A Modern-Day palantír

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here are some clips of Tolkien on the that modern-day palantír - YouTube:

Tolkien on Ring Mythology

Tolkien recites the Ring verse

[truehobbit]

Thanks for sharing, Voronwë.

So - do you actually understand anything he says? (I get like one word in ten. Also interesting how absent-minded he seems. Same in the clip about how he wrote the beginning of The Hobbit on the exam paper.)

The Ring Verse reading is nice, though it's scarier when Christopher Lee reads it. Good to hear that Tolkien doesn't roll the 'r's in 'Mordor', though.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The second time I watched it I understood it a lot better. You really have to get attuned to his rhythm and his nuances.

[truehobbit]

Yes, that helps. His poor students couldn't replay until they understood him, though.

Writing was more his medium, I'd say.

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

Here are some clips of Tolkien on the that modern-day palantír - YouTube:

Tolkien on Ring Mythology

Tolkien recites the Ring verse

If you read the comments, if it pointed out that:

... unfortunately it is not Professor Tolkien reading - it is Michael Hordern and comes from the BBC radio production of The Lord of the Rings. A audio clip of Tolkien reading that verse does exist.

It was misattributed. The person who made the video claims that they took the audio from another site that had identified it as Tolkien, and they did not verify whether that was true or not.

Michael Hordern was the voice of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings 1981 radio series broadcasted on the BBC.

BrianIs AtYou

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks, Brian.

[Frelga]

As I have bragged before, I have a recording of Tolkien reading Frodo's poem from the Prancing Pony, on my son's CD that came with book of poetry. Quite clearly, I might add.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here is the clip about The Hobbit that hobby mentioned above:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_36ovMYA5SA

My favorite comment is this one:

Is that was Judi Dench's voice?

It reminds me of "The_Dwarf" from the old m00bies forum.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here is an interview with Tolkien (either from 1964 or 1971):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9-G_v6-u3hg&feature=related

Here is a transcript from the interview:

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/804 ... erview.php

Here is Tolkien reciting Riddles in the Dark:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7VOdv2RE4jg&feature=related


And here is "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbits":

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xBQJTaMMMhI&feature=related

And finally, the Ring Verse:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4s59oDfDoI8&feature=related

[Sassafras]

I knew most of these clips although the interview is new to me. It is wonderful to actually hear him speak although I can't imagine his students had an easy time with his lectures. Good thing that there is a transcript because I had a hard time with the rapidity of his speech and I'm attuned to those cadences ... and he did have the most awful habit of swallowing words.

One can hear the influence on McKellen's Gandalf.

The Dwarves as Jews is interesting. I know that JRR had great respect for the Jewish people but I wonder if, in part, he made the connection based upon the fact that Jews were/are considered industrious, persevering and family-oriented and were once primarily involved in money-lending and the manufacture of precious stones (most other professions being forbidden to them).

[solicitr]

I think in a letter he expl;ained that Dwarves, like Jews, were a diaspora from their ancient home, living among alien people and speking their language, but preserving their own ancient tongue among themselves. This is, after all, JRRT- he always though in terms of language first!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

soli, you beat me to it, I was going to say basically the same thing. Tolkien did point to those other factors that Sassy mentioned (as well as the "war-like nature" of the early Jews! ), but as is almost always the case with Tolkien (as I am particularly reminded of by reading Shippey) the primary factor was linguistic

[Sassafras]

Yes, Letter 176:

I do think of the Dwarves like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with the accent due to their own private tongue.

I should have clarified that I was indulging in a bit of speculation ... that in addition to the language issue (Hebrew or Yiddish?? Or both?) he also took into account the association of Jews with money/gold/precious jewels.

I mean, Dwarves are inordinately fond of those things, are they not?

[solicitr]

I think Hebrew- like Khuzdul, used on special occasions and changing little if any over time, and a lingua franca among all Jews everywhere. Yiddish was (is?) a creole: German crossed with Hebrew, with a later salting of Polish/Russian elements.

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

It is also notable that the structure of Khuzdul appears to be similar to semitic languages, so he actually carried the linguistic connection over in that respect.

For more detail, see http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/khuzdul.htm

Here is part of the discussion:

The basic structure of Khuzdul resembles that of Semitic languages, like Arabic and Hebrew. The stems from which words are derived are not by themselves pronounceable words, but consist of consonants only. Nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. are derived not only by prefixes and suffixes (if such devices are used at all), but also by inserting certain vowels between these consonants, sometimes also by doubling one of the consonants. Often the words are actually inflected by internal vowel-changes instead of adding affixes: Rukhs means "Orc", but plural "Orcs" is Rakhâs. The root consonants - the so-called radicals - remain the same, like *R-Kh-S in this case. In Khuzdul as well as in Semitic languages, there are usually three radicals in the root; several such roots are mentioned in TI:174 and RS:466: B-R-Z "red", B-N-D "head", K-B-L "silver", N-R-G "black". An example of a biconsonantal root is Z-N "dark, dim" (RS:466).

A simple example from real life semitic languages is the S-L-M radical, which is the root of words such as "Islam", "Muslim", "Salaam", or in Hebrew "Shalom" (originally the SH was an S--the original Shibboleth is at work here).

Some words in English may have relations to Semitic roots, such as "Solemn" which appears to be based on the same radical.

The S-L-M radical has to due with "submission". Islam is the religion of submission (to Allah). A Muslim is one who has submitted. The greeting "Salaam"/"Shalom" is act act of submission to the one that you are greeting (similar to the manner in which the dwarves in The Hobbit say "at your service!"--this is the radical equivalent of Salaam/Shalom, although the current connotation may be somewhat different).

A "solemn" occasion is one in which one is submits oneself to the seriousness of the occasion.

Even the English word "submit" could be seen as partially related to the radical, but the "L" in the radical has been replaced by a "B".

BrianIs AtYou

[vison]

Kewl.

I have an uncle who sounds just like Tolkien. He's one of my favourite uncles.

[Rowanberry]

Interesting links, especially the interview. Thanks for posting them, V.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

http://web.archive.org/web/200201240827 ... ,tolkien,1

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Here's an interview with Rayner Unwin about The Hobbit. It is long, but definitely worth listening to:

How Bilbo Baggins Got His Start

[Voronwë the Faithful]

From the BBC archives:

In Their Own Words: British Novelists | Interviews with remarkable modern writers: JRR Tolkien - The views of the author and Oxford's students on Tolkien's Middle-earth epics