The Tolkien Translation Game!

[Jude]

So do "Carrie" and "it" refer to the same object?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It does not refer to a Silmaril.

As for Jude's question, I would say yes with the caveat that I still don't know what Carrie is doing in the quote.

Another hint: the speaker is the head of the group and the speakee is a subordinate, and the speaker has seen something that no one else in that group of people has seen.

Edited to add: Here is the translated quote so that it is on this page: Let Carrie go and I swear I will send it to you.

[elengil]

So potential guesses at a meaning -

Let me go do something and I'll send you word of the thing?

Let me go to a place and I'll bring you the thing in question?

Let someone else go and in return you'll get a thing?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Those are good guesses, though none of them are right on the mark. I would say it is closest to a combination of second and third, with the added caveat that there is an element in the first clause of the original quote that does not seem to have been translated at all. In other words, in addition to including the incomprehensible "Carrie" the first clause is simplified.

The speaker is responding to the speakee offering to go somewhere and do something to help someone else that both the speaker and the speakee care about.

[Frelga]

I really want someone to find a long-lost Tolkien letter where he reveals that he named a Silmaril Carrie.

[Jude]

The speaker is responding to the speakee offering to go somewhere and do something to help someone else that both the speaker and the speakee care about.

In that case, would the second half of the quote be more accurately translated as ".... and I will send you to him"?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No, the sending part is actually referred to in the part of the first half of the quote that doesn't seem to be translated (so far as I can tell). The second part of the quote is agreeing to do something.

Frelga,

[Jude]

Well, this doesn't resemble the translation in the slightest, but it does fit most of your hints about the situation and the speaker and the addressee:

I grieve, Cúthalion; for I took Húrin's son as my son, and so he shall remain, unless Húrin himself should return out of the shadows to claim his own. I would not have any say that Túrin was driven forth unjustly into the wild, and gladly would I welcome him back; for I loved him well.

Thingol to Beleg

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Right speaker. Right speakee. Wrong quote. Just a little bit later.

[Jude]

Here we go:

At this parting ask for any gift, and I will not deny it to you.

I know this is the right quote because I ran it through the translator and got the exact same quote. Carrie and all.

[Jude]

So here's where it gets interesting - here is the Japanese version:

キャリーを逃せば必ず送る

I posted it into Google Translate, and pressed the speaker button to hear it, and the first word definitely sounds like "Carrie". It got translated into English as "If you miss the carry, be sure to send it".

So I posted the original quote into Google Translate, to get it translated into Japanese. The Japanese quote was much, much longer in this version. The second word is "wakare", which did sound like "Carrie" when I pushed the speaker button.

So the conclusion is, "Carrie" came from a phonetic transcription of one of the Japanese words that resulted in the translation.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Wonderful! Sherlock Holmes has nothing on you!

Your turn.

[Jude]

New quote:

If you say it that way, it plays too earnest. 'Course it will-- it's the truth.

That's so different that I'm going to include the second-last version, which is closer to the original:

Hidden text.

Say it's not intact, but if you say it unchanged, maybe you'll tell the truth.

[Alatar]

Oooh I know this quote. Its tickling the back of my brain....

[Alatar]

Is it from Fellowship? About Bilbo's appearance maybe?

[Alatar]

No, its Aragorn to Boromir about Lothlórien

"Say not unscathed, but if you say unchanged, then maybe you will speak the truth"

(THis was the Bilbo reference, but its not actually a quote: "they began to call him well-preserved, but unchanged would have been nearer the mark")

[Jude]

You got it! Your turn!

[Alatar]

This should be easy enough given the lack of female siblings

I am suffering from this. Certainly I don't have a precious gift. But my sister asks you to receive this little one

[elengil]

Is the sister in question Arwen or Éowyn?

[Jude]

Is this related to Arwen's brothers bringing the standard to Aragorn?