Bagme bloma

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Brunaim bairiþ Bairka bogum laubans liubans liudandei, gilwagroni, glitmunjandei, bagme bloma, blauandei, fagrafahsa, liþulinþi, fraujinondei fairguni. Wopjand windos, wagjand lindos, lutiþ limam laikandei; slaihta, raihta, hweitarinda, razda rodeiþ reirandei, bandwa bairhta, runa goda, þiuda meina þiuþjandei. Andanahti milhmam neipiþ, liuhteiþ liuhmam lauhmuni; laubos liubai fliugand lausai, tulgus, triggwa, standandei Bairka baza beidiþ blaika fraujinondei fairguni.

The birch bears fine leaves on shining boughs, it grows pale green and glittering, the flower of the trees in bloom, fair-haired and supple-limbed, the ruler of the mountain. The winds call, they shake gently, she bends her boughs low in sport; smooth, straight and white-barked, trembling she speaks a language, a bright token, a good mystery, blessing my people. Evening grows dark with clouds, the lightning flashes, the fine leaves fly free, but firms and faithful the white birch stands bare and waits, ruling the mountain.

Bagme Bloma - "Flower of the trees" - is a poem composed by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in a collection called Songs of the Philologists. It is a scholars' amusement made of comical verse - satirical poems, famous tunes, drinking songs - composed or translated in early Germanic languages. It was published privately in 1936 for Tolkien and his colleague and friend E. V. Gordon. A few have been published in T. A. Shippey's critical essay The Road to Middle-earth, including this one, with a translation supplied by Rhona Beare.

The poem is in a reconstitution of Gothic rather than in Gothic properly, for it includes many words unknown in this language because of its limited attestation, but that Tolkien plausibly reconstructed after the corresponding words in the other Germanic languages. Tolkien's close association with Old English is sometimes mirrored in the semantics: for instance the word *bogus used in the first line (in the dative plural) has the sens of "bough" (Old English bóg) which is specific to English; this word is found in other Germanic languages but there rather means "shoulder": Old High German buog (Modern German Bug "prow, shoulder, chuck"), Old Norse bógr "shoulder".

The English translation is Rhona Beare's interpretation of the poem.

Concerning the pronunciation, it will be noticed that the value of the spellings ai and au is debated: some scholars consider that everywhere they denote open varieties of e and o, long or short, while others assign them at times these values, at times the value of diphthongs, on etymological criteria. The first of these positions has been adopted here.

References

Shippey, T[homas] A[lan]. The Road to Middle-earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien created a new mythology. London: Grafton, 1992. 337 p. ISBN 0-261-10275-3

Thöny, Luzius. Bagme Bloma by J. R. R. Tolkien: Grammatische Analyse. PDF file. URL: http://www.doink.ch/downloads/bagmebloma_kom.pdf