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Translation please

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Translation please

Postby A#minor » August 2nd, 2005, 3:22 am

Here's a poem that Tolkien wrote early in his life before Middle-Earth was thought of. "When talking about it to Edith he referred to it as 'my nonsense fairy language'." - Humphrey Carpenter
It's dated Nov.1915 and March 1916.

Ai lintulinda Lasselanta
Pilingeve suyer nalla ganta
Kuluvi ya karnevalinar
V'emmatte singi Eldamar.


I did some research and found that Lasselanta means leaf-fall or Autumn and Eldamar is the elvenhome in the West. I recognize valinar as comparable to valinor but without any idea what the karne means.

At any rate, it's pretty and seems to roll off the tongue delightfully. That opens up another problem however.
Pronunciation? Any ideas?
"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
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Postby Adam Linton » August 28th, 2005, 9:36 pm

Here's another response, replacing a post lost in the hacking episode.

I don't claim at all to be an expert in Tolkien's languages. I did find a partial translation in Ruth Noel's The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth. Noel's work is dated, as it was written before the publication of the mammoth twelve-volume History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien, which contains much important additional information. But Noel's Languages is still a helpful resource.

A complete translation does not seem to exist for the passage:

Ai lintulinda Lasselanta
O swiftly-sing of-[the]-falling-of-leaves (Autumn)

Pilingeve suyer nalla ganta
___ ___ cry ___

Kuluvi ya karnevalinar
red-gold ___ red-fire-of-power

V'emmatte singi Eldamar.
___ ___ Elvenhome.

Here are some links for further material on Middle-earth tongues:

http://elvish.org/

http://www.forodrim.org/daeron/md_home.html

There are a number of new, and much more comprehensive volumes coming out on the topic. Check reviews, recommendations on the links.

Hope that this is helpful (again).
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Postby A#minor » August 29th, 2005, 1:05 am

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