ext_207926 ([identity profile] od-mind.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] kinzel 2007-08-02 08:43 pm (UTC)

Re: German translations

My favorite Bad Translation moment (though not in the same league as the Judy Tarr example you cite) is from the F. Ledoux translation of The Lord of the Rings. Toward the end of the book, Eomer refers to Merry as "Holdwine of the Mark". Holdwine = Anglo-saxon holt 'woods' + wine 'friend' = "friend of the forest", "Ent-friend".

The translator, of course, didn't notice that the name was Rohirric and not Westron, and rendered it with an old French word for "cup-bearer". Hold+wine, get it?

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