Re: Translation: The Lay of Leithian

On Tue, 25 Jan 2000, The Gray Wizard wrote:

> Weary of endless htmlizing and inspired by a translation posted to the
> elfling list today, I took some time out to translate the first verse of
> JRRT's "The Lay of Leithian" into amman iar.
This is tentative.  I reserve the right to make changes as the whim and
fancy strikes me later.

>
> The Lay of Leithian
A sir de Lejtjan
the song of Leithian

> 1. Of Thingol in Doriath
De Tingol be Dorjat
Of Thingol in Doriath

> 1. A king there was in days of old;
jes rec bajozace
there.is king in-days-of-yore

jes comes from the Hebrew yesh.  It's negaitve form is ajn.
bajozace is a contraction of "in the old days" (ba jom zacem)  It means
the exact same thing as the OE phrase "in geardagum".

> 2. ere Men yet walked upon the mould
ande homi hitlacu ba tera
before men they.walked on.the earth

l'hitlac -- "to walk"
be (in) + a (the) = ba

> 3. his power was reared in cavern's shade,
lonsahu fvit alena b'umbra de caverna
power.his was reared in shade of cavern

-hu is the 3rd person pronoun suffix
fvit is the perfect form of "l'es" (to be)
alena is the feminine participle of "l'al" "to rear, bring up"
be before a vowel becomes b'

> 4. his hand was over glen and glade.
jadhu fvit supra valli silvace.
had.his was over glen glade.and

Again, -hu is the 3rd masculine pronoun suffix
-ce is a conjunction, identitical with the latin "-que"


> 5. Of leaves his crown, his mantle green
ceterhu fvit de folji, va sagohu fvit virido.
crown.his was of leaves, and mantle.his was green.


> 6. his silver lances long and keen,
lanceajhu de cesef fverun longaj acutajce
lances.his of silver were long sharp.and


> 7. the starlight in his shield was caught,
a cocafor be sutohu fvit capen,

the starlight in shield.his was caught

capen is the neuter participle of "le cap" "to catch"

> 8. ere moon was made or sun was wrought.
ande a jareac fvit facen o a sames fvit asan.
before the moon was made or the sun was formed.

facen and asan are both neuter.  If one were going to personalize "jareac"
and "sames" (moon and sun), then one would use "facena" and "asano", the
feminine and masculine forms respectively.