The Hobbit in Irish • An Hobad as Gaeilge

By J.R.R. Tolkien, translated by Nicholas Williams

PRESS RELEASE		PREAS-RÁITEAS
Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard, the dwarves, Smaug the dragon -- soon you will be able to read about them all in Irish -- and about all the other characters in Tolkien's children’s classic, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.		Biolbó Baigín, Gandalf draoi, na habhaic, Smóg an dragan -- ní fada go mbeifear in ann léamh fúthu uile as Gaeilge agus faoi na carachtair eile sa chlasaic do pháistí a scríobh J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.
An Irish-language version entitled An Hobad, nó Go Ceann Scríbe agus Ar Ais Arís is in preparation at the moment. The translator is Nicholas Williams, who has recently translated Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There, both of which received high praise from Irish-speakers.		Tá leagan Gaeilge faoin teideal An Hobad, nó Go Ceann Scríbe agus Ar Ais Arís á ullmhú i láthair na huaire. Is é Nicholas Williams an t-aistritheoir, an duine a chuir Gaeilge le gairid ar Eachtraí Eilíse i dTír na nIontas agus ar Lastall den Scáthán agus a bhFuair Eilís Ann Roimpi le Lewis Carroll, dhá aistriúchán a fuair ardmholadh ó phobal na Gaeilge.
An Hobad will be published by Evertype, Westport, County Mayo, and the publication is planned for Summer 2009. The translation will contain Tolkien's original illustrations.		Is é Evertype, Cathair na Mart, Contae Mhaigh Eo, an foilsitheoir agus táthar ag súil go mbeidh an leabhar amuigh i Samhradh 2009. Bainfear feidhm san eagrán Gaeilge as na maisiúcháin a rinne Tolkien féin.
The Hobbit begins with the famous first sentence "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." This is how Williams renders the whole paragraph:		Is leis an abairt cháiliúil "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" a thosaíonn an bunleagan Béarla. Seo an chéad alt ar fad in aistriúchán Williams:
"I bpoll sa talamh a bhí cónaí ar hobad. Níor pholl gránna, salach, fliuch é, lán le giotaí de phéisteanna agus le boladh láibe. Níor pholl tirim, lom, gainmheach a bhí ann ach an oiread, gan aon rud ann le n-ithe ná le suí síos air; poll hobaid ab ea é agus is ionann sin agus compord."		"I bpoll sa talamh a bhí cónaí ar hobad. Níor pholl gránna, salach, fliuch é, lán le giotaí de phéisteanna agus le boladh láibe. Níor pholl tirim, lom, gainmheach a bhí ann ach an oiread, gan aon rud ann le n-ithe ná le suí síos air; poll hobaid ab ea é agus is ionann sin agus compord."