silmerána

noun. gleaming moon, silver moon

A word glossed as either “silver moon” (MC/220) or “the gleaming moon” (PE16/75) appearing in the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930s and its earlier drafts, apparently a combination of ᴱQ. Rána “moon” with some (adjectival?) element ᴱQ. silme.

kaivon nyúken i·sapsanta silmerána númetár

*the gleaming-moon goes down like a corpse into the grave

The seventh phrase (lines 13-14) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is the nominative form of the noun kaivo “corpse” followed by an undecipherable word nyúken and the definite allative form of the noun of sapsa “grave”: i·sapsanta “into the grave”.

The second half of the phrase seems to have the subject silmerána “gleaming moon” of the verb númetár, the present 3rd-singular masculine form of númeta- “go down”. Since silmerána is not in the nominative form, while kaivon “corpse” is, it could be that “corpse” is the formal subject, and silmerána is simply poetically descriptive.

The phrase loosely corresponds to the thirteenth and fourteenth lines of the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “(in) the moon falling, a corpse into a grave”, but seems to be closer to the lines in the first English translation LA1a (PE16/67): “the moon went down like a corpse into a grave”.

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

> kaivo-n nyúken i·sapsa-nta silme-rána númetá-r = “✱corpse-(nominative) [?] the·grave-into gleaming-moon go-down-he”

Conceptual Development: The first word was initially written without the nominative inflection as kaivo (PE16/79).

ondoin mórin ninkuváron, núni silmerána tindon

*the dark rocks will shine white, shining under the gleaming-moon

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”

silmeráno tindon

shining in the silver moon

The twelfth phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). Its first word is the genitive form of silmerána “gleaming moon” followed by the aorist 3rd-plural masculine form of the verb tini- “to shine, gleam”. The subject of this phrase is actually ondolin “rocks” appearing in the previous phrase, with the genitive silmeráno giving the context in which the rocks shine. A more literal translation would be “✱of the gleaming moon they shine”.

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

> silme-rán-o tin-don = “✱gleaming-moon-of shine-they”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem as no silmerána tindon, with no “under” serving the same role as the genitive (OM1d: PE16/62), hence “✱under the gleaming moon they shine”. Tolkien switched to the final form of the phrase in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74).