Namárië

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The full poem of Namárië, in the original Quenya, written in Tengwar script.
The full poem of Namárië, in the original Quenya, written in Tengwar script.

Namárië, also called "Galadriel's Lament" (Altariello nainië Lóriendessë), is a poem in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Farewell to Lórien).

"Namárië" is Quenya for "farewell," which was possibly inspired by "Namasté," a Sanskrit parting phrase. This poem is the longest Quenya text in the book, and has been re-written at least one time by Tolkien before it became the form that was published (see Older version below). Its translation is in the book, and many Tengwar versions were made by other people.

This poem was set to music by Donald Swann. The sheet music and an audio recording are part of the song-cycle The Road Goes Ever On where Tolkien sings it in a Gregorian manner [1].

Contents

[edit] Transcribed poem

Here is the poem combined with Tolkien's translation (because of differences in word order, the English translation does not always perfectly match the Quenya text line by line):

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
The long years have passed like swift draughts
mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva
of the sweet mead in lofty halls
Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar
beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
wherein the stars tremble
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.
in the song of her voice, holy and queenly.
Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
Who now shall refill the cup for me?
An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo
For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the stars,
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië
and out of a grey country darkness lies
i falmalinnar imbë met,
on the foaming waves between us,
ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Now lost, lost to those of the East is Valimar!
Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar!
Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar!
Nai elyë hiruva! Namárië!
Maybe even thou shalt find it! Farewell!

[edit] Older version

An early version of Namárië can be found in The Treason of Isengard pp. 284-285. The text is not "mature" Quenya, so some of the words are unlike those Tolkien used in later works and there is no certain translation for them. Other words can be found in The Etymologies, a section of The Lost Road, but do not readily make sense in the context of this poem, such as the word qantamalle ("a full road", conceivably = all the way). Another unusual aspect of the poem is Tolkien's use of macrons instead of accents to mark long vowels, while older works of Tolkien such as The Etymologies use macrons along with accents, and newer works such as The Lord of the Rings use only accents. Also, the diaeresis marks used in The Lord of the Rings to mark the end of words that end with the vowel e are not used in this poem.

The text is:

Ai! laurie lantar lassi sūrinen
inyalemīne rāmar aldaron
inyali ettulielle turme mārien
anduniesse la mīruvōrion
Varda telūmen falmar kīrien
laurealassion ōmar mailinon.
Elentāri Vardan Oiolossëan
Tintallen māli ortelūmenen
arkandavā-le qantamalle tūlier
e falmalillon morne sindanōrie
no mīrinoite kallasilya Valimar.

Although there are words that can be recognized by consulting the appendices of The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and The Lost Road, the sentence structure and spellings marks this form as different from the Quenya Tolkien decided on. For example, there are many parts ending in the consonant n, while the Quenya in The Lord of the Rings and later works lack this ending, and there are many parts that are composed of several words linked together, while the Quenya in later works have more separate words. See Tyalië Tyellelliéva #12 for a detailed discussion on the development of Namárië.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Music in Middle-Earth, Essay by Gene Hargrove, January 1995

[edit] External links