undulav-

verb. to drown, swallow, submerge, (lit.) lick down, to swallow, *engulf; (lit.) lick down; drown, submerge

A verb whose past form appears in the Namárië poem in the phrase ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë “and all paths are drowned deep in shadow” (LotR/377; RGEO/58). It is a combination of undu “down” and lav- “lick” (PE17/72). Thus, its literal meaning is “lick down” and it has various other less-literal translations such as “swallow, wash down, submerge” (PE17/72).

I suspect this verb is purely poetic and not used in ordinary speech, but if it is used outside of poetry I believe its closest meaning would be “swallow, ✱engulf”. This is because in Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien glossed it “down-lick = swallow” (PE17/72), and similarly translated its past tense as “swallowed (lit. down-licked)” in the prose Namárië from The Road Goes Ever On of 1967 (RGEO/59). In particular, I think the gloss “drowned” in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings is a loose translation.

undulav-

verb. lick down

undulav- vb., literally "lick down" = cover (glossed "swallow" in PE17:72). Lumbulë undulávë ilyë tier "(heavy) shadow down-licked all paths", lyrical translation "all paths are drowned deep in shadow" (Nam). The pl. past tense would be unduláver (PE17:72).

lantar

fall

-r plural ending used on verbs with a plural subject (VT49:48, 50, 51), e.g. lantar "fall" in Namárië (with the plural subject lassi "leaves"), or unduláver as the pl. form of undulávë "licked down, covered" (PE17:72). The ending is sometimes missing where we might expect it; for instance, the verb tarnë "stood" has multiple subjects and yet does not appear as *tarner in PE17:71.

#lav-

verb. lick

#lav- (1) vb. "lick", pa.t. #lávë in undulávë, see undu (Nam); 1st person aorist lavin "I lick" in the Etymologies(LAB)

ar lumbulë undulávë ilyë tier

and (heavy) shadow swallowed (lit. down-licked) all roads

The 11th phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë >> ar lumbulë undulávë ilyë tier

Tolkien simply swapped the subject lumbulë “(heavy) shadow” with the object ilyë tier “all roads” to be consistent with the usual Quenya subject-verb-object word order.

undu

down, under, beneath

undu adv. (and prep.?) "down, under, beneath" (UNU, VT46:20); prefixundu- "down", in undulávë "down-licked" = covered. (Nam)

ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë

and all paths are drowned deep in shadow

Eleventh line @@@

lanta

fall

lanta (1) noun "a fall" (DAT/DANT (TALÁT) ), also lantë.

lanta-

fall

lanta- (2) "fall" (DAT/DANT (TALÁT), Narqelion, VT45:26, VT49:54); lantar aorist tense pl. (Nam, RGEO:66); pl. pa.t. lantaner "fell" (pl.) (SD:246); lantier "they fell", a plural past tense of lanta- "fall" occurring in LR:47; read probably lantaner in LotR-style Quenya, as in SD:246. Also sg. lantië "fell" (LR:56); read likewise *lantanë? (The forms in -ier, -ië seem to be properly perfects.) Future tense lantuva, VT49:47. Participle lantala "falling" (with locative ending: lantalassë) in Markirya.

lantë

fall

#lantë (1) noun "fall" in Noldolantë, q.v. Also lanta.

lantë

noun. fall

A noun for “fall” appearing as an element of the title Noldolantë “Fall of the Noldor” (S/87).

Neo-Quenya: The word lasse-lanta “leaf-fall” (LotR/1107) indicates the noun for “a fall” should be lanta, which is also how the noun appears in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/DAT). However, there is an alternate form lassewinta “leaf fall” in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices (PM/376) where the second element seems to be the infinitive of the verb winta-, so perhaps lasselanta also includes the infinitive of the verb lanta- “to fall”.

The form lantë more strongly resembles other Quenya nouns, which more often end in -e rather than -a. As such, I prefer lantë over lanta as the independent noun for “a fall”.

lav-

verb. lick

sulp-

verb. lick

sulp- vb. "lick" (LT1:266; rather lav- in Tolkien's later Quenya)

undu

down