The Cellar Read by Tolkien Glǽmscribe Mathoms News
Quenya Sindarin Telerin Qenya Gnomish & Noldorin
Adûnaic Westron Khuzdul Black Speech Valarin
Old English – Tolkien Old English Middle English
Gothic Old Norse Finnish Welsh Latin
Namárië
English
Quenya
Tengwar

     ⸱
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 beyond the West,
 ⸱  
Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar
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 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
   ⸱  
i falmalinnar imbë met, ar hísië
lies on the foaming waves between us, and mist
   :
untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë.
covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever.
  ⸱  ⸱  
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!
Now lost, lost for those from 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!

Commentary
Namárië “Farewell” is doubtless the best known Quenya text. It is a lament sung by Galadriel on her boat of the Silverlode, while Frodo is leaving Lothlórien with the Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, book II, chapter 8). Tolkien left a detailed analysis thereof in The Road Goes Ever On, especially about pronunciation and intonation. The poem there bears a subtitle: Altariello Nainië Lóriendessë “Galadriel’s Lament in Lórien”.

The English text is Tolkien’s own prose translation in The Road Goes Ever On, nearly identical to the one seen in The Lord of the Rings.

The text is transcribed in tengwar or “letters of Fëanor” according to the classical mode for Quenya described by Tolkien in the Appendix E to The Lord of the Rings and used for instance by the Namarië manuscript in The Road Goes Ever On p. 65. We made use of Johan Winge’s typeface Tengwar Annatar.  Open this mode in Glaemscribe

References
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Lord of the Rings. London: HarperCollins, 1999. 3 vol. ISBN 0-261-10235-1.
Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel & Swann, Donald. The Road Goes Ever On: a song cycle. Poems and decorations by J. R. R. Tolkien, music by Donald Swann. London: HarperCollins, 2002. 84 p. ISBN 0-00-713655-2.

The works of John Ronald Reuel and Christopher Tolkien are under the copyright of their authors and/or rights holders, including their publishers and the Tolkien Estate.
Quotations from other authors, editors and translators mentioned in the bibliography are under the copyright of their publishers, except for those whose copyright term has ended.
Last update of the site: September 22nd 2019. Contact us: