Gaerlin Legolas
translated into Sindarin by Ryszard Derdzinski
One of two Christmas 2002 gifts for the friends of Gwaith-i-Phethdain is Sindarin translation of a fragment of The Lord of the Rings, Chapter The Field of Cormallen, poem Legolas' Song of the Sea. A person who encouraged me to translate this Tolkien's poem into Sindarin was a friend of our website, Teanna. She wrote: «This is my favorite bit of poetry from LOTR (and makes a great rowing or paddling song for sea kayak or viking longship)». So here it is: Legolas' poem with short introduction. All in Sindarin, language of Mirkwood Elves.
Pent Legolas: «Ar im padathon vi eryn en-dôr vain hen i nâ îdh far. Ned orath i telithar, ae hîr nín Edhellen devitha, pin o gwaith vín anglennatha simen; ar ir telitham natha dôr hin i 'alu, dan na lû thent. Na lû thent: ahad, cuil, haran inath in Edain. Dan Anduin nef, ar Anduin tôg dadbenn na 'Aear. Na 'Aear!
Na 'Aear, na 'Aear! Mýl 'lain nallol,
I sûl ribiel a i falf 'loss reviol.
Na annûn hae, ias Anor dannol.
Cair vith, cair vith, lastal hain canel,
Lamath in-gwaithen i gwennin no nin?
Gwannathon, gwannathon taur i onnant nin;
an midui orath vín a dennin inath vín.
Trevedithon 'aear land erui ciriel.
Falvath enainn bo Mathedfalas dannol,
Lamath vilui vi Tol Gwannen cannen,
Vi Tol Ereb, ned Bar-in-Edhil i Edain ú-gennir,
Ias lais ú-dhannar: dôr en-gwaith nín an-uir!»
A linniel hen Legolas gwannant dadbenn en amon.
Word-for-word translation:
Said Legolas: «And I shall-walk in [the] woods of land fair this, which is rest enough. In days which will-come, if lord my Elven will-allow, some [pl.] from people our will-approach hither; and when we-shall-come [it] shall-be land this the blessing, but for [a] time short [in meaning of while]. For [a] time-short: month, life, hundred years of Men. But Anduin [is] on-this-side [in meaning of near], and Anduin leads down to [the] Sea. To [the] Sea!
To [the] Sea, to [the] Sea! Gulls white [are] crying,
The wind [is] blowing and the foam white [is] flying,
To West far, in-which Sun [is] falling.
Ship grey, ship grey, do-you-hear them calling,
Voices of my-people that passed before me?
I-will-leave, I-will-leave forest that bore me;
for last days ours and falling years ours.
I-will-traverse Sea wide lonely sailing.
Waves [are] long [pl.] on Last Shore falling,
Voices [are] sweet in Isle Lost calling
In Lonely Island, in Elvenhome that Men did-not-see,
In-which leaves fall-not: land of people mine for-ever!»
And singing this Legolas went-away downwards of [the] hill.
Glossary:
*ae 'if'; conceivably reconstructed for Movie Sindarin by David Salo after Quenya ai-quen `if anybody, whoever' (WJ 372).
*simen 'hither'; recontructed by me after Quenya sinóme 'hither': sin 'this' + men > *simmen > *simen.
*natha 'will be'; recontructed, cf. Sindarin no 'be!', being a derivative of the verb *na- 'to be'.
*ahad 'month'; recontructed after Quenya asta < CE *a-sata (cf. VT #42, p. 19-20, stem SAT-.
*haran 'hundred'; recontructed after Quenya *haran 'hundred' in haranye 'the last year of the century' (RotK Appendix D).
no 'under, *before'; recontructed by David Salo.