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Let's compare what we have learned so far with some examples of
Quenya from Lord of the Rings and
Silmarillion.
I will be adding to this as we finish
up the grammar.
It will be convenient if you have your
dictionary
handy.
Remember that the translations are
“smooth” translations, given as part of the story, rather than
word-for-word translations from a grammar book.
In addition, Tolkien's languages
evolved over the course of his lifetime. Even in his printed works,
there are inconsistencies and variations.
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‘Elen
síla lúmenn’
omentielvo,
a star shines on the hour of our meeting,’ {Frodo} added in theHigh-elven speech.
Fellowship of
the Ring, “Three Is Company”
Ai! laurië
lantar lassi
súrinen
yéni
únótimë ve
rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve lintë
yuldar avánier
mi
oromardi lisse-miruvóreva
Andúnë
pella, Vardo
telluma
nu
luini yassen
tintilar i
eleni
ómaryo
airetári-lírinen.
Sí
man i yulma nin
enquantuva?
An
sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
ve fanyar
máryat
Elentári ortanë,
ar
ilyë tier
undulávë lumbulë;
ar sindanóriello
caita mornië
i
falmalinnar imbë
met,
ar hísië
untùpa Calaciryo
míri oialë.
Sí vanwa
ná, Rómello
vanwa, Valimar!
Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë
Valimar.
Nai elyë
hiruva. Namárië!
‘Ah! like gold fall the
leaves in the wind,
long years numberless as the
wings of trees!
The years have passed like
swift draughts of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West,
beneath the blue vaults of Varda wherein the stars tremble in the
song of her voice, holy and queenly.
Who now shall refill the cup
for me?
For now the Kindler, Varda,
the Queen of the Stars, from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands
like clouds,
and all paths are drowned
deep in shadow;
and out of a grey country
darkness lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels
of Calacirya for ever.
Now lost, lost to those from
the East is Valimar!
Farewell! Maybe thou shalt
find Valimar.
Maybe even thou shalt find
it. Farewell!’
Varda is the name of that
Lady whom the Elves in these lands of exile name Elbereth.
Galadriel's
Song, Fellowship of the Ring, “Farewell To Lórien”
This is poetry,
and the word order is a bit odd in places.
Then
Aragorn took the crown and held it up and said:
Et
Eärello Endorenna
utúlien.
Sinome maruvan
ar Hildinyar tenn’
Ambar-metta!
And
those were the words that Elendil spoke when he came up out of the
Sea on the wings of the wind: ‘Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth
I am come. In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending
of the world.’
Return
of the King, “The Steward and The King”
Then
Aragorn cried: ‘Yé! utúvienyes!
I have found it! Lo! here is a scion of the Eldest of Trees!
Return
of the King, “The Steward and The King”
Then
Treebeard said farewell to each of them in turn, and he bowed three
times slowly and with great reverence to Celeborn and Galadriel. ‘It
is long, long since we met by stock or by stone, A vanimar,
vanimálion
nostari!’
he said.
Return
of the King, “Many Partings”
Tolkien
explained, in one of his letters, that it means roughly, O beautiful
ones, parents of beautiful ones.”
Then
when Fingon heard afar the great trumpet of Turgon his brother, the
shadow passed and his heart was uplifted, and he shouted aloud:
‘Utúlie’n
aurë! Aiya
Eldalië ar
Atanatári,
utúlie’n aurë! The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar
and Fathers of Men, the day has come!’ And all those who heard his
great voice echo in the hills answered crying: ‘Auta
i lómë! The
night is passing!’
The
Silmarillion, “Of
the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Aroediad”
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Nouns
elen a
star
lassi plural
of lassë,
leaf
yéni plural
of yén, (an Elvish
unit of time, 144 years, sometimes translated “century”, or “long
year”)
rámar plural
of ráma,
wing
yuldar plural
of yulda, draught
oromardi Oro-
is
an element that appears in words relating to “high” or “rising,”
such as oron
(mountain). Mardi is
the plural “halls.” Tolkien never listed the singular form. It
could be
mardë.
It could also be this is
már (home,
house, dwelling), in which case már
has the stem mard-.
Andúnë the
West
telluma dome,
used both of an architectural dome or – as here – the protective
dome Varda constructed over Valimar. Varda's dome contained replicas
of all the stars. Telluma
is singular, but the words describing it – luini
(blue) and yassen
(in
which) – are plural, which I don't understand. Of course we won't
accuse Galadriel of making a mistake.
i
eleni the
stars. In “standard” Quenya, this should mean “the specific
stars previously mentioned,” but I'm not convinced that is what
Galadriel means.
tári
high
queen
lumbulë heavy
shadow (I think lumbulë is
the subject of the sentence, but the word order is distorted, so it
is hard to tell.)
mornië
darkness
i
falma(li)
some
waves (falma,
wave). The i
here is anomalous -- “the some waves.”
hísië mist
ambar inhabited
world. It is related to mar,
home.
metta end
vanimar beautiful
ones (from the adjective
vanima, beautiful). Since this
refers to Celeborn and Galadriel, the dual would have been very
appropriate: vanimat,
a beautiful pair.
nostari parents,
plural of nostar
or nostaro.
Here, too, the dual (nostaru or
nostarot, no one knows for sure)
would have been very appropriate.
aurë day,
daylight
Eldalië the
High-Elves, as a people
Atan Human
atári plural
of atar,
father, and usually spelled atari
(unstressed vowel)
i
lómë the
night
i
yulma the
cup
máryat her
pair of hands (má,
hand
+
rya,
her +
-t dual)
tier plural
of tië,
path
míri plural
of mírë,
jewel
Dative
(Indirect Object, “to”, “for”)
nin pronoun,
for me (ni,
I, me)
omentielvo
of
our meeting.
(omentiëlva,
our meeting)
aldaron of
trees (alda,
tree)
Vardo of
Varda Genitive is emphasizing that Varda
created the starry
heavenly dome.
ómaryo of
her voice
(ómarya, her voice)
Oiolossëo from
Mt. Oiolossë, which is where Varda lives
Calaciryo
of
Calacirya
vanimálion of
some beautiful ones (from adjective vanima,
beautiful)
Silmarillion of
the Silmarils, (stem
Silmarill-), from Quenta
Silmarillion, The Story of the
Silmarils
miruvóreva of
mead (miruvórë,
a
drink in Valimar)
yassen in
which (ya, pronoun
“which,” “what,” “that”)
Ablative
(“from”, “out of”)
sindanóriello out
of a grey country (sinda,
grey
+ nórië, country)
Rómello one
from the East -- “East” in this case being Middle-Earth,
contrasted with the Blessed Lands of the West. (Rómen,
East)
“Rómello”
is probably a poetic contraction.
“Rómenello” is
probably the correct complete form for “one from the East”, and
“Rómenillon”
for
“all those from the East.”
Eärello from
the Great Sea (Eär,
the Great Sea)
Allative
(“to”, “into”, “toward”)
lúmenn(a) upon
a time (lúmë,
time)
falmalinnar upon
some waves
(falmali,
some waves)
Endorenna to
Middle-Earth (Endor,
Endórë, Middle-Earth)
Instrumental
(“because of”, “caused by”, “using”)
súrinen because
of wind (súrë,
stem
súri-,
wind)
lírinen because
of song (lírë,
stem líri-,
song)
omentielv(a) (omentië,
meeting
+
lva, our,
inclusive)
ómary(a) her
voice
(óma,
voice
+ rya, her)
máryat her
pair of hands (má,
hand
+
rya, her
+ -t, dual)
Hildinyar my
heirs
(hildë
or
hildo,
follower,
heir
+ inya, my
+
-r,
plural)
Pronouns
(We haven't covered most of the Pronouns yet.)
met “the
two of us” (më,
us, exclusive + -t,
dual) In this case,
Galadriel is referring to “Varda and me.”
elyë
you,
one person, formal
laurië
plural
of laurëa,
golden of color
únótimë uncountable
(ú-, not + not-, to
count + -ima, adjective
“able to” + ë, plural)
lintë plural
of linta, swift
lissë sweet
(of taste)
luini plural
of luinë, blue
Luini must be referring to
telluma, with that poetic word
order again. I don't understand why luini is
plural when telluma is
singular.
airë
holy
ilyë all
vanwa
lost,
gone, no longer to be had
Adverbs
sí now
oialë
forever
sinomë here
Verbs
lantar plural,
lanta-, fall
tintilar plural,
tintila-, twinkle
caita
caita-,
lie down, be in a geographical
place
ná is
auta
auta-,
go away
síla is
shining (sil-, shine)
untùpa is
covering (un-, down +
tup-, cover)
enquantuva shall
refill (enquanta-,
refill, from en-, re-,
again + quanta-, fill)
hiruva shall
find (hir-,
find)
maruv(a) shall
dwell (mar-,
live in a place)
nai may
it be. The translation “maybe” is misleading. Galadriel is
saying, “I hope that you will be permitted to find Valimar (even if
I won't).”
ortanë
orta-,
raise
undulávë undu-,
down + lav-, lick
(The past tense, lávë, is
very similar to the aorist, lavë. The
issue is also confused because the translation uses present tense.
But look in the verb
chart. Lávë is
past tense.)
Perfect
(Has ~)
(We haven't covered Perfect Tense yet.)
avánier have
gone (auta-, go, a
highly irregular verb)
utúli(ë) have/has
come (tul-, come).
Analysts are unsure what the final 'n refers
to in Fingon's cry.
utúvi(ë) have
found (tuv-, find)
hiruvalyë
you
will find (-lyë,
you,
one person, formal)
utúlien I
have come (-n,
I)
maruvan I
shall dwell (-n,
I)
utúvienyes
I
have found it (-nyë,
I
+ -s, it).
The subject comes first, in long form, followed by the object, in
short form.
ve like,
in the manner of
ve
rámar like
wings
ve
yuldar like
draughts
ve
fanyar like
clouds
mi within
mi
oromardi within
high halls
pella beyond
Andúnë
pella beyond the West.
May 29, 2013: Apparently pella is always placed after the noun. (That makes it a "post-position", rather than a "pre-position.")
nu beneath
nu
yassen beneath
which
imbë between
imbë
met between
us
et out,
out of. Apparently it is, or can be, followed by a noun in Ablative
case.
et
Eärello out
from the Great Sea
tenn(a) until,
unto, as far as.
Tenna is related to the
Allative (“toward”) ending -enna.
tenn’
Ambar-metta until
the ending of the world
ar and
