Translations of The Hobbit
Appearance
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit has been translated into many languages. Known translations, with the first date of publishing, are:
Language | Year | Title | Translator | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Albanian | 2005 | Hobiti | Maklen Misha | Tirana: Shtëpia e Librit & Komunikit ISBN 99943-641-8-9 |
Arabic | 2008 | الهوبيت، أو ذهابًا وعودة (Al-Hūbīt, aw Zehaban wa ʿAwda) |
هشام فهمي - مي غنيم (Hisham Fahmy - May Ghanim) |
Dokki, Giza: Dar Lila (No ISBN) |
Armenian | 1984 | ՀՈԲԻՏ կամ գնալն ու գալը | Emma Makarian | Yerevan. Translated from the Russian translation by N. Rakhmanova. Uses the Belomlinskij illustrations from the Rakhmanova Russian edition. |
Asturian | 2014 | El Hobbit | Miguel Gallego Gómez | Gijón. Published by Ediciones Terrier. ISBN 978-84-617-1545-9. |
Belarusian | 2002 | Хобіт, або Вандроўка туды і назад | K. Kurchankova and D. Magilevtsav | Minsk. Contains both maps with place-names in Belarusian, based on the Belomlinskij Russian maps. |
Basque | 2008 | Hobbita edo Joan-etorri bat | Sergio Ibarrola and Xabier Olarra | Iruñea: Igela Argitaletxea. ISBN 978-84-87484-88-9. Maps with place-names in English |
Bengali | 2011 | হবিট (Hôbiţô) | Aniruddha | Margao: CinnamonTeal. ISBN 978-93-80151-93-9. |
Breton | 2000 | An Hobbit, pe eno ha distro | Alan Dipode | Argenteuil: Éditions Arda. ISBN 2-911979-03-6. Contains both maps with place-names in Breton; the runes are translated into Breton. |
Bulgarian | 1975 | Билбо Бегинс или дотам и обратно | Красимира Тодорова (Krasimira Todorova) | Sofia: Narodna Mladezh (София, "Народна младеж"). Verse translations by Assen Todorov (Асен Тодоров). |
Catalan | 1983 | El Hòbbit o viatge d'anada i tornada | Francesc Parcerisas | The runes and both maps (the one for the Wildlands and the other one for the Lonely Mountain) are in Catalan. Some names, though, remain in English (such as Baggins or Took, which in the Lord of the Rings are translated as Saquet and Tuc respectively). Published by La Magrana (Edicions de la Magrana, SA. Pàdua, 83, 08006, Barcelona) in April 1983 (first edition); the last edition was in May 2001 (20th edition). ISBN 84-8264-277-4. |
Traditional Chinese | 2001 | 魔戒前傳 哈比人歷險記 (Mojie qianzhuan: Habiren lixianji) |
朱學恆 (Lucifer Chu) | Both maps are in Chinese. ISBN 957-08-2334-8 |
Simplified Chinese | 2002 | 魔戒前传: 霍比特人 (Mojie qianzhuan: Huobiteren) |
李尧 (Li Yao) | Nanjing: Yilin Press. 2000. ISBN 7-80657-190-6 |
Simplified Chinese | 2013 | 霍比特人 (Huobiteren) |
吴刚 (Wu Gang) | Shanghai: Shiji Wenjing; Shanghai People's Publishing House. 2013. ISBN 978-7-208-11102-8 authorized by the Tolkien Estate |
Cornish | 2014 | An Hobys, pò, An Fordh Dy ha Tre Arta | Nicholas Williams | Cathair na Mart: Evertype, ISBN 978-1-78201-090-6 (hb), ISBN 978-1-78201-089-0 (pb). Contains both maps with place-names in Cornish; the runes are translated into Cornish. On the cup in the illustration "Conversations with Smaug" ('Kescows gans Smawg') the text in Tengwar and initials in runes are translated into Cornish. |
Croatian | 1994 | Hobit ili tamo i opet natrag | Zlatko Crnković | (See also Serbo-Croatian, below) |
Czech | 1979 | Hobit, aneb cesta tam a zase zpátky | František Vrba | Prague: Odeon. In book translation credited for political reasons to Lubomír Dorůžka. Illustrated by Jiří Šalamoun. |
Danish | 1969 | Hobbitten, eller ud og hjem igen | Ida Nyrop Ludvigsen | Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 1969. No maps. |
Danish | 2012 | Hobbitten, eller ud og hjem igen | Jakob Levinsen | Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 2012. ISBN 978-87-02-12852-9. |
Dutch | 1960 | De Hobbit of daarheen en weer terug | Max Schuchart | Utrecht/Antwerpen: Het Spectrum. 1960. No maps. |
Esperanto | 2000 | La Hobito aŭ Tien kaj Reen | Christopher Gledhill, poems translated by William Auld | Kaliningrad: Sezonoj. Rereleased in 2005. Runes are translated to Esperanto. |
Esperanto | 2015 | La Hobito, aŭ, Tien kaj Reen | Christopher Gledhill, poems translated by William Auld | Portlaoise: Evertype, ISBN 978-1-78201-110-1 (hb), ISBN 978-1-78201-109-5 (pb). Contains both maps with place-names in Esperanto; the runes are translated into Esperanto. On the cup in the illustration "Conversations with Smaug" ('Konversacio kun Smaŭg') the text in Tengwar and initials in runes are translated into Esperanto. |
Estonian | 1977 | Kääbik, ehk, Sinna ja tagasi | Lia Rajandi (prose and poems), Harald Rajamets (poems) | Tallinn: Eesti raamat |
Faroese | 1990 | Hobbin ella út og heim aftur | Axel Tórgarð | Hoyvík: Stíðin |
Finnish | 1973 | Lohikäärmevuori, eli Erään hoppelin matka sinne ja takaisin | Risto Pitkänen | Helsinki: Tammi |
Finnish | 1985 | Hobitti eli Sinne ja takaisin | Kersti Juva | Helsinki: Werner Söderström |
French | 1969 | Bilbo le Hobbit | Francis Ledoux | Paris: Le Livre de Poche. 2002. ISBN 2-253-04941-7. Contains both maps with place-names in French; the runes remain in English. |
French | 2012 | Le Hobbit | Daniel Lauzon | Paris: Christian Bourgois éditeur. 2012. ISBN 978-2-267-02401-2. Contains both maps with place-names in French; the runes are translated. |
West Frisian | 2009 | De Hobbit | Anne Tjerk Popkema | Leeuwarden: Uitgeverij Elikser. 2009. ISBN 90-8954-112-8. |
Galician | 2000 | Ó hobbit | Moisés R. Barcia | Vigo: Edicións Xerais de Galicia |
Georgian | 2002 | ჰობიტი ანუ იქით და აქეთ (Hobitʼi anu ikit da aket) |
Nino Bardzimishvili, poems translated by Tinatin Gogochashvili | Tbilisi: Otar Karalashvili. 2002. ISBN printed on the cover and in the book (99928-0-302-0) is invalid. Contains both maps with place-names in Georgian. |
Georgian | 2009 | ჰობიტი (Hobitʼi) |
Nika Samushia, poems translated by Tsitso Khotsuashvili. | Tbilisi: Bakur Sulakauri Publishing. 2009. ISBN 978-9941-403-41-5. Contains both maps with place-names in Georgian. John Howe's illustration on the cover. |
German | 1957 | Kleiner Hobbit und der große Zauberer | Walter Scherf | Recklinghausen: Paulus-Verlag. 1957. Illustrated by Horus Engels. |
German | 1971 | Der kleine Hobbit | Walter Scherf | Georg Bitter. 1971. Revised after the appearance of the Carroux translation of The Lord of the Rings to make the names match. |
German | 1998 | Der Hobbit | Wolfgang Krege | Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, ISBN 3-608-93805-2 |
Greek | 1978 | Το Χόμπιτ | A. Gavrielide, Kh. Delegianne | Athens: Kedros, ISBN 960-04-0308-2 |
Hawaiian | 2015 | Ka Hopita, a i ʻole, I Laila a Hoʻi Hou mai | R. Keao NeSmith | Portlaoise: Evertype, ISBN 978-1-78201-092-0 (hb), ISBN 978-1-78201-091-3 (pb). Contains both maps with place-names in Hawaiian; the runes are translated into Hawaiian. On the cup in the illustration "Conversations with Smaug" ('Ke Kūkā ʻana me Smaug') the text in Tengwar and initials in runes are translated into Hawaiian. |
Hebrew | 1976 | ההוביט | משה הנעמי (Moshe Hana'ami) | |
Hebrew | 1977 | ההוביט או לשם ובחזרה | Ganei-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan (זמורה – ביתן). Contains no maps. Four Israeli combat pilots, held as prisoners of war in Egypt between 1970 and 1973, whiled away their time of captivity by translating "The Hobbit" to Hebrew from a book sent to one of them by family members, via the Red Cross. The pilots' translation was published in Tel-Aviv following their return, and many Israeli critics still consider it the better of the first two Hebrew translations. | |
Hebrew | 2012 | ההוביט | יעל אכמון (Yael Achmon) | |
Hungarian | 1975 | A babó | Tibor Szobotka, poems translated by István Tótfalusi | ISBN 963-11-0374-9
Reworked in 2006 under the title A hobbit – "Egyszer oda, aztán vissza" by Tamás Füzessy with the introduction and annotations of Douglas A. Anderson (translated by Zsuzsa Ürmössy). (ISBN 963-539-515-9) |
Hungarian | 2006 | A hobbit – Vagy: Oda-vissza | László Gy. Horváth, poems translated by Zsuzsa N. Kiss | This translation was originally published in 2006 with a terminology consistent with that of the Ádám Réz/Árpád Göncz translation of The Lord of the Rings (A Gyűrűk Ura) (ISBN 963-07-8162-X). It uses the old Hungarian alphabet instead of English runes and illustrations by Alan Lee.
After the revision of the Hungarian terminology of The Lord of the Rings in 2008, changes were also incorporated into this translation and was republished in 2011 without illustrations and with the English runes restored (ISBN 978-963-07-9336-0). |
Icelandic | 1978 | Hobbitinn | Úlfur Ragnarsson and Karl Ágúst Úlfsson | Reykjavík: Almenna Bókafélagið |
Icelandic | 1997 | Hobbitinn eða út og heim aftur | Þorsteinn Thorarensen | Reykjavík: Fjölvaútgáfan ISBN 9979-58-305-3 |
Indonesian | 1977 | Hobbit atau pergi dan kembali | Anton Adiwiyoto | Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama |
Irish | 2012 | An Hobad, nó, Anonn agus Ar Ais Arís | Nicholas Williams | Cathair na Mart: Evertype, ISBN 978-1-904808-90-9 (hb), ISBN 978-1-78201-033-3 (pb). Contains both maps with place-names in Irish; the runes are translated into Irish. On the cup in the illustration "Conversations with Smaug" ('Ag Comhrá le Smóg') the text in Tengwar and initials in runes are translated into Irish. |
Italian | 1973 | Lo hobbit, o la Riconquista del Tesoro | Elena Jeronimidis Conte | Milan: Adelphi Editions. ISBN 88-459-0688-4. Contains both maps with place-names in Italian; the runes are translated into Italian. Spelling of Smaug changed into "Smog"; the trolls are referred to as "Uomini Neri" ("Black Men"). |
Italian | 2004 | Lo Hobbit Annotato | Oronzo Cilli and Elena Jeronimidis Conte | Milan: Bompiani RCS group. ISBN 88-452-3292-1. New translation. |
Japanese | 1965 | ホビットの冒険 (Hobitto no Bōken) | Teiji Seta (瀬田貞二) | Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. (Various editions). Character and place names derived from common English usage tend to be rendered into Japanese, while those invented by Tolkien or difficult to translate are often transliterated directly into katakana spellings. Runes on Thrór's map are left in English, but absent altogether from the title page. Terms used here carry over into the Japanese edition of The Lord of the Rings, translated by Teiji Seta and Akiko Tanaka. |
Korean | 1979 | 호비트 (Hobiteu) | 김종철 (Kim Jong-cheol) | Yeoleum |
Korean | 1988 | 호비트 모험 (Hobiteu Moheom) | 공덕용 (Kong Deok-yong) | Seoul : Dongsuh Press |
Korean | 1989 | 호비트의 모험 (Hobiteueui Moheom) | 최윤정 (Choi Yun-jeong) | Seoul : Changjak-kwa-Bipyongsa. ISBN 89-364-4103-5, ISBN 89-364-4104-3 |
Korean | 1991 | 꼬마 호비트의 모험 (Kkoma Hobiteueui Moheom) | 이동진 (Lee Dong-jin) | Yeollin. ISBN 89-8210-091-1 |
Korean | 1999 | 호비트 (Hobiteu) | 김석희 (Kim Seok-hee) | Seoul : Sigongsa. ISBN 89-527-0513-0, ISBN 89-527-0514-9 |
Korean | 2002 | 호빗 (Hobit) | 이미애 (Lee Mi-ae) | Seoul : Ssiaseul Ppurineun Saram. ISBN 978-89-5637-107-8 |
Latin | 2012 | Hobbitus ille aut illuc atque rursus retrorsum | Marc Walker | London : HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-744521-9 |
Latvian | 1991 | Hobits jeb Turp un atpakaļ | Zane Rozenberga | First edition published in 1991 (ISBN 5-410-00159-1) was large format hardcover children's book and featured high quality original illustrations by Latvian artist Laima Eglīte. Notably elves were pictured as having wings and greenish skin.
Second edition was published in 2002 in soft cover (ISBN 9984-22-417-1) and contained traditional black and white illustrations drawn by J.R.R.Tolkien. |
Lithuanian | 1985 | Hobitas, arba Ten ir atgal | Bronė Balčienė | |
Luxembourgish | 2002 | Den Hobbit | Henry Wickens | Esch-Sauer : Op der Lay. ISBN 2-87967-099-3. Contains both maps with place-names in Luxembourgish; the runes are translated into Luxembourgish. |
Macedonian | 2005 | Хобитот или до таму и назад | Marija Todorova | Skopje: Feniks ISBN 9989-33-142-1 |
Marathi | 2011 | द हॉबिट | Meena Kinikar | Pune: Diamond Publications ISBN 978-81-8483-374-4 |
Moldavian | 1987 | Хоббитул (Hobbitul) |
Aleksej Tsurkanu | Chişinău: Literatura artistike (translated from Russian) |
Norwegian (Bokmål) | 1972 | Hobbiten, eller fram og tilbake igjen | Finn Aasen and Oddrun Grønvik | Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-10-00747-5. Contains both maps with place-names in Norwegian; the runes are translated into Norwegian. |
Norwegian (Bokmål) | 1997 | Hobbiten, eller Fram og tilbake igjen | Nils Ivar Agøy | Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-10-04300-5 |
Norwegian (Nynorsk) | 2008 | Hobbiten | Eilev Groven Myhren | Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag. ISBN 978-82-10-05038-1 |
Persian | 2002 | هابيت (Hābit) |
فرزاد فربد (Farzad Farbud) | Tehran: Ketab-e Panjereh 2002 (١٣٨١). ISBN 964-7822-01-4. |
Persian | 2004 | هابيت يا آنجا و بازگشت دوباره (Hābit yā ānjā va bāzgašt dobāre) |
رضا عليزاده (Reza Alizadeh) | Tehran: Rowzaneh 2004 (١٣٨٣). ISBN 964-334-200-X. Contains both maps with place-names in Persian; the runes remain in English. |
Polish | 1960 | Hobbit, czyli tam i z powrotem | Maria Skibniewska | |
Polish | 1985 | Hobbit, czyli tam i z powrotem | Maria Skibniewska | 2nd Polish edition, revised translation |
Polish | 1997 | Hobbit albo tam i z powrotem | Paulina Braiter | |
Polish | 2002 | Hobbit, czyli tam i z powrotem | Andrzej Polkowski | |
Portuguese-Portugal | 1962 | O Gnomo | Maria Isabel Morna Braga, Mário Braga; il. António Quadros | Porto: Livraria Civilização Editora |
Portuguese-Portugal | 1985 | O Hobbit | Fernanda Pinto Rodrigues | Mem Martins: Publicações Europa-América. |
Portuguese-Brazil | 1995 | O Hobbit ou Lá e de Volta Outra Vez | Lenita Maria Rímoli Esteves | São Paulo: Martins Fontes. |
Romanian | 1975 | O poveste cu un hobbit | Catinca Ralea | Bucharest: Editura Ion Creangă |
Russian | 1976 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | Н. Рахманова (N. Rakhmanova) | Leningrad: Detskaya Literatura. Illustrations by M. Belomlinskij. |
Russian | 2001 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | А.А. Грузберг (A.A. Gruzberg) | Ekaterinburg: Publishing house "Litur" (Издательство «ЛИТУР»). Illustrations by Е. Нитылкина (E. Nitylkina). |
Russian | 1995 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | М. Каменкович, С. Степанов (M. Kamenkovich, S. Stepanov) | Saint Petersburg: Publishing house "Azbuka" (Издательство «Азбука»). Academically annotated edition. |
Russian | 2000 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | Валерия Маторина "В.А.М." (Valeria Matorina, "V.A.M.") | Moscow: Publishing house "EKSMO" (Издательство «ЭКСМО»). Illustrations by И. Панков (I. Pankov). |
Russian | 2001 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | Л. Яхнин (L. Yakhnin) | Moscow: Publishing house "Alfa book" (Издательство «Алфа-книга»). |
Russian | 1991 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | З. Бобырь (Z. Bobyr') | Moscow: Publishing house "Molodaya Gvardiya" (Издательство «Молодая гвардия»). |
Russian | 2002 | Хоббит | К. Королёв, В. Тихомиров (K. Korolev, V. Tikhomirov) | Moscow: Publishing house "Eksmo" (Издательство «Эксмо»). |
Russian | 2005 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | Н. Прохорова, М. Виноградова (N. Prokhorova, M. Vinogradova) | Moscow: Publishing house "Milikon Servis" (Издательство «Миликон Сервис»). |
Russian | 2003 | Хоббит, или Туда и Обратно | И. Тогоева (I. Togoeva) | Moscow: Publishing house "Rosmen" (Издательство «РОСМЭН»). |
Serbo-Croatian | 1975 | Хобит или тамо и назад | Meri and Milan Milišić | |
Slovak | 1973 | Hobbit | Viktor Krupa (prose), Jana Šimulčíková (poetry) | Bratislava: Slovenský spisovatel' |
Slovak | 2002 | Hobbit | Otakar Kořínek | Bratislava: SLOVART |
Slovene | 1986 | Hobit ali Tja in spet nazaj | Dušan Ogrizek | Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga |
Sorbian | 2012 | Hobit | Edward Wornar | Leipzig: Institut za Sorabistiku Lipšćanskeje Uniwersity. ISBN 978-1-4716-7712-0 |
Spanish (Argentina) | 1964 | El hobito | Teresa Sánchez Cuevas | Buenos Aires: Fabril Editora. His history in spanish. |
Spanish (Spain) | 1982 | El hobbit | Manuel Figueroa | Barcelona: Ediciones Minotauro. ISBN 84-450-7141-6. Contains only Thrór's map with place-names in Spanish; the runes remain in English. |
Swedish | 1947 | Hompen eller En resa Dit och Tillbaks igen | Tore Zetterholm | Stockholm: Kooperativa Förbundets Bokförlag |
Swedish | 1962 | Bilbo – En hobbits äventyr | Britt G. Hallqvist | Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren |
Swedish | 2007 | Hobbiten eller bort och hem igen | Erik Andersson | Stockholm: Norstedts ISBN 978-91-1-301648-1 (green cover) or ISBN 978-91-1-301765-5 |
Thai | 2002 | เดอะฮอบบิท | สุดจิต ภิญโญยิ่ง (Sutjit Phin-yo-ying) | |
Turkish | 1996 | Hobbit | Esra Uzun | |
Turkish | 2007 | Hobbit | Gamze Sarı | ISBN 978-975-273-373-2, Publisher: İthaki Yayınları, Published: Istanbul, August 2007, Pages: 425 |
Ukrainian | 1985 | Гобiт, або Мандрiвка за Iмлистi гори | O. Mokrovolskyi | Kiev: Veselka |
Ukrainian | 2007 | Гобiт, або Туди i звiдти | Olena O'Lir | Lviv: Astrolabia, ISBN 978-966-8657-22-1 |
Vietnamese | 2003 | Vietnamese version already completed in 2002 but publishing cancelled. This version leaked onto the Internet in 2003. | ||
Vietnamese | 2009 | Hobbit ra đi và trở về | Đinh Thị Hương | Hanoi: Thong Tin, no ISBN, EAN-13 8935077068955, maps with placenames in Vietnamese |
Vietnamese | 2010 | anh chàng Hobbit | Nguyên Tâm | Hanoi: Nhã Nam, no ISBN, maps with placenames in Vietnamese |
Yiddish | 2012 | דער האָביט (Der Hobit) |
Barry Goldstein בעריש גאָלדשטײן |
ISBN 978-1-4811-7230-1 |
Yiddish | 2015 | Der Hobit, oder, Ahin un Vider Tsurik | Barry Goldstein | Portlaoise: Evertype, ISBN 978-1-78201-120-0 (hb), ISBN 978-1-78201-119-4 (pb). Contains both maps with place-names in Yiddish; the runes are translated into Yiddish. On the cup in the illustration "Conversations with Smaug" ('Shmuesen mit Smaug') the text in Tengwar and initials in runes are translated into Yiddish. |