Robin Hood in popular culture Robin Hood novel, standing at almost half-a-million words, is Pierce Egan the Younger's "Robin Hood and Little John; or, The Merrie Men of Sherwood Forest" (serialised 1838-1840). As in "Ivanhoe", Robin is a Saxon, although he is not actually outlawed in the novel until nearly the end of the first book. The novel traces Robin's life from birth to death. Egan's text was translated into two French books, "Le prince des voleurs (The Prince of Thieves)," and "Robin Hood le proscrit (Robin Hood the Outlaw)", by Alexandre Dumas, between 1863–64. Dumas' works were then retranslated back into English by Alfred
Robin Hood therefore unsurprising that medieval records mention a number of people called 'Robert Hood' or 'Robin Hood', some of whom are known to have fallen foul of the law. Another view on the origin on the name is expressed in the 1911 "Encyclopædia Britannica" which remarks that 'hood' was a common dialectical form of 'wood'; and that the outlaw's name has been given as 'Robin Wood'. There are a number of references to Robin Hood as Robin Wood, or Whood, or Whod, from the 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest recorded example, in connection with May games in Somerset, dates from