Gimli Knows Elvish?

[Firekitten2006]

Just an interesting question :) or at least I think so. At Helm's Deep Aragorn said "Ladders!" but in Elvish. And Gimli said "good!" Now i know in the Appendixes it said that Dwarves knew some Elvish but in the EE of FOTR he doesnt know what Haldir, Aragorn, and Legolas are saying. So what happened? Overlooked mistake by PJ? or Gimli only knew the Elvish word for ladders? lol

[Evenstar1400]

v. good question. have no idea.

[WallRocker]

I never thought of that before(even after seeing the movie five times:eek: ) Maaybe Gimli saw the ladders, or he just happened to know that word in Elvish.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Interesting, I wonder how this will be justified... ;)

[Shadowfax]

Maybe he was just being super agreeable.:confused:

[Firekitten2006]

but he wouldnt have known what Aragorn was saying! lol thats the whole problem...its like inconsistent, if PJ is saying that Gimli knows Elvish (or at least the word for Ladders) when in the EE he didnt know any, and got pretty pissed at Haldir, Aragorn, and Legolas for leaving him out.

[Legolas_Frodo_Aragorn]

wow...good point

[Diamond]

He most likely does not know what Aragorn is saying. But the guy is raring for a fight. :D

Most of the time, you can know words or phrases in a foreign language (take my Spanish class for example), but when it comes time to string them together into conversations, then it gets a little bit more difficult. For instance I can say "Hola, como estás?" and answer the question appropriately as well as other appropriate questions and answers, but if you dropped me in the middle of Mexico or Spain, I would doubtlessly be hopelessly lost. ;)

Di

[Ellison]

Heh! I'm thinkin he's gotta like ladders or something?

[Huan]

Firekitten, that is such a good observation. I never caught that! You get caught up in it, and Gimli's growling, "Good! Bring them on!" and you just go with it. But how DID he know what Aragorn's alarm-call was? The suggestion that he saw the ladders is likely, except that as they never tire of reminding you throughout the film, Gimli is, like, really short. He couldn't see over the wall. But I suppose he saw one of the quickest-rising ladders as Aragorn was shouting the alarm. Sure, that's it.

[Naugrim]

I think Gimli did understand Elvish. I mean, the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost used Sindarin in their dealings with Doriath, and I suppose the Dwarves of Khazad-dum did the same with the Noldor of Eregion.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I believe the Noldor of Eregion were long gone by now. Also, Gimli was from Erebor, not Khazad-dum, if I am correct.

[Beleg Strongbow]

yep.
But: Gimli, I think, did know some elvish. First of all, there are about a jillion times in the books where someone yells "Yrch!" and someone else -- often Gimli -- yells "Orcs!" after that. I think it's Tolkien's running joke. ;)
And in the EE of FotR, Gimli insults the Elves in Elvish when they meet. Aragorn goes "That was not so courteous." Can anyone tell me what he said?

[Narsil's Master]

I think he was just sarcastically assessing the situation.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I'm pretty sure that was actually supposed to be Khuzdul.

According to the Appendices, the word Yrch appears twice in LotR; the first time, an Elf says Yrch, and Frodo says Orcs. The second time, they can see black figures, and Legolas says Yrch, and Gimli says Orcs; but I think that was more both of them exclaiming that there were Orcs, rather than Gimli translating Legolas' exclamation.

[Firekitten2006]

Well I know in the books he knew a little bit of Elvish. But just going on what is in the movies, you get the idea that he doesnt know a single word of Elvish! lol

Thank You Huan *bows* but I only saw the movie once :) I realized that in the script that I found, and remembered that threw me off when I was watching the movie :)

[Legolas_Frodo_Aragorn]

defiently true about the spanish thing...:D

[Diamond]

And in the EE of FotR, Gimli insults the Elves in Elvish when they meet. Aragorn goes "That was not so courteous." Can anyone tell me what he said?

Here (http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_elvish.htm) it says it is supposed to be Khuzdul, and apparently someone says it means "plague upon your necks", which works for me.

Di

[Legolas_Frodo_Aragorn]

wait....when in the movie?????

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Khuzdul is an extremely limited language; they probably just said that because Gimli said, "A plague on the stiff necks of Elves!" in the book.

[Gorhiriel]

Hmm! Good point! I didn't think of that! I think he might have seen them coming,

[Dúnedain]

Well I think Dwarves do know a bit of Elvish, as the Elves and Dwarves had many dealings with trade and building things for one another when their main cities thrived. I would think that common everyday words would be known to a dwarf in elvish....

[Lollypopgurl]

Good observation! Like someone said, maybe he saw a ladder coming up. Or maybe, Legolas had been giving him Sindarin lessons. ;)

[mallondwen]

i noticed this and it made me mad until my mother and i came to this conclusion... my theory is that Gimli would have known a little bit of Sindarin, not much but some. and he would have learned more in his stay in Rivendell and Lorien, they used lots of ladders on the border of Lothlorien and he would have heard "pendraith" (ladders) many a time. and during the one month stay in Lorien he could also have asked Legolas about it.

[Nurvingiel]

I have two theories on this.

Either Gimli understands battles very well, so when Aragorn said a random elvish word, to him, and he sees the ladders, he knows what's going on.

Or, since Elves and Dwarves fought with each other, it's possible that Gimli knows some battle related words such as Orcs or ladders, etc.

I think it's actually a combination of the two theories - Gimli understands how seiges and battles work, plus he knows a few battle-related elvish words.


Edit: When I say Elves and Dwarves fought with each other, I mean on the same side. This applies to Gimli's people anyway.

[azalea]

Here's the thread, SamwiseGamgeeOTS.:)
I couldn't get the link to work for some reason.

[SamwiseGamgeeOTS]

"thag you very bunch" This puzzled me too. I personally just think that PJ doesn't know what he was doin....but, maybe like Azalea was saying in one of our PMs...they might have been standing in front of one of those places in the wall where there was a gap....:rolleyes:

[TinuvielChild]

Originally posted by SamwiseGamgeeOTS
"thag you very bunch" This puzzled me too. I personally just think that PJ doesn't know what he was doin....but, maybe like Azalea was saying in one of our PMs...they might have been standing in front of one of those places in the wall where there was a gap....:rolleyes:

Except for that whole bit at the beginning of the battle where Gimli's trying to see what's going on, and Legolas says "Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box?" (BoP's box! :D)

I think the most likely thing here is that Gimli already has a limited knowledge of Elvish, enough to get by - something equivalent to a first or second year language student, where he knows some phrases, and a bit of vocabulary and grammar, but wouldn't be able to live in a country where it's the main language.

[Luthien the Fair]

I don't think Gimli knows Elvish. I think if someone was yelling 'ladders!' in portuguese, and huge ladders were going up, I'd get the picture.



In Christ,

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[Bombadillo]

Yet another Peter Jackson screw-up. He should read the books.

[SamwiseGamgeeOTS]

that would have been smart....:D