- staving Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets:
> He was probably taught both Elvish languages by Bilbo, but there is noI seem to remember that Frodo didn't understand Galadriel's lament at
> indication that he was *fluent* in them. Indeed, the few indications in the
> books seem to show that he didn't really understand spoken Sindarin, and
> there's no indication that he understood Galadriel's Lament literally
> (rather, the words imprinted their meaning directly to his consciousness,
> probably a side-effect of Galadriel's telepathic abilities).
the time, but that the magical properties of Quenya meant that it stuck
in his mind and he could remember it phonetically. He studied enough
Quenya to translate it at a later date.
- On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 4:40 AM, Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets
> And indeed, Frodo's greeting (which he may just have learned whole, as a setI certainly interpreted it as sarcasm, even at the tender age at which
> phrase, like lawyers do with Latin phrases) was like greeting Italians using
> Classical Latin (and the reply he got from the Elf can actually be
> interpreted as sarcastic rather than laudative ;) ).
I first read the stories. I've always assumed that was the intended
reading. But of course that's the thing about sarcasm... it's very
hard to prove, absent vocal inflection.
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>