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The Hobbit in Emoji Language

Rendition of the first paragraph of The Hobbit (1937) in the Emoji Language, on the occasion of J. R. R. Tolkien's 130th birthday.

Full Text

โœŒ โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค โœŒ
๐Ÿ”˜
โœŒ โ†–๏ธโœณ๏ธ โž• ๐Ÿชƒ โœŒ

1๏ธโƒฃ๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ“•๐Ÿฐ
โœŒ ๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐Ÿฅณ โœŒ

๐Ÿกโฌ…๏ธ โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค ๐Ÿ“ฅ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ โžฐ โœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿ“ฅโ›ณ โžฐ

โŒโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘ฟโž•๐Ÿ’ฉโž•๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ โžฐ ๐Ÿ”ฎ๐Ÿ“ฌโœณ๏ธ โž•๐Ÿชฑโน๏ธโน๏ธโž•โ›ณ๐Ÿฝ โžฐ

โŒโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿœ๏ธโž•โŒ๐ŸŽ›๏ธโž•๐Ÿ–๏ธ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ โžฐ โŒ๐Ÿ›„โฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿช‘๐Ÿ”˜๐Ÿ˜‹๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿ“ฅ๐Ÿคณ๐Ÿ‘‰ โžฐ

โœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘‰ โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ

โž• ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ ๐ŸคŒ ๐Ÿ”ณ ๐Ÿฅฐโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ ๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐Ÿ”ณ โ†ช๏ธ๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿ‘†

Interlinear Translation

โœŒ
"
โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค
ground-person
โœŒ
"
"The Hobbit"
๐Ÿ”˜
or
or
โœŒ
"
โ†–๏ธโœณ๏ธ
far.away-being
โž•
and
๐Ÿชƒ
returning
โœŒ
"
"Being far away and returning"
1๏ธโƒฃ๐Ÿ…๐Ÿ“•๐Ÿฐ
1-ORD-book-part
First Chapter
โœŒ
"
๐Ÿ˜ฒ๐Ÿฅณ
surprising-party
โœŒ
"
A surprising party.
๐Ÿกโฌ…๏ธ
dwell-PST
โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค
ground-person[NOM]
๐Ÿ“ฅ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ
inside-hole
โžฐ
REL
โœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ
be-PST
๐Ÿ“ฅโ›ณ
inside-ground
โžฐ
REL
A hobbit lived in a hole that was in the ground.
โŒโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ
NEG-be-PST
๐Ÿ‘ฟโž•๐Ÿ’ฉโž•๐Ÿ’ฆ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ
evil-and-dirty-and-wet-hole
โžฐ
REL
๐Ÿ”ฎ๐Ÿ“ฌโœณ๏ธ
SUBJ-filled-be
โž•๐Ÿชฑโน๏ธโน๏ธโž•โ›ณ๐Ÿฝ
INS-worm-end-PL-and-ground-smell
โžฐ
REL
[It] was not an evil, and dirty, and wet hole that would be filled with ends of worms and earthy smell.
โŒโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ
NEG-be-PST
๐Ÿœ๏ธโž•โŒ๐ŸŽ›๏ธโž•๐Ÿ–๏ธ๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ
dry-and-simple-and-sandy-hole
โžฐ
REL
โŒ๐Ÿ›„โฌ…๏ธ
NEG-have-PST
๐Ÿช‘๐Ÿ”˜๐Ÿ˜‹๐Ÿ“
sitting-or-eating-place[ACC]
๐Ÿ“ฅ๐Ÿคณ๐Ÿ‘‰
inside-REFL-3SG
โžฐ
REL
[It] was not a dry, and simple, and sandy hole that didn't have a place to sit or eat in it.
โœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ
be-PST
๐Ÿ‘‰
3SG
โ›ณ๐Ÿ‘ค๐Ÿ•ณ๏ธ
ground-person-hole
It was a hobbit-hole.
โž•
and
๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ
tell
๐Ÿ‘ˆ
DIST[NOM]
๐Ÿ”ณ
SUB
๐Ÿฅฐโœณ๏ธโฌ…๏ธ
comfortable-be-PST
๐Ÿ‘‰
3SG
๐Ÿ”ณ
SUB
โ†ช๏ธ๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿ‘†
to-1PL
And that tells us that it was comfortable.

Glossing Abbreviations

1 first person pronoun
3 third person pronoun
ACC accusative case
DIST distal demonstrative
INS instrumental prefix
NEG negation prefix
NOM nominative case
ORD ordinal suffix
PL plural number
PST past tense
REFL reflexive prefix
REL relative pronoun
SG singular number
SUB subordinate (content) clause
SUBJ subjunctive mood prefix

Copyright © 2022 by Thomas Heller [ˈtoːmas ˈhɛlɐ]