Tolkien's Languages

[Forkbeard]

In The Hobbit forum, the issue of Tolkien's languages was broached, and one poster suggested that Tolkien was as expert in Hebrew as in his other documented languages, based largely on Tolkien's involvement, or supposed involvement, in the Jerusalem Bible. In an effort to set the record straight I offer the following post in response. Those who don't wish to read the nitty gritty make skip to the end and read the brief summary of evidence.

I personally first looked into this question some five years ago in an effort to write a paper on Tolkien and Hebrew for the Studies in Medievalism journal which sometimes covers the careers of medieval scholars and their use of and interpretations of the medieval past. I was interested in possibly finding some connections between some manuscripts from England 900-1200 with Hebrew letters and words and Tolkien. There were no such connections, but I did learn a good deal about Tolkien's career and the Jerusalme Bible.

But we're not taking my word on it. Not long ago the above mentioned poster started a discussion in another forum and justly famous Tolkien scholar Wayne G. Hammond chimed in, so I'll use his words for the most part to make my points.

MM wrote:

Yes. I can see how his work on The Jerusalem Bible would constitute "no evidence". His immediate response, when invited to work on the project, was to send in a partial translation of Isaiah. Rather ambitious for someone who didn't know much Hebrew.

He also translated Jonah and reviewed a translation of Job.

On this question Wayne Hammond wrote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/message/12210
"Since writing the _Bibliography_ I've seen the letters written to Tolkien
by the General Editor of _The Jerusalem Bible_, Alexander Jones, preserved
in the Tolkien Papers at the Bodleian. Jones first wrote to Tolkien in
January 1957, asking him to contribute to the Bible project, on the
strength of _The Lord of the Rings_ with which Jones was very impressed. He
hoped that Tolkien would translate several books of the Old Testament, but
held out Jonah (only three pages in the finished printed Bible) if Tolkien
was pressed for time. Tolkien quickly sent a sample translation from
Isaiah, and then a draft translation of Jonah. After that he was indeed too
pressed for time to do much more. He did, however, discuss points of
translation with Jones, including what to do about archaisms (a potentially
very interesting subject, especially in relation to his comments on
archaisms in _The Lord of the Rings_; unfortunately, copies of Tolkien's
letters to Jones are not at the Bodleian), and Jones solicited Tolkien's
opinions on a first draft of most of the Book of Job. Tolkien passed a
final revision of Jonah only in 1961.

So, Tolkien did translate Jonah, which others revised (in the
_Bibliography_, p. 279, "revision of the latter [i.e. Jonah]" should read
"version of the latter"), and the evidence strongly indicates that this was
the only book that he translated in full. He certainly did not translate
Job -- one of the letters from Jones makes it clear that this was done by
someone else -- though he may have given his advice about it (Jones's
letters at the Bodleian end at the point at which he sent Job to Tolkien),
and this may have led to some confusion on this point at Longmans."

After those comments, a retraction was posted by MM to the newsgroups rec.arts.books.tolkien of a long standing claim, based on a common reading and misunderstanding of a statement in Hammond's _Bibliography_.
http://groups-beta.google.com/group...9d1e446e631 62

"Well, I have finally heard from Wayne Hammond, who was aware of this
discussion but was very busy. I will take the liberty of reposting
what he shared with me in another discussion forum. The remaining
portion of this message was written by Wayne Hammond. I accept his
conclusion that Tolkien "certainly did NOT" (emphasis is mine)
translate the Book of Job, as was reported in 1977 (and which I have
stated many times through the years). It should be noted that
Tolkien's comments on the Job translation were nonetheless solicited
before he left the project."

I sought to clarify with Wayne Hammond in the previously mentioned discussion just what he was saying about Tolkien's expertise in Hebrew in early 1957:

at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/message/12215

"Just for the sake of clarity, what we are talking about here is a translation
from French, not a translation from Hebrew that Tolkien did for the portion of
Isaiah and Jonah. That's the impression I devloped and have in my notes. I'll
be in the Bodleian later this summer and can check again. Same thing with the
draft...Jones was soliciting Tolkien's opinion on the English of the
translation, not its accuracy from the original language. Please do correct me
if your impression is different."

Wayne Hammond was good enough to respond:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/message/12216

"This is my interpretation also."

End Part I