-88-301-0272-9

See also

• Bibliography of J. R. R. Tolkien
• International reception of Tolkien
• Translations of The Hobbit

References

1. Letters, 305f.; c.f. Martin Andersson "Lord of the Errors or, Who Really Killed the Witch-King?"
2. Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth (Third ed.). Grafton (HarperCollins). pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-0261102750.
3. Strömbom, Charlotte (29 January 2009). "God åkermark eller fet och fruktbar mylla? – Om Erik Anderssons och Åke Ohlmarks översättningar av J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings" [Good arable land or fertile and fruitful soil? – On Erik Andersson's and Åke Ohlmarks' translations of J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings]. Vetsaga (in Swedish). ISSN 1654-0786.
4. Mark T. Hooker, "Dutch Samizdat: The Mensink-van Warmelo Translation of The Lord of the Rings," in Translating Tolkien: Text and Film, Walking Tree Publishers, 2004, pp. 83-92.. Archived from the original on 2008-02-16. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
5. Tolkien och den svarta magin (1982), ISBN 978-91-7574-053-9.
6. Löfvendahl, Bo (30 December 2003). "Vattnadal byter namn i ny översättning" [Waterdale changes name in new translation]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 September 2016.
7. "Margaret Carroux". Ardapedia. Retrieved 2016-12-28.
8. Markova, Olga (2004). Translated by Hooker, Mark T. "When Philology Becomes Ideology: The Russian Perspective of J.R.R. Tolkien". Tolkien Studies. 1: 163–170. doi:10.1353/tks.2004.0011. S2CID 51684428.
9. See also Hooker, Mark T. (2003). Tolkien Through Russian Eyes. Walking Tree Publishers. ISBN 3-9521424-7-6.
10. The new version, Editor's endnote.
11. The second edition was therefore soon replaced the older one on the shelves, and it was published under the name: "שר הטבעות, תרגמה מאנגלית: רות לבנית. ערך מחדש: עמנואל לוטם ("The Lord of the Rings". Translated by Ruth Livnit, revised by Emanuel Lottem. Zmora Beitan [זמורה ביתן] publication: Tel Aviv, 1991)
12. Yuvl Kfir, who assisted Dr. Lottem in the revision, wrote an article in favour of the new edition, translated by Mark Shulson: "Alas! The Aged and Good Translation!" [1]
13. Elrond's Library
14. a special edition of 1977 included illustrations by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, working under the pseudonym of Ingahild Grathmer.
15. The terminology was reworked and several mistakes corrected. For example, the original Hungarian translation left unclear whether Éowyn or Merry killed the Witch-king which caused confusion when the movie version was released.
16. "COBISS/OPAC | Грешка". Vbs.rs. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
17. Turning fantasy into a reality that helps others Gavin Phipps, Taipei Times, 6 March 2005, p. 18.
18. Unlicensed edition, translated from Alina Nemirova's Russian translation (2002, AST Publisher), in Maksym Strikha. Ukrainskyi khudozhniy pereklad: mizh literaturoyu i natsiyetvorennyam. Kyiv: Fakt, 2006. p. 305.
19. published Översättarens anmärkningar "translator's notes" in 2007 (ISBN 978-91-1-301609-2)
20. Уладар Пярсьцёнкаў: Зьвяз Пярсьцёнка (Uladar Pyarstsyonka: Zvyaz Pyarstsyonka) [The Lord of the Rings: The Union [aka Fellowship] of the Rings] (in Belarusian). Minsk: private, 500 copies. 2008.

Bibliography

• Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion (2005), ISBN 0-618-64267-6, 750-782.
• Allan Turner, Translating Tolkien: Philological Elements in "The Lord of the Rings," Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2005. ISBN 3-631-53517-1. Duisburger Arbeiten zur Sprach– und Kulturwissenschaft no. 59.

External links

• Complete list of translations to 2019 of The Lord of the Rings (with bibliographical details)