And interestingly enough, the Italian version of GEB contains a pretty horrible, in my opinion, translation of the Jabberwocky, where the monster name is translated as "mascellodonte", which seems academic and dinosaur-like rather than fantastical as the English one.
ガヤ暴禽 （がやぼうきん、Gayabōkin）
見ぐれだ。にょばトーブが、
みずんがでごろぐーんと。
ボロゴーンが見ま目ま、
奪い狩るネズモン。
Gayabōkin
Migureda. Nyobatōbu ga,
mizunga de gorogūn-to.
Borogōn ga mimamema,
ubaigaru nezumon.
Title explanation:
- jabbering is ガヤガヤ, so I took half of that.
- bōkin is a play on mōkin (猛禽) which refers to a fierce bird of pray. I replaced mō (猛) which refers to severity, extremity, ferocity with bō (暴): violence, force, to create a new word.
Other notes:
見ぐれ (migure) is supposed to evoke twilight by association with みる (miru, seeing) and 夕暮れ (yugure): twilight. So that gives us the counterpart for "brillig".
にょば (nyoba) is a onomatopoeia similar to nyoronyoro: wrigg.
みずんが (mizunga) is a portmanteau of mizu + unga (water + canal). That gives us a made-up word that evokes some kind of wetland setting corresponding to "wabe".
ごろぐーんと(gorogūn-to) an invention that hopefully evokes gorogoro: heavily rolling. This is our "gyre and gimble".
ボロゴーン (borogōn) is inspired by borogove.
見ま目ま (mimamema) is our "mimsy". 目眩 (memai) means dizzy.
ネズモン (nezumon) is from nezumi: mouse. This gives us "mome rath".
奪い狩る (ubaigaru) is a made-up compound nouned verb: 奪う (ubau) is to snatch, steal. 狩る is "to hunt". E.g. 魔女狩り (majogari): witch hunt. This is our "outgrabe" candidate.
オイ！ガヤ暴に注意！
噛む歯、掴む爪。
ジャブジャブ鳥も避けて。
狡骨の受血鬼も。
--
O-i! Gayabō ni chūi!
Kamu ha, tsukamu tsume.
Jabu-jabu tori mo sakete.
Kōkotsu no Ju-ketsu-ki mo.
--
Hey, watch out for the Gayabō!
Teeth that bite, claws that catch.
Also avoid the Jabu-Jabu Bird.
And the slybone Bloodtaker.
--
Made up words: 狡骨 (kōkotsu) is a pun on 狡猾 (kōkatsu: sly, cunning crafty) by sound and kanji similarity. 骨 means bone. For some reason I decided to equate "frumious" with "cunning". Juketsuki also a made-up word inspired by 吸血鬼 (kyūketsuki), vampire.
--
呪鋭剣を持って
敵を物色して
タムタム木の樹影で
暫く思考してた。
--
Juei tsurugi-o motte,
kataki wo busshoku shite,
Tamtam ki no juei de,
shibaraku shikō shiteta.
--
Holding to "cursharp" sword,
searching high and low for the foe,
in the shadow of the Tamtam tree,
thought for a while.
--
Did not work in "manxome" unfortunately.
However, there is a nice pun between the made up word "juei" 呪鋭 and a real word "juei" 樹影.
呪 (ju) refers to being cursed, and 鋭 (ei) to sharpness. The vorpal sword is magically enchanted so that it is always sharper than sharp. (That seems to be the interpretation of "vorpal" in the world of D&D, which can be taken as authoritative, haha).
This juei: 樹影 is the shadow of a tree. Not exactly shade, so there is a liberty being taken here. Shade is more like 日陰 (hikage) "tamtam-no hikage de" works and scans, but that pun thing is lost.
燃える目のガヤ暴禽は、
フョーと茂ぐ森を通し、
ゲルと鳴きながら来た。
--
Kare no uff to muchū toko,
Moeru me no Gayabōkin ha,
Fyō-to shigu mori-o tooshi,
"Geru"-to naki nagara kita.
--
In his "uff" daydream moment,
Burning-eyed Gayabōkin,
Went like "fyou" through the thicksy woods,
Coming as it cried "geru".
--
一二、一二、せーの、突き突き、
呪鋭の刃シクシクとした。
遣っ付け、生首を取って、
パッカ足（ぱっかし）で帰って行った。
--
Ich'ni, Ich'ni, sē-no, tsuki-tsuki,
juei no ha jiku-shaku to shita.
Yattsuke, namakubi-o totte,
pakkashi de kaetteitta.
--
One-two, one-two, heave-ho, thrusting-thrusting,
cursed-sharp blade went "shiku shaku".
Defeating, taking the freshly severed head,
He "gallumped" back home.
--
ガヤ暴禽を殺したかい?
にこやっこ、この腕に来い!
輝ましい日だ、やっら、やっれ～、
鳴らし笑って喜んだ。
--
Gayabōkin o koroshita kai?
Nikoyakko, kono ude ni koi!
Kagamashii nichi da, yarra yarē,
Narashi-waratte yorokonda.
--
Did you kill the Gayabōkin?
Beamish-kid come to these arms!
It's a glitterous day, "yarra yareh",
Snort-laughing he rejoiced.
--
見ぐれだ。にょばトーブラが、
みずんがでごろぐーんとして、
ボロゴーンが見ま目まなって,
ネズモが奪い狩ってた。
--
Migureda. Nyobatōbura ga,
mizunga de gorogūn-to shite,
Borogōn ga mimamema natte,
nezumo ga ubaigatteta.
The vampire pun is great.
It reminded me a lot of the time I watched Beavis and Butt-Head on MTV in amazement in an Izakaya in Kanazawa. It boggled my mind that someone could translate the clever vulgarities and the double entendres (often enough) into Japanese. Truly a labor of love.
Disclaimer: I have no professional experience as a translator, just a software developer who writes READMEs and technical documents in German (native) and English and has also translated stuff in the past.
http://www.kylheku.com/~kaz/gayabōkin.html
Enjoy!
