Lament of the Rohirrim
Translated into Quenya by
Boris Shapiro
Elenhil Laiquendo (Boris Shapiro) writes: It is, of course, a true nonsense to imagine a Quenya translation of this piece of Rohan poetry actually existing in Middle-earth, for who could have made it? Legolas would have translated it into Sindarin, his native tongue, and we can hardly imagine a Quenya-speaking philologist and folklorist passing Rohan by and taking a fancy of that song. So I must face the fact that it is not an "authentic" (or possible or reconstructed Quenya poem), neither it is actually a Quenya poem by its verse. This is but another piece of modern Quenya enamourment, translating something into Quenya for sake of aesthetic pleasure. It is up to you to decide whether it is worth the try. I've been rather free with the use of articles, copulae and word order for the rhythm's sake. English original by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Two Towers (II:115).
Masse sí rocco
ar roquen? Masse ná romba i súyane?
Masse ná cassa ar varme, ar findesse calima sirala?
Masse ná má nandenna, ar náre
narwa uryala?
Masse ná tuile ar cermie ar yáve
halla loala?
Avánier ve miste orosse, ve súlime
lairenna;
Auri nuntar mí Andúne ambor
pella fuinenna.
Man hostuva usque wilwa turuo hessa uryala,
Var cenuva yéni sirala et Earello entula?
Notes (selected comments)
*masse
is a rather popular coinage for 'where',
built by analogy of pl. yassen 'wherein'
from Namárie using interrogative ma-
instead or relative ya-.
*súyane pa.t. of
suuya- 'to breathe' was rather
freely judged applicable for the producing of a sound
with a horn. Although legitimate in a number of
real-world languages, it is but theoretically correct in
Quenya.
yáve
'fruit' is substituted for 'corn'
on the basis of its Noldorin cognate iau "corn".
If it was not for my original confession, this incident
could have pointed to a strong Sindarin semantic influence,
possibly suggesting a Gondorian origin of the translator.
*lauyala pres.part. of *lauya-
'to grow', see loa
'growth'
*nuntar pl. of *nunta-
'to [go] down' is another coinage.