# LOTR Pronunciations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299 "2003-12-01T17:41:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/41 "2003-12-05T15:08:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by calm kiwi \* > \*\*We are good at giving people the chills…we squiff aussies often 😃 > > In better news Orlando Bloom lurves us and Gandalf rates our blokes evidently. \*\* Its the furry feet. They’re dead sex-y! 😃 Yum. Hobbity feet. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/42 "2003-12-05T18:13:53Z")
Pervy hobbit fancier… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/43 "2003-12-07T03:27:32Z")
acsenray, I hope you didn’t think I thought you actually owed me anything for finding a link. Sometimes perhaps I underutilize the smilies. Possibly interesting tangentially related tidbits I observed at a “Return of the King” screening. No important plot points, but I’ll use a spoiler box to be safe. Several lines of Elvish are spoken during the film, but only one subtitle was used. I have no idea if it will be this way in general release or this was an unfinished version. My companion was annoyed, but I felt the gist of everything was clear enough from the context and the actors’ expressions and intonations. Aragorn sings a few lines in Elvish at his coronation. He sounds pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/44 "2003-12-07T04:00:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TWDuke \* > \*\*[Recordings of Tolkien.](http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=7-0898452236-0) > > All I ask in return for this valuable information is that you buy the tape, listen very carefully to it and get back to us. > > You’re welcome. \*\* I can beat that. My parents have the vinyls. No idea how many years it’s been since they’ve been listened to. ---
**Author:** ![c\_carol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@c\_carol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_carol)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/45 "2003-12-07T04:12:47Z")
> [@](#): > > If two consonants follow the vowel in the penultimate syllable, it gets the stress Yes, it certainly looks that way, based just on what’s in the Appendix, but I still have a problem with this. (Or just want to continue arguing out of sheer perversity, I don’t know which. (Is anybody besides me actually still interested?)) The problem is that one or two words – “Nargothrond” definitely and “Imladris” quite possibly – break the rule: for metrical reasons they have to be accented on the first syllable. So I’m still confused. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/46 "2003-12-07T19:24:35Z")
**TWDuke** , I’m not sure why you boxed that, but in the first movie (and maybe the second, I didn’t notice), they also did selective subtitling of Elvish. When Aragorn and Arwen are having normal conversation, it’s subtitled, but when they’re telling each other they love each other, it’s not. I liked that… It’s not as if you can’t figure out what they’re saying, but it gives them a sort of privacy. Besides, Elvish sounds so much more romantic than Westron, er, I mean, English. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/47 "2003-12-07T19:48:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\ ***TWDuke** , I’m not sure why you boxed that… I’m a little paranoid about what other people might consider spoilers. For a few months before seeing the film, I wouldn’t look at publicity photos, watch TV interviews or listen to any of the music because I wanted the experience to be as fresh and surprising as possible. I had no idea A\_\_\_ was going to s\_\_\_\_ at that point, and it was a nice surprise. On the other hand, I know other people like to know as much as they can find out about ahead of time. c\_carol > [@](#): > > arguing out of sheer perversity On these boards? I’ve never heard of such a thing! I can think of three possibilities to address the issue you raise. 1. Tolkien intended his invented languages to have exceptions to the rules, as do natural languages. 2. Tolkien didn’t worry about them not fitting the meter exactly. Shakespeare and other great poets who wrote in formal verse deviated from the meter occasionally. It can actually enhance a poem by adding variety. 3. Tolkien messed up. I prefer explanation No. 2, but unless someone comes up with a specific citation or recording from JRRT himself to settle it, I don’t see how we can know for certain. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/48 "2003-12-08T07:13:08Z")
This hour-long radio show contains a BRIEF snippet of Tolkien speaking Elvish, and other things that may be of interest. Playlist: [http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/pri/spirit/shows/059play.html](http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/pri/spirit/shows/059play.html) RealOne audio file: [http://streams.wgbh.org/scripts/ram.php?show=059\_lotr](http://streams.wgbh.org/scripts/ram.php?show=059_lotr) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/49 "2003-12-08T20:29:00Z")
> [@](#): > > acsenray, I hope you didn’t think I thought you actually owed me anything for finding a link. Nah, I didn’t take it literally, but I did want to get them, so I did. And if I find the answer, I might as well report back. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/50 "2003-12-11T20:19:24Z")
So…how is **Tolkien** pronounced? TOLE - kee - en ? TOLE - keen ? I remember seeing in a dictionary (years ago) that it should be pronounced something like DHOLE - keen because he was born in South Africa, and that’s how it would be pronounced by his family there. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/51 "2003-12-11T23:19:27Z")
His parents were both English–they emigrated to South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299/52 "2003-12-12T03:03:36Z")
Tolkien is actually a German name. One ancestor of Tolkien emigrated to England a couple centuries ago. All the rest of his ancestors, in so far as they can be traced, were English. Tolkien’s father worked for an English bank, and not long before Tolkien’s birth his parents moved to South Africa so that his father could do some work there for the bank. Tolkien’s father died when Tolkien was 3 or 4 years old and Tolkien, his mother, and his brother returned to England. In 1987, I was at a conference where Christopher Tolkien (Tolkien’s son, the one who edited the stuff published after Tolkien’s death) was the guest of honor. When I was in line to get his signature on my copy of _The Silmarillion_, someone ahead of me asked Christopher Tolkien how precisely the name was pronounced. He said it was pronounced Tole-Keen, with an equal accent on each syllable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-pronunciations/216299.md?page=2)