naiko

adverb. *sickly

An adverbial form of ᴱQ. naika “stricken ill, sick” (PE16/75), hence meaning “✱sickly”. It appeared in the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930 (MC/221).

noiko

adverb. *sickly

taitelúmen san tollanta ranka naiko lunganár

*the firmament then leans sickly on broken hill[s]

The ninth phrase (lines 17-18) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is the nominative form of the subject noun taitelúme “firmament” followed by the adverb san “then” and the allative form of the noun tolla “hill” (singular in contrast to the English translations). The next words are the adjective ranka modifying “hill” and the adverb naiko which probably modifies the verb, which is the aorist 3rd-singular masculine form of lunga(na)- “to lean”.

This phrase corresponds to the lines of the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “the heavens lean on crumbling hills”. It also resembles the sixteenth line in the first English translation LA1a (PE16/67): “Heaven leaned upon the hills”.

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

> taitelúme-n san tolla-nta ranka naiko lunganá-r = “✱firmament-(nominative) then hill-on broken sickly leaned-he”

telumen tollanta naiko lunganar

the vault of heaven sagged upon the tops of the hills

The sixteenth phrase (lines 17-18) of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/221). The first word is the nominative form of the noun telume “vault of heaven” followed by the allative of tolla “hill”, singular despite its English translation. It is followed by an adverb of unclear function naiko; this adverb is not reflected in the English translation, but in the Glossary Commentary accompanying the sixth draft, it is said to be the adverbial form of naika “stricken ill, sick” (PE16/75). The last word in the phrase is the aorist 3rd-singular masculine form of the verb lunga(na)- “sag, bend down”.

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

> telume-n tolla-nta naik-o lungana-r = “✱heavens-(nominative) hill-upon sick-ly sag-he”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem, where Tolkien first considered an alternate form lungáro of the verb before switching to lunganar (OM1d: PE16/62). Aside from the variant Finnish-like spelling of the fifth draft (OM1e: PE16/72), the phrase remained the same thereafter.