Wondering what the heck that message is that is at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring? Well Ataahua wrote in to reveal that it’s not an elvish or sindarin tongue, but in fact a real language: Maori.
At the end of the credits of The Fellowship of the Ring, there’s a line in te reo Maori (the Maori language) that reads: “He mihi nui hoki ki nga tangata whenua o Aotearoa. Ma rangi raua ko papa tatou e manaaki, e tiaki hei nga tau e tu mai nei.”
I thought you might like to know the translation (this isn’t word-for-word; it’s the gist of what was written, translated by a friend who was brought up speaking Maori as his first language): “We would like
to acknowledge the people of New Zealand. May God from above care for you in the New Year.”