The Oath of Cirion and Eorl in Sindarin
Translated by Didier
Willis and Helge Fauskanger,
Edited and annotated by Didier
Willis, March 2000.
The oath of Cirion and Eorl (Unfinished Tales pp. 305 and 317) is a short text written by J.R.R. Tolkien in Quenya, the language of the High Elves.
I have tried to translate this piece of text into Sindarin, the language spoken by the Grey Elves. I am much grateful here to Helge Fauskanger, who played an important part in this attempt (the last sentence actually follows his suggestions). I remain the only responsible for the errors that may possibly remain in this version.
Arphent Cirion: i 'west hen bronatha an rîn aglar Dôr-en-Êl a bronwe Elendil Sadron. Hebithar ha aen, i cherir erin erchaim ned Annûn ar i Vin i northa or erchaim phain an uir.
"And Cirion said: this oath will last for the remembrance of the glory of the land of the star and of the faith of Elendil the faithful.They shall keep it, those who sit on the thrones in the West, and the One who dwells above all thrones forever."
Glossary
arphent
v. pref. "and (he) said" is attested in the so-called
unpublished "Túrin's wrapper", and is conceivably composed of pent,
past tense of ped- "to say" (LotR/II:IV), prefixed with the conjunction a,
ar "and" (SD/129-31). The latter apparently triggers a liquid mutation.
i
plur. in 1. art. "the" (definite article) - 2.
rel. pron. "who".
gwest
n. "oath" (Ety/397), lenited to 'west after the
definite article.
hen
dem. adj. "this" is the hypothetical singular of
hin "these",
attested on the Door of Durin (i thiw hin "these signs", LotR/II:IV).
Actually, this word is conceivably *sen plur. *sin, lenited
in adjectival position (lenitions are grammatical in Sindarin, see Letters
of J.R.R. Tolkien p. 426, footnote).
brona-
v. "to last, to survive" (Ety/353), in the future tense
bronatha "will
last".
rîn
n. "remembrance" (PM/372).
an
prep. "to, towards, for" (LotR/II:IV, UT/39, SD/129-31).
Since the following word begins with a -r, Helge Fauskanger suggested
that this preposition should perhaps be mutated to *adh, on the
example of Caradhras (< caran-ras), if we assume that such a
mutation does not occur in compounds only.
aglar
n. "glory, brilliance" (Ety/348, S/427, LotR/II:I, LotR/VI:IV).
The word is directly followed by its attributive complement: in Sindarin,
genitival constructs are formed by merely juxtaposing the words, as in
Ennyn
Durin "the Door (of) Durin".
dôr
n. "land, dwelling-place, region" (Ety/376, S/430, WJ/413).
en
art. "of the", genitival article (LotR/VI:IV, Letters/308).
êl
n. "star" (WJ/363, MR/373).
bronwe
n. "lasting quality, endurance, faith" (Ety/353). This
word is actually given as a proper name, but is the equivalent of Q. voronwe.
sadron
n. "faithful one" is the hypothetical singular of
sedryn "faithful
ones" (UT/431). The singular stemis restaured from Sador (untranslated
name, Túrin's faithful servant), following the examples of hador and
hadron (Ety/363,
WJ/234). The primitive root would conceivably be *SAT.
hebithar
v. "(they) will keep" is derived from ú-chebin
in Gilraen's linnod (LotR/A.v). I had here an occasion to use this verb,
whose uninflected stem is unkown (it might be either *hab-, *hob-
or *heb-). But of course, Helge Fauskanger noted that tirithar would
have been more literal, mirroring the Q. tiruvantes "they will guard
it". It should also be noted that we do not know for sure how to form the
future of basic verbs ending in a consonant: the published corpus only
contains derived verbs such as linna- (linnathon
"I will
sing", LotR/II:I) or esta- (estathar "(they) will name",
SD/129-131).
ha
pron. "it" (Ety/385).
aen
v. "may it be that (?)" is attested in the King's Letter
only (SD/129-31). It is supposed to be the equivalent of Q. nai
(optative form of the verb "to be") though there is unfortunately no definitive
evidence of this.
har-
v. "to sit" (here in the third person plural) is an hypothetical
reconstruction suggested by Helge Fauskanger, on the model of Q. hárar
"they
sit". A nasal mutation occurs after the relative pronoun in, changing
*(in herir) into i·cherir , cf. the nasal mutation
of hîn "children" (WJ/403) in Narn i Chîn Húrin.
For this verb, my suggestions were *ham- or *hemia (hence i·chemir
or i·chemiar), both reconstructed from the root KHAM from
The
Etymologies, where Christopher Tolkien only lists Q. ham- ("the
other derivatives are too chaotic and unclear to present", Ety/363).
erin
prep. "on the" (SD/129-131).
archam
pl. erchaim n. "throne" (literally "royal seat")
has been suggested to me by Helge Fauskanger. It is coined from ar(a)
"high, noble, royal" (S/428) and the stem KHAM (see also har- above).
ned
prep. "in" (SD/129-131). Perhaps this preposition should
only be used when giving a date (ned Echuir in the King's Letter),
but we have no better choice.
Annûn
n. "West" (Ety/376, S/428, LotR/E...).
min
adj. num. "one" (Ety/373), here lenited after the definite
article.
dortha-
v. "to dwell" (Ety/376). This word derives from the root
NDOR, and its lenition after the relative pronoun is therefore northa.
or
prep. "above, upon" (Ety/379).
phain
adj. "all" (mhellyn în phain "all his friends",
SD/129-31). It has been suggested that this might perhaps be a word *pân
pl.
*pain, showing a nasal mutation after the reflexive pronoun în.
In that case, we should perhaps read bain here (with standard soft
lenition).
uir
n. "eternity" (Ety/379).