Lindë Roccalassen
by Ales Bican
I.
Roccalas, linda lótë nórelyo,
anvanya yeldë Roccoliéva,
le calina ve Naira ilwessë;
le rín' anda laurëa loxenen,
caltala ve i calimë alcar,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
II.
Elyë lantanë melmessë sonen;
merilyë melmerya, ness' aranel.
Arwen ëa óress' Elessarwa;
náro vëaner ar canya ohtar;
melilyes nan umiro melë le,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
III.
Utúlie'n i mórë; autantë
mahtien ohtassë hair' nóressen,
ar le hehtanentë i maressë:
merintel tirië nissi, híni
i artassen mí tárë oronti,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
IV.
Merilyë hirë metta nyérelyo;
essenen Haldatir sí lelyalyë
muilessë ve i sanya rocconer;
mí hiswë hendu perino cennë
quén ú estelo i merë firë
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
V.
Nu qualin roccorya cait' i aran
i né ve atar len ar tornelyan;
arwa macilo matsë yétalyë
rúcim' ulundo acolë caurë;
cuina nér úva pusta Loicoher
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
VI.
Roccalas, umilyë nér, nályë nís;
náro pold', úmëa, morn' ar alta,
turë or caurë ar Sauron or so;
ortanelyë macil tárienna,
rierya lantanë, alantiéro,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
VII.
Mernelyë firë ar harya alcar;
mahtanelyë Heru Úlairion,
ar náro qualin nan sí caitalyë
ar' aranelya, lá cenilyéro;
umilyë hlarë teldë quettaryar,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
VIII.
Nályë laiw' ar nyérëa cuilenen;
linyenwa nís quet' enwina nólë:
i mát i aranwa envinyatar.
Roccalas, collentë len er cuilë,
nan lá alassë ar ëa-írë,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
IX.
I melmë arandurwa hirnelyë;
vantanéro ar quentéro yo le
imb' aldar ar lóti mareryassë;
ar quentéro lenna meliro le;
sí nályë envinyanta melmenen
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
X.
Sí avalyë turë ve i tári;
nauvalyë envinyatarë ve so,
lá turmawendë ar lá aranel,
meluvalyë ilqua cuin' ar vanya;
ve meluvárol, meluvalyë so,
Roccalas indis envinyatarë
Comments
While this poem does not rely on rhymes or alliteration, the poet did employ one metric rule: each verse (line) has ten syllables. To achieve this, some words are shortened by eliding final vowels.
Lindë Roccalassen
Song to Éowyn
The name Éowyn is Old English (in LotR representing the actual language of the Rohirrim). It means "Horse-joy"; see An Introduction to Elvish p. 216. "Horse-joy" as a name may be rendered into Quenya as Roccalassë (sc. rocco "horse" + alassë "joy, merriment"; these words could also have been compounded as Roccólassë, but this would obscure the second element and make it prone to confusion with lassë "leaf"). Normally Roccalassë can be shortened to Roccalas (but still Roccalass- before an ending, hence dative Roccalassen "for/to Éowyn" here). - As a curiosity it may be noted that Éowyn's "real" name, sc. the name that Tolkien in theory rendered into Old English when he translated the Red Book to produce LotR, evidently began in loho- or ló-: In PM:53, the Professor explained that "the element éo-, which so often appears (not unnaturally, being an old word meaning "horse", among a people devoted to horses), represents an element loho-, ló- of the same sense." This loho is surely ultimately related to the Quenya word for "horse", rocco - a testimony to the heavy influence of the Elvish tongues on the languages of Men. So by rendering "Éowyn" into Quenya as Roccalas we may bring her name a little closer to its supposed original form.
I.
Roccalas, linda lótë nórelyo,
Éowyn, beautiful flower of your land,
anvanya yeldë Roccoliéva,
the fairest daughter of [the] People of Horses,
le calina ve Naira ilwessë;
you [are] light like [the] Sun on sky;
le rín' anda laurëa loxenen,
you [are] crowned by long golden hair,
caltala ve i calimë alcar,
shining like the bright rays of light,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Anvanya "fairest, most fair", sc. vanya "fair" with the superlative or intensive prefix an- (Letters:279). Roccolië "Horse-people" (rocco + lië), the Rohirrim (the Sindarin name means Horse-lords); here in the possessive case: Roccoliéva. Calina "light" (as adjective), not "light" as opposed to heavy, but rather meaning "bright" (calima, occurring later in the stanza in pl. form calimë, has much the same meaning). Naira "Heart of Flame", a name of the Sun (MR:198). Rín' shortened form of rína (final vowel elided since the next word begins in the same vowel). Loxenen instrumental case of loxë "hair" to express "by hair". Caltala "shining", present (or active) participle of calta- "shine". Notice that alcar in the fifth verse is not the singular noun alcar "glory", but the pl. form of alca "ray of light" (no misunderstanding should be possible, since the adjective calima "bright" appears in plural form calimë to agree with alcar). Aranel "princess" (UT:434). Turmawende "shieldmaiden" (turma + wende).
II.
Elyë lantanë melmessë sonen;
You fell in the love with him;
merilyë melmerya, ness' aranel.
you want his love, young princess.
Arwen ëa óress' Elessarwa;
Arwen is in [the] heart of Elessar;
náro vëaner ar canya ohtar;
he is a man and a bold warrior;
melilyes nan umiro melë le,
you love him but he does not love you,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
The phrase elyë lantanë melmessë for "you fell in love" is of course based directly on the English idiom, and one may say that the Elves probably wouldn't have precisely the same expression, but then the potential readers of this text unfortunately will not include any Elves. Sonen "with him" or rather "by him, because of him", the instrumental case of *so "he". (The Quenya wording gives room for the fact that this love was unrequited.) *So is only attested as a primitive word (LR:385 s.v. S-), but it may very well have survived into Quenya; the attested suffix -ro used on verbs is closely related (intervocalic s becoming r via z). *So by itself is used for "him" in later stanzas. Ness' short for nessa "young" (according to the Etymologies, this is also the meaning of the name of the Valië Nessa, though this name is explained differently elsewhere). Óress' elided form of óressë, locative of órë "heart, inner mind". In a context like "Arwen is in the heart...", referring to a position, it seems that ëa rather than ná should be used for "is" (cf. i Eru i or ilyë mahalmar ëa for "the One [God] who is above all thrones" in UT:305, 317: Eru exists in this sublime position). Náro "he is", ná "is" (as copula) + the ending -ro "he" mentioned above. A word náro actually occurs in Tolkien's earliest Q(u)enya poem, Narqelion, and it may well mean "it/he is". Vëaner "(adult) man" (LR:398); this is transparently nér (compounded -ner) "man" with a prefix vëa- that signifies "adult, manly, vigorous"; the word apparently refers to an ablebodied man. Melilyes "you love him, thou lovest him", aorist of mel- "love" with the suffixes -lyë "you, thou" and -s; the latter is only attested with the meaning "it", but it may very well cover the entire 3. person singular, the stem S- yielding words for both "he", "she", and "it" (LR:385); here it is used for "him". As for the verb mel-, Tolkien indicated that the stem MEL means "love (as friend)" (LR:372). When writing this, he may have imagined that it referred to Platonic love rather than to erotic love between the sexes. However, we have no other word for "love", and there are several examples of Tolkien himself using his words with shades of meaning that seem to go beyond what his statements (made elsewhere) about the precise meaning of the relevant stem would seem to make room for. Umiro melë le "he does not love you": the negative verb um- "not do, not be" combined with melë, the "aorist stem" of mel-, here used in an "infinitival" sense (compare the "infinitival" use of carë in a phrase like áva carë, "don't do [it]", WJ:371). Le "you, thou"; some might argue that this is plural "you" only, but it probably goes with the ending -lyë.. Below, the corresponding short ending -l is used for singular "you" in object position (merintel "they want you").
III.
Utúlie'n i mórë; autantë
The darkness has come; they depart
mahtien ohtassë hair' nóressen,
to fight in a war in far lands,
ar le hehtanentë i maressë:
and you they left at home:
merintel tirië nissi, híni
they want you to watch women, children
i artassen mí tárë oronti,
in the fortresses in the high mountains,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Utúlie'n i morë for "the darkness has come" is based on utúlie'n aurë "the day has come" in Silmarillion ch. 20; no one really knows why an n intrudes here, but likely it is inserted for euphony when the next word begins in a vowel (or we would have three vowels in hiatus; this may be impossible). Auta- "leave", WJ:366. Mahtien dative of mahtië, gerund of mahta- "wield a weapon, fight", hence mahtien = "(in order) to fight". Hair' shortened form of hairë, pl. of haira "remote, far" (plural to agree with nóressen, locative pl. of nórë "land"). Le hehtanentë "you they left". The verb hehta- has stronger implications than merely leaving something as opposed to bringing it with you; this word means "put aside, leave out, exclude, abandon, forsake" (WJ:365), and Éowyn certainly felt excluded. I maressë "at home" or literally "in the home" (maressë locative of már "home", see the Silmarillion Appendix, entry bar; the long vowel of már is probably shortened in inflected forms, like it also is in compounds; cf. such names as Mar-nu-Falmar or Eldamar). Merintel tirië nissi, híni "they want you to watch women (and) children"; tirië is the gerund of tir- "watch". We have no Tolkien-made example for a phrase similar to "they want you to watch", so the syntax must remain speculative: It may be that a simple verbal stem tirë should have been used here, or perhaps Tolkien would have employed a quite different construction, presently unknown.
IV.
Merilyë hirë metta nyérelyo;
You want to find an end to your grief;
essenen Haldatir sí lelyalyë
under the name [of] Dernhelm now you go
muilessë ve i sanya rocconer;
secretly like a [lit. the] normal horseman;
mí hiswë hendu perino cennë
in the gray eyes a halfling saw
quén ú estelo i merë firë
someone without hope who wants to die
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Again, basic verbs with stems in -ë are used in an infinitival sense, as in our attested example áva carë in WJ:371: merilyë hirë "you want to find", i merë firë "who wants to die". Metta nyérelyo "an end to/of your grief": nyérë"grief" (LT1:261), hence nyérelya "your grief", here in genitive nyérelyo "of your grief". (In this context, dative nyérelyan would also have been possible.) Essenen instrumental case of essë "name": hence "by/under the name". The Old English name Dernhelm used by Éowyn means "Hidden Protection" (see An Introduction to Elvish p. 217); it is here rendered as Haldatir "Hidden Watch(er)" (halda + tir). Muilessë locative of muilë "secret", hence "in secret, secretly". Rocconer "Horseman" (rocco + -ner). *Perino "halfling" (hobbit); compare Sindarin perian from the same stem. No Quenya word for "halfling" is known; *perino is based on the attested adjective perina (not clearly glossed by Tolkien but apparently meaning "halved"), the adjectival ending -a being replaced by -o to denote a (masculine) animate. Hendu "eyes", dual form (in -u) to refer to a natural pair of eyes. The dual ending may also be -t (as in mát "hands, pair of hands" in Stanza VIII), but according to a footnote in Letters:427, -u is preferred when D or T occurs in the stem of the noun itself. The dual hendu seems to be attested in the compound hendumaica "sharpeye" in WJ:337. Ú "without", normally followed by genitive (see Vinyar Tengwar #39 p. 14), hence ú estelo = "without hope [estel]".
V.
Nu qualin roccorya cait' i aran
Under his dead horse lies the king
i né ve atar len ar tornelyan;
who was like a father to you and to your brother;
arwa macilo matsë yétalyë
having a sword in [your] hands you are looking at
rúcim' ulundo acolë caurë;
a terrible monster carrying fear;
cuina nér úva pusta Loicoher,
a living man will not stop [the] Lord of corpses,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Cait' short for caita "lies". In this case, the final vowel would not normally be omitted, since the next word does not begin in a similar vowel. The same is the case with rúcim' for rúcima "terrible" in verse 4. However, since the poet employs a metre demanding ten syllables in each verse, some unusual elisions are justified. Len ar tornelyan "to you and to your brother": len dative of le, tornelyan dative of tornelya "your brother". The independent form "brother" is toron, but the Etymologies indicates that it becomes torn- before an ending (pl. torni, LR:394 s.v. TOR). Here the connecting vowel e intrudes before the pronominal ending -lya "your", since *tornlya is impossible. Arwa macilo "having a sword". The word arwa Tolkien defined as "possessing"; according to the Etymologies (LR:360 s.v. 3AR) it is followed by genitive, hence macil "sword" here appears as macilo. (When Tolkien wrote Etym, he actually imagined the Quenya genitive ending to be -n and not -o as it became in his later writings - but the rule as such is hopefully valid still.) Matsë locative dual of má "hand", hence "in [your two] hands". (The long vowel of má becomes short before a consonant cluster; compare the plural allative mannar "into [the] hands" in Fíriel's Song, LR:72.) Yéta- "look at", LT1:262. Acolë "carrying" is colë, sc. the uninflected stem of the verb col- "carry", + the prefix a-; such a form is used to describe what the object of another verb is itself doing: Thus the meaning of two sentences like Yétalyë ulundo / i ulundo colë caurë "you are looking at a monster / the monster carries fear" can be expressed in one sentence as yétalyë ulundo acolë caurë "you are looking at a monster carrying fear" (caurë "fear", LT1:257). Úva pusta "will not stop": úva "will not" (future tense of a negative verb, attested in LR:72) + pusta "stop" (stem used in an infinitival sense). Loicoher "Corpse-lord" (loico + -her), Lord of Corpses.
VI.
Roccalas, umilyë nér, nálye nís;
Éowyn, you are not a man, you are a woman;
náro pold', úmëa, morn' ar alta,
he is strong, evil, dark and large,
turë or caurë ar Sauron or so;
rules over fear and Sauron over him;
ortanelyë macil tárienna,
you lifted a sword high,
rierya lantanë, alantiéro,
his crown fell, he is fallen,
Roccalas aranel turmawende
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Umilyë "you are not, thou art not": 2. person form of the negative verb listed in the 1. person in the Etymologies: umin "I do not, am not" (LR:396 s.v. UGU, UMU). Nályë "thou art, you are" (ná + -lyë). Pold', morn': elided forms of polda "strong" (referring to physical strength) and morna "dark". Polda would not normally be elided in this position; again, this is justified by metre rather than phonology. Ortanelyë "you raised, you lifted" (orta- is both transitive "raise" and intransitive "rise"; here it is used in the transitive sense). Tárienna "high" or literally "to a height" (allative of tárië "height"). The word tárië is actually attested in the allative only: on the fields of Cormallen, the Ring-bearers were praised with the words a laita tárienna "praise [them] to the height" (LotR:VI ch. 4, translated in Letters:308). Alantiéro "he is fallen" or "he has fallen": perfect tense of lanta- "fall" (with augmented stem-vowel and the ending -ië to form the perfect and the ending -ro "he" suffixed).
VII.
Mernelyë firë ar harya alcar;
You wanted to die and have glory;
mahtanelyë Heru Úlairion,
you fought [the] Lord of [the] Úlairi,
ar náro qualin nan sí caitalyë
and he is dead but now you lie
ar' aranelya, lá cenilyéro;
beside your king, you do not see him;
umilyë hlarë teldë quettaryar,
you do not hear his last words,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Harya "possess, *have"; in this context the meaning comes close to "get". Here alcar is the singular word "glory" and not the plural form of alca "ray of light" (as in the first stanza). Mahta- "wield a weapon, fight": here it is assumed that this verb can be transitive *"fight against", the object being the enemy that is fought. Úlairi: the precise etymology of this word is uncertain, but whatever its origin, it is the Quenya term for the Nazgûl or Ring-wraiths. Ar' "beside", elided form of ara, not to be confused with the conjunction ar "and" (though that is related). Lá cenilyéro "you do not see him". Presently, there is no published evidence to support the use of the ending -ro as object ("him"); in our few examples it is subject ("he") only - but neither is there any evidence against such usage. The negative verb umilyë appears again, but with a different shade of meaning than in the previous stanza: "you do not" (+ a verbal stem used in an infinitival sense) rather than "you are not".
VIII.
Nályë laiw' ar nyérëa cuilenen;
You are sick and sorrowful by life;
linyenwa nís quet' enwina nólë:
an old woman speaks old wisdom:
i mát i aranwa envinyatar.
the hands of the king heal.
Roccalas, collentë len er cuile,
Éowyn, they bore for you only life,
nan lá alassë ar ëa-írë,
but not joy and desire to exist,
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
Laiw' elided form of laiwa "sick". *Nyérëa "sorrowful, sad", an invented (= non-Tolkien) adjective based on the attested noun nyérë "grief, sorrow" (LT1:261, Gnomish Lexicon p. 60). Quet' elided form of quetë "says, speaks". Two different words for "old" are used here: linyenwa, an adjective built from elements conveying the idea of "many years" and hence quite proper if you want to describe an "old" person, and enwina, a word of uncertain etymology, but Tolkien used it in the evocative phrase enwina lúmë "ancient darkness" in the Markirya poem. Mát "hands", pair of hands, a dual form in -t (attested with a pronominal suffix intruding in the word máryat "her hands" in Namárië). Envinyatar "heal" or literally "renew", plural present tense of the verb *envinyata- "renew", not attested by itself but clearly the basis of the past participle envinyanta "healed, *renewed" (MR:405) and Aragorn's title Envinyatar "Renewer" (the latter word, an agental formation, should not be confused with the plural verb envinyatar used here). Er is here used for "only", the meaning assigned to this word in LT1:269, while in the Etymologies er is glossed "one, alone" (LR:356 s.v. ERE). Except er we have no word for "only", and for the number "one" we can use minë instead. The compound ëa-írë is to be interpreted "a desire to exist, a wish to be".
IX.
I melmë arandurwa hirnelyë;
The love of a minister you found;
vantanéro ar quentéro yo le
he walked and talked together with you
imb' aldar ar lóti mareryassë;
between trees and flowers in his home;
ar quentéro lenna meliro le;
he said to you [that] he loves you;
sí nályë envinyanta melmenen
now you are healed by love
Roccalas aranel turmawendë
Éowyn princess shieldmaiden
The phrase melmë arandurwa "love of a minister" (arandur "king's servant", Letters:286) refers to Éowyn's love of him rather than his love of her (not that love was unrequited). In a context like this, the possessive case in -va, -wa is used for object genitive, hence the arandur or minister is here the object of the love (the one who is loved) rather than the subject (the one who loves). If "love of a minister" referred to his love of someone else, a normal genitive would be used: melmë aranduro. Compare such attested examples as the use of possessive in a phrase found in the Silmarillion, Nurtalë Valinóreva "the Hiding of Valinor" (Valinor is the object of the hiding; the Valar hid their land), but genitive in Oiencarmë Eruo "the One's (God's) Perpetual Management" (MR:471; God is effectively the subject of the oiencarmë or "perpetual management", sc. the one who carries out this management). Yo is apparently the Quenya word for "with" (with explicit translation only attested as a prefix, but yo hildinyar in SD:56 seems to mean *"with my children"). Imb' elided form of imbë "between". Envinyanta "healed" or literally "renewed", MR:405.
X.
Sí avalyë turë ve i tári;
Now you will not rule as [or, like] the queen;
nauvalyë envinyatarë ve so,
you will be a healer like him;
lá turmawendë ar lá aranel,
not a shieldmaiden and not a princess,
meluvalyë ilqua cuin' ar vanya;
you will love everything alive and fair;
ve meluvárol, meluvalyë so,
as he will love you, you will love him
Roccalas indis envinyatarë
Éowyn bride healer
Avalyë "you will not" - this is stronger than a mere statement about the future. The verb ava- occurring in WJ:370 is not clearly glossed by Tolkien, but suggests active refusal of something, or in this case deliberately giving up something to choose something else. Turë (aorist stem used in an infinitival sense) is glossed "wield, control, govern" in the Etymologies (LR:395 s.v. TUR, where the verb is quoted in the 1. person aorist turin); here it is translated "rule". Nauvalyë "you will be" (the future tense nauva "will be" appeared in Vinyar Tengwar #42). Envinyatarë "healer" or literally "renewer", feminine form. As mentioned above, Envinyatar "Renewer" is attested in LotR as a title of Aragorn. Such agental forms in -r apparently do not show sex, but they can be made explicitly masculine or feminine by adding -o or -ë, respectively (as when masc. ontaro "begetter, parent" has a feminine form ontarë, LR:370 s.v. ONO). Cuin' elided form of cuina "alive". Meluvárol "he will love you" (meluvá-ro-l "will love-he-you").
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