ar díheno ammen i úgerth vin

and forgive us our trespasses

The seventh line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word ar is a form of a “and”. The second word díheno is the imperative form of díhena- “to forgive”, followed by ammen “for us”, a combination of an “to, for” and men “us”.

The fourth word is the definite article i “the”, followed by the plural form úgerth of úgarth “trespass, ✱misdeed” and the lenited form vin of the possessive pronoun min “ours”. The adjectival elements follow the noun as is usual in Sindarin. See the entry for the second line of this prayer for a discussion of the use of the definite article i “the” before the possessed noun in this phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> ar díhen-o am-men i úgerth vin [← min] = “✱and forgive-(imperative) for-us the trespasses ours”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien initially wrote the (singular) form ugarth “trespass” after the verb before deleting it and writing the rest of the phrase, which may help explain why the definite article is not in its usual plural form before vowels: in. Tolkien first wrote the unlenited form min of the pronoun “our” before replacing it with the lenited form vin. In both min and vin, the vowel i was short where it was long in the previous line of the prayer, but this may have been a slip.

Element in

• S. Ae Adar Nín

Variations

• ar díheno {ugarth} ammen i úgerth {min >>} vin ✧ VT44/21