# How did Bilbo learn elvish?



## Turin (Mar 29, 2003)

Bilbo knew some elvish right? How did He learn elvish?


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## Saucy (Mar 29, 2003)

someone taught it to him duh?


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## Elendil3119 (Mar 29, 2003)

He used to visit the elves a lot, so I assume they either taught it to him, or...taught it to him.


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## Turin (Mar 29, 2003)

Did he know it before the Hobbit took place?


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## Feanorian (Mar 29, 2003)

It seems that he had some knowledge of Elves before LOTR or The Hobbit but had probably not met them personally before his journey unlike Frodo. The Baggins family never did anything unexpected and you probably knew what they would say to a question so usually you didnt bother asking them. Frodo did however most likely taught by Bilbo who became friends with the Elves after the Hobbit.


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## BlackCaptain (Mar 29, 2003)

> _Originally posted by turin56 _
> *Did he know it before the Hobbit took place? *



Most probably not... He was just a plain old hobbit before the journey to theLonley Mountain took place. He probly learned it during the 60 years in between the Hobbit and Fellowship.


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## Celebthôl (Mar 30, 2003)

well all hobbits knew of Elves (everything on ME did), but not all cared for them, it was only due to freequent visits to Rivendell that he grew learned in the lore of the elve tongue...


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## FrankSinatra (Mar 30, 2003)

*Picked up*

He often visited elves, so one would presume he picked it up, as one would pick up Spanish, if one took a holiday in Spain annually, for instance.


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## Turin (Mar 31, 2003)

Thanx for all the info.


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## Turin (Apr 26, 2003)

If I delete this thread will it delete all the posts that i posted in it from my post count?


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## jallan (Apr 26, 2003)

Of course, Bilbo seems to understand very well what the Elves of Mirkwood say, and it seems unlikely that these were speaking in the Common Speech.

One might therefore _guess_ that Bilbo, purposely, picked up some Sindarin when he first stayed at Rivendell, which give him sufficient grounding to gradually pick up the Silvan tongue of Mirkwood by a sort of involuntary immersion course, where he could only listen, but not speak it.


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## Beorn (Apr 26, 2003)

> _Originally posted by turin56 _
> *If I delete this thread will it delete all the posts that i posted in it from my post count? *



Yeah, but as far as I know, you can't delete your own threads....


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## Turin (Apr 27, 2003)

Yeah I was thinking about deleting this thread but I didn't wan't to get so many posts takin of my post count.


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## Chymaera (May 10, 2003)

You might want to consider that Bilbo learned elvish from his mother, Belladonna Took. An adveturess in her youth friend of wizards and elves.


Professor Tolkien himself was taught Latin and Greek at a very early age by his own mother so my theory might not be to far of the mark.


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## Lantarion (May 10, 2003)

> _Originally posted by turin56_
> Yeah I was thinking about deleting this thread but I didn't wan't to get so many posts takin of my post count.


AT the time that you posted your desire to delete this thread, you had posted three posts. You know have a total of five posts on this thread. I find it difficult to comprehend that five singular posts would matter so much to you..
This is one downside of the visible post counts, IMO. People think about them too much and place far, far too much importance on them.


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## Turin (May 13, 2003)

I just wanted to know cause I was planing to delete a thread with about 20 of my posts on it.


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## Beleg (May 14, 2003)

> freequent visits


 Posted by Celebthol

Didn't he only visit Rivendell twice in his lifetime?


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## Eledhwen (Jun 5, 2003)

*From Unfinished Tales; The Quest of Erebor...*

Gandalf is telling Frodo, Peregrin, Meriadoc and Gimli about how the quest began:

*I went off at once to have a look at Bilbo, to see what twenty years had done to him, and whether he was as promising as gossip seemed to make out. But he was not at home. They shook their heads in Hobbiton when I asked after him. "Off again," said one hobbit. It was Holman, the gardener, I believe. "Off again. He'll go right off one of these days, if he isn't careful. Why I asked him where he was going, and when he would be back, and I don't know he says; and then he looks at me queerly. It depends if I meet any, Holman, he says. It's the Elves' New Year tomorrow! A pity, and him so kind a body. You wouldn't find a better from the Downs to the River"*

Clearly, Bilbo had been mixing with Elves for some long time before encountering Thranduil's kingdom on the Quest of Erebor. So if Chymaera is right, and Belladonna taught him, he had the grounding to become quite proficient in Elvish thereafter.


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