Riddle of Strider

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Lairë Telcontaro

Ilya i ná malta úmirilya,
lá ilyë yantë ranya nar vanwë;
i tulca enwinawë úquela,
nurë sundar arahtier lá ringwenen.

Erinillon nárë núva coivana,
cala lumbellon tuiuva;
encarna núva macil i né rácina,
i úrína ata núva aran.

Notes:

  1. Lairë Telcontaro: this sentence literally translates as "Poem of Strider", since Riddle was not found.
  2. enwinawë: a compound formed by the word enwina "old" and the suffix -wë "man", since old is an adjective, it can't be referred as a noun, therefor the need of -wë "man". This note also refers to the phrase word order, where the original verse claims "the old that is strong does not wither", here literally reads "the strong old man does not wither".
  3. encarna: this word is a replacement for "renewed", since the quenya equivalent is obscure in its construction; it was changed for "remade", the base verb is car- "make", with the prefix en- "re-" and the past participle suffix -na resulting in carna "made".
  4. úrína: a simple construction that literally means "uncrowned" (from rína "crowned" and the negative particle preffix ú-), where the original verse reads "crownless". Both certainly could have the same meaning, since a translation is just an approximate expression of the original (and Tolkien himself, as he claimed, was the translator of the history of Arda, covered throughout many books, not just The Lord of the Rings).

1 comment:

CANDLELIZARDEGG said...

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