Name: 託爾金的祕密怪癖 | 逃向意義 (Tolkien's Secret Vice | Escape Into Meaning)
Uploaded: 2026-01-22T17:11:49.000Z
Duration: 2 min 59 s

A young JRR Tolkien experimented with invented languages.

年輕的 JRR Tolkien 則嘗試了發明語言。

The earliest was animalic, a language fabricated by his cousins out of animal names.

最早的是 animalic，這是他表親們用動物名稱編造出來的語言。

He was never fluent in it, but recalled to a prestigious literary society at Oxford.

他從來沒有精通這門語言，但卻在牛津一個聲名顯赫的文學社團裡回憶起這件事。

That dog nightingale woodpecker, 40 meant you are an ass.

那隻狗夜鶯啄木鳥，40 意思就是你這頭驢子。

Next came Nev Bosh, also created by a cousin, but more complex then Napherin, which was his own.

接著是 Nev Bosh，也是由表親創造的，但比 Napherin 複雜，而 Napherin 則是他的自創語言。

Constructing new languages was Tolkien's secret vice.

創造新語言是 Tolkien 的祕密嗜好。

And even after he made the study of real languages his career as a philologist and professor of Anglo Saxon.

即使在他以 philologist 和 Anglo Saxon 教授的身份，將研究真實語言作為他的職業之後。

And at Oxford, he continued to do it, enchanted by the beauty of words.

在牛津，他持續著這件事，著迷於文字的美。

As his own languages grew more sophisticated, he realized that for the perfect construction of an art language, it is found necessary to construct, at least in outline, a mythology to go with it.

隨著他自己創造的語言越來越精緻，他發現要完美建構一門 art language，就必須至少大致建構一個神話來搭配它。

Your language construction will breed a mythology.

你大概知道這會往哪裡發展了吧。

If Tolkien's Middle Earth feels many times more solid than most fantasy worlds, this is why at its core is language the seed from which its mythology grows.

如果說 Tolkien 的 Middle Earth 感覺比大多數的奇幻世界紮實好幾倍，這就是原因，因為它的核心是語言，是神話從中滋長的種子。

Tolkien searched his languages for the stories they contained.

Tolkien 在他的語言裡尋找它們蘊含的故事。

He would have written the Lord of the Rings in Elvish if given the choice.

如果可以選，他會用 Elvish 寫 Lord of the Rings。

Many millions of fans are glad he didn't.

但幸好他沒有，讓數百萬粉絲感到開心。

Even in English, the history and environment of Middle Earth feel discovered rather than invented.

即使是用英文，Middle Earth 的歷史和環境也感覺像是被發掘出來，而不是被發明出來的。

It's so real you half expect an archeologist to stumble across a Gondorian helmet in the English countryside.

它真實到你可能會期待有考古學家在英國鄉間意外發現一頂 Gondorian 頭盔。

For the keen escapist, Middle Earth is the premier destination.

對於熱衷於逃離現實的人來說，Middle Earth 是首選目的地。

It never breaks the illusion every river and ruin, every poem and sword.

它從未打破過，不論是河流、廢墟、詩歌或劍的幻象。

Every place the Fellowship visits on its journey through the story can be traced back ages to the earliest days of the world, and

遠徵隊在故事旅程中造訪的每一個地方，都可以追溯到這個世界最早的時代，

even before that to the moment of divine creation by ERU Iluvatar, the supreme being of this universe.

甚至在那之前，追溯到 ERU Iluvatar 這個宇宙至高無上的存在所創造的時刻。

It's all infused with a feeling of deep history and the effect of that on the reader.

這一切都充滿了深厚的歷史感，以及那份歷史對讀者的影響。

At least the effect on this reader is overwhelmingly immersive.

至少對我這個讀者來說，它的沉浸感是壓倒性的。