lúthien’s song

Lúthien’s Song

A Sindarin poem appearing “The Lay of Leithian Recommenced” from the 1950s (LB/354), likely written in the 1950s. This poem is referred to as “Lúthien’s Song” in the literature. Tolkien did not translate the poem, but most of its vocabulary is known from elsewhere. Patrick Wynne analyzed the poem in 1990 (NTTLS, appearing in VT09/8-11), and David Salo published a different analysis of the poem in 2004 (GS/211-3). A third translation by Bertrand Bellet and Benjamin Babut appears on the GTLC website.

The English text presented here is an amalgam of these translations, rendered literally. My analysis is based largely on that of Wynne and Salo, since Bellet and Babut provided only a translation. For further discussion, see the entries for the individual phrases.

Elements

Word	Gloss
ir Ithil ammen Eruchín	“*when the Moon, for us, the Children of God”
menel-vîr síla díriel	“*heaven-jewel shines having watched [for us]”
si loth a galadh lasto dîn	“*here flower and tree listen [in] silence”
a Hîr Annûn Gilthoniel	“*oh Lady of the West, Star-kindler”
le linnon im Tinúviel	“*to thee I sing, I, Tinúviel”