Mellonath Daeron - The Language Guild of the Forodrim

Endóre linde

A Song to Middle-earth

Literal translation with some linguistic notes

(For an explanation of the references and their abbreviations, see The Arda format for structural references)

Endóre, írima már aldarwa mi palla Arda, táriello Vardo ilmamíri ninquitar tyenna
'Middle-earth, fair tree-grown abode in wide Arda, from on high Elbereth's starry jewels shine white on thee'

*tárie-llo ablative 'from height', cf. the allative tárienna 'to [the] height'
*ilma-míri plural 'starlight-jewels'
*ninquitar present tense plural of ninquita- 'shine white'
*tye-nna allative 'to/upon thee', cf. the accusative tye (tye-méla 'love thee', LRW)

ar cuivar Eldómar laitalen lírinen.
'and arouse Elven voices to praising in song'

*cuivar present tense plural of *cuiva- 'awaken', derivative verb from
*cuiva 'awake' (back-formation from cuivie 'awakening', cf koiva: koivie in BLT I and Qîva : qîvie in GL s.v. cwivra-)
*Eld(a)-óma-r plural 'Elf-voices'
*laitale-n 'for praise', dative of laitale

En i orofarno hlare hrótallo nallama:
'There the mountaineer hears an echo from [the] hall underground:'

*orofarno 'mountain-dweller', masculine counterpart of orofarne 'mountain-dwelling' (L 168)
*hlare present tense of hlar- 'hear'
*hróta-llo ablative of hróta 'dwelling underground, artificial cave or rockhewn hall' (PM)

i Norno ture nambaryar,
'[where] the Dwarf wields his hammers,'

*ture present tense of tur- (turin 'I wield')
*namba-rya-r plural with possessive suffix 'his hammers'

yo carme calima, i harmacantale, yá Martano antane.
'[he] whose shining artistry, the treasure-making, once [the] World-smith (=Aule) gave [him].'

*yo genitive of the relative pronoun ya- 'which'
*harma-cantale 'treasure-shaping' (canta- 'to shape')
yá 'formerly, *of old'
*antane past tense of anta- 'give'

En i rilya nelle nanda, en i ehtele súya, en i rávea celle lire luhtala lindele;
'There the glittering brook harps, there the spring breathes, there the roaring river sings [their] enchanting music;'

rilya 'glittering, brilliance', here used as an adjective
*cel-le 'flow-ing; river', from KEL(U)- run; flow out swiftly'; modelled on quelle 'fading; autumn' from KWEL- 'fade, wither'
*lire present tense of lir- (lirin 'I chant')
*luhtala present participle of luhta 'enchant'

Tár Earo yale Salmaro hyalmainen.
'[the] King of [the] Sea calls with Salmar's conches'

*yale present tense of yal- 'summon'
*hyalma-inen instrumental plural of hyalma 'shell, conch, horn of Ulmo'.

Nán nenion hloni pityave hanya i Fírima,
'But [the] waters' speech is little understood by the Mortal,'

*nenion genitive plural of nén 'water'
hloni plural '(linguistic) sounds, elements of speech' (WJ)
*pityave adverb from pitya- 'little, petty'
hanya *present tense 'understands'

i ranya mirima latinassen rocconen,
'who roams free in [the] fields on horseback,'

*latinassen locative plural of latina 'open, cleared (of land)', here nominalized *'field'
*rocco-nen instrumental singular 'by means of horse'

aica raucondacil, Oromeo apahil.
'a fierce slayer of terrible creatures, Orome's follower'

*rauco-ndacil 'horror-bane'
*apa-hil 'after-follower'

Mi alte tauri telcontar i Mavari aldaron;
'In vast forests stride the shepherds of trees;'

*alte plural of alta 'large, great in size'
*telcontar present tense plural of *telconta- 'stride', isolated from Telcontar 'Strider'
*mavari plural of mavar 'shepherd' (BLT I)

Cementári [te] tultane varnassen olvaron, peun taurelómion, tirmen ornómion.
'[The] Queen of the Earth (= Yavanna) summoned them to protect growing things, to speak for forest-glooms, to look after [the] Talking Trees'

*tultane past tense of tulta- 'send for, fetch, summon'
*varnassen 'for protection', dative of varnasse 'security'
*olvaron genitive of olvar 'growing things with roots in earth'
*peun 'to [be] mouthpiece[s]', dative of peu 'mouth-opening' (VT 39, p 9)
*taure-lómion genitive plural 'of forest-glooms'. Cf Aldalóme and Tauremornalóme, names used by Treebeard for Fangorn Forest (or parts of it).
*tirmen 'for guarding', dative of *tirme 'watch', from tir- 'watch (over), guard, heed'
*ornómion genitive plural of orn-ómi 'trees with voices, Huorns' (WR)

Námo or Arda Hastaina: ea voro ahyala!
'Divine Judgement on Arda Marred: subsist ever changing!'

Námo 'Judgement of what is' (MR, p.150), more properly 'Judge, the Vala Mandos'
or 'over'
ea! imperative 'let be! *exist!'
*ahyala present participle of ahya- 'change' (PM)

Ilya hostaina hlapuva, tarmindon taltuva.
'All gathered [things] shall fly in the wind, [the] high stronghold shall fall.'

*hostaina past participle of hosta- 'to collect'
*hlapuva future tense of hlapu- 'fly or stream in the wind'
*tar-mindon 'high great tower'
*taltuva future tense of talta- 'collapse'

Réne men termare nyarnanen [ar] lairenen.
'[The] memory lasts for us in legend and lay.'

*réne < Common Eldarin re|ne| 'remembrance' (PM)
*men dative of me 'us'
*termare present tense of ter-mar- 'stand, *endure'
*nyarnanen, *lairenen instrumental case of nyarna 'tale, legend' and laire 'poem'.

Free translation (in Swedish)

Midgård, fagra träduppfyllda land i vida Arda,
högt över dig glimmar Elbereths stjärneglöd
och väcker med vit glans alviska röster till lovsång.

Där hör bergsbon återskall ur underjordisk sal:
sin hammare svingar dvärgen, vars lysande konst -
skapandet av kostbara klenoder -
var Aules gåva i tidernas gryning.

Där spelar den glittrande bäcken, där sorlar den flödande källan,
där sjunger den brusande älven toner med trolldomsmakt;
bjudande blåser havets konung i Salmars horn.

Gåtor blott är dock vattnens budskap för den dödlige
som på fria strövtåg rider över fälten,
i Oromes efterföljd skräckgestalters skarpa bane.

I vida skogar vandrar trädens herdar;
dem kallade Yavanna till värn för vad rotfast växer,
till språkrör för skogars dunkel, till vakt över talande träd.

Ödesdom över sargat Arda: bestå, men i ständig växling!
Skingras för vind skall allt som samlats, högborg skall bli ruin.
I saga, i sång lever minnet för oss.

A note for the singer

The third line in each verse is sung twice. The melody is Belle, Qui Tiens Ma Vie, a pavane published 1596 by Thoinot Arbeau.

• Score and original lyrics on Acrobat format
• MIDI file

To fit the tune, adjacent vowels that would normally be pronounced separately will frequently have to be contracted or run together in a single syllable. When this is the case, i and u should be pronounced more or less like the corresponding semi-vowels y and w. Examples:

mi Arda   [myAr-da]
táriello   [tá-ryel-lo]
hlare i orofarno   [hla-re-yo-ro-far-no]
Mavari aldaron   [Ma-va-ryal-da-ron]

Similarly, an unstressed e or o sometimes combines with a following a into a diphthong. Examples:

Martano antane   [Mar-ta-nwan-ta-ne]
rávea celle   [rá-vya-cel-le]

A final a can be elided before a vowel at the beginning of the next word (in writing, it is then replaced with an apostrophe). Examples:

írima aldarwa > írim'aldarwa
tyenna ilmamíri > tyenn'ilmamíri.

There is an instructive pronunciation guide for Quenya on TolkLang.

This song was first performed on 23 May 1998 at the Forodrim May Banquet.

 

This document has been online since April 21 1998. Last updated April 8 2000 by Elros, Måns Björkman.