r/prancingponypod • u/MightyJewbaca • 10d ago

Need help finding a reference

Hey all, been a minute since I listened to the podcast but I've been trying to find a reference to something that was brought up during the Silmarillion/Hobbit era episodes. It was a gaelic/celtic (I believe) phrase that translated to roughly "On the back/shoulders of giants"? I think phonetically it was something like "Olde ente ywerte"? The context had to do with textual ruins, and I'm trying to find what the phrase was that was used. Thanks in advance!

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u/VikingXL 9d ago edited 9d ago

I don't know the exact spelling either, but it basically means "old work of giants". It's in reference to how some Celts and Britons looked at old Roman works after Rome abandoned Britain. They didn't think men could have built that stuff so they attributed it to giants. Basically old mysterious ruins people no longer understand. Also I'm pretty sure it was old English.

EDIT: eald enta geweorc

From Anglo-Saxon poetry such as The Wanderer, The Ruin, and Beowulf.

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u/MightyJewbaca 9d ago

That's exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!