The Translator Conceit

[davem]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

You cannot have it both ways, my dear fellow.

I think if you read my responses in context you'll see I'm not trying to. Of course, as we all know, the devil can quote scripture for his own purposes...

Finally, as pertains to renowned loremasters: it must be remembered that the myth with which we are concerned, contained individuals who were thousands of years old and had memories that stretched back for eons. Galadriel is the best example. Cirdan and Elrond also come to mind. Any loremasters who copied from originals were most likely Elves themselves, and had at least one of these persons with whom they could check their facts. So the Translator Conceit as it applies to "fallible scribes" must be considered with these realities of Middle Earth taken into account.

Which was always Tolkien's problem - specifically, but not solely, as regards the Flat earth/Round earth situation. Therefore he has to move more & more to the concept of the texts not being produced by the Elves at all, but by Men sundered from the Elves, in Numenor & Gondor. The Elves, naturally, knew the real story, but Men only had mangled traditions, etc..