Every Translation Of Voldemort's Name In Harry Potter Is Unique Due To Anagrams
He who must not be named created a challenge for translators bringing the world of "Harry Potter" to people across the globe. It's all because of that now iconic anagram. Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) power and unflinching evil make him the Wizarding World's most notorious villain.
While Voldemort is just a mere face in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," his backstory is shared in the sequel, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." The second adventure in the series follows Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) as they work to find the person– or creature – that has been paralyzing students and staff at Hogwarts. Harry discovers a journal left by former student Tom Marvolo Riddle (Christian Coulson) is linked to the attacks and the disappearance of Ron's younger sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright). Upon finding Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, it's revealed that Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram for "I am Lord Voldemort," revealing Voldemort's younger self as the culprit.
It was a twist that shocked those entering the Wizarding World for the first time, but landing that big twist meant that some translators had to get creative to share this significant moment with audiences worldwide.
Translating Harry Potter takes a lot of hard work and creativity
Many names throughout "Harry Potter" are unique to the Wizarding World. That includes Marvolo, which is the first name of Voldemort's grandfather. It makes up seven of the letters in the 16-letter anagram. So finding a way to translate such a unique name required a bit of tweaking among translators (via Bustle).
For the French translation, Tom Marvolo Riddle was changed to Tom Elvis Jedusor. The blog Adventures on the Bookshelf explains that Jedusor is a version of "jeu du sort," a phrase that can mean "twist of fate," which perfectly fits this significant moment. Meanwhile, the translation for Serbian readers nods to Voldemort's two entities by using Tom Mervolodomos Ridl, which means, "It is us, Lord Voldemort."
While translating this unique series may sound like a lot of fun, it's also a lot of hard work and pressure for those translating the books. Hebrew translator Gili Bar Hillel told Entertainment Weekly, "Translating puns and humor is creative work, and sometimes it's hard to be inspired when working under tons of pressure and a constant barrage of criticism. It took me weeks to come up with my translation of 'Pensive,' [which] in Hebrew is 'Haggit,' a portmanteau of 'hagig'– a fleeting idea– and 'gigit'– a washtub." According to BBC News, there are at least 80 translations of the "Harry Potter" books.