Túrie cormaron linwe

The Verse of the Rings in Quenya
2012 version

By Findegil / Björn Fromén

Cormar nelde Eldatárin nu Tarmenel,
Otso Herunaucoin hrótassen ondova,
Nerte Fírimoin martaine nurunen,
Er i More Herun mormahalmas hárala
Morinóreva mí arda, már i fuinion.
Er Corma ilyar turien ar tuvien te,
Er Corma tucien ar mórisse nutien te
Morinóreva mí arda, már i fuinion.

Most translations into Elvish of the Ring Poem that I have seen are in prose and as literal as possible. This version is versified and consequently somewhat freer, trying to capture at least in part the rhythm of the original. Internal assonance has been substituted for the English end rhymes.

Glossary

*túrie plural of túrea ‘mighty, masterful’

*cormar plural, *cormaron genitive plural of corma ‘ring’. This is the word for ‘ring’ attested in LR (as first element of the compounds Cormacolindor ‘Ring-bearers’ and Cormare ‘Ringday’). It obviously reflects the base KOR- ‘round’ (LRW, The Etymologies). I think it should be preferred to the etymologically isolated mill- in DTS 54, which seemingly carries the meaning ‘ring’ but is attested nowhere else.¹

¹ Speculatively, *mille could be a diminutive formed from the base MIR- (< *mir-le, cf nelle ‘brook’ from nen- ‘water’). In ”The Etymologies”, MIR- is glossed ‘jewel, precious[!] thing, treasure’.

linwe ‘poem’ (cf Eärendillinwë ”The Short Lay of Eärendel” TI, p.103)

nelde ‘three’

*Eldatárin dative plural of *Elda-tar ‘Elf-king’

nu ‘under’

Tar-menel ‘high heaven’

otso ‘seven’

heru ‘lord’

nauco ‘dwarf’

*herunaucoin dative plural ‘for [the] dwarf-lords’ (reversed order of the elements as in Herunúmen ‘Lord [of the] West’)

*hrótassen locative plural of hróta ‘artificial cave or rock-hewn hall’

*ondova adjectival case of ondo ‘stone’

nerte ‘nine’

fírimoin dative plural of fírimo ‘mortal, human being’ (VT 44, p.35)

*martaine passive participle of marta- ‘decree, destine’ (PE 17, p.104)

*nurunen instrumental case of nuru ‘death’

er ‘one, single, alone’ (”not used in counting in series”, VT 42, p.10. The One Ring is singled out by being just one, not one in a series of three, seven, or nine.)

more ‘black, dark’

*herun dative of heru

mormahalmas(se) ‘on [his] dark throne’ locative of *mor-mahalma. For the compound form mor-, cf Mormacil ‘Blacksword’ (MR, p.216)

*hárala ‘sitting’, participle containing the stem of the continuous form hárar ‘are sitting’ (UT 3 II, note 43)

*Morinóreva adjectival case of *Mori-nóre ‘Black-land’

í ‘in the’

arda ‘a particular land or region’

Morinóreva mí arda: this word order is poetic. A more normal arrangement would be mí arda Morinóreva ‘in the land of Mordor’

már ‘home, dwelling’

*fuinion genitive plural of fuine ‘deep shadow’

*ilyar ‘them all’ nominalized plural of ilya ‘all, each’

*turien, *tuvien, *tucien, *nutien gerundial forms in the dative ‘for ruling / finding / bringing / binding’, modelled on alcar enyalien ‘for recalling [the] glory’ (UT 3 II, note 43)

te ‘them’

ar ‘and’

*mórisse locative of móre ‘dark(ness), night’