Early Quenya
ondoin mórin ninkuváron, núni silmerána tindon
*the dark rocks will shine white, shining under the gleaming-moon
Element in
Variations
- ondoin moorin ninkuvaaron; nuuni silmeraana tindon ✧ PE16/077
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
The sixth phrase (lines 11-12) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is the nominative plural form of the subject noun ondo “rock” modified by the nominative plural form of the adjective móre “dark”, with the verb ninkuváron, the future 3rd-plural masculine inflection of ninqa- “to shine white”.
The second half of the phrase reuses the word “rocks” as the subject of the verb tindon “shine”, the aorist 3rd-plural masculine inflection of tini- “to shine”. This is preceded by the prepositional clause núni silmerána, apparently a definite form of the preposition nún “beneath” applied to the compound silmerána “gleaming moon”. This second half of the phrase seems to describe the means by which the dark rocks shine white.
The phrase loosely corresponds to the eleventh and twelfth lines of the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “the white rocks snarling in the moon gleaming/in the gleam of the moon”, but is closer to the lines in the first English translation LA1a (PE16/67): “the dark rocks were white and gleamed in the moon”, which is very close in meaning except for the tense of the first verb.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> ondo-i-n mór-i-n nink-uvá-ron, núni silme-rána tin-don = “✱rock-(plural)-(nominative) dark-(plural)-(nominative) shinewhite-(future)-they, under gleaming-moon shine-they”