by Vicente Velasco (Tatyandacil)
Farewell, beautiful Princess, loving lady!
You gave us love and joy,
and we will remember them forever.
Farewell, beautiful Princess, Flower of the Realm!
The light of your house died like a candle in the wind,
but our love for you will not die in our hearts.
Farewell, beautiful Princess, Queen of Hearts!
Now fly into the West on golden wings,
and may your soul rest in eternal bliss.
Ríanna I have translated "princess"; it is the Quenya cognate (constructed by Vicente from primitive rîg-anna, LR:383) of Sindarin rían "queen", but also alluding to the name Diana itself. Indeed Quenya r is sometimes derived from Primitive Elvish d (though not initially as here); otherwise, the normal Quenya word for "princess" is aranel. Herméla "loving lady" (heri "lady" + méla "loving, affectionate", VT39:10). In Quenya, an adjectival element usually appears as the first part of a compound, but the opposite order, as here, is by no means impossible (in the Silmarillion, Tolkien himself uses Herumor for *"Dark Lord", literally *"Lord-Dark"). renuvammet "we will remember them" (sc. the melmë ar alassë, love and joy). The verb ren- "remember" is not directly attested as a Quenya word, but the base REN "recall, have in mind" is genuine Tolkien (PM:372). The ending -mmë denotes exclusive "we"; the person addressed is, all too literally, no longer among us. Ardalótë "Flower of the Realm" (or indeed "Flower of Arda", though E.J.'s "England's rose" was the inspiration. Cf. lótë "large single flower", VT42:18). Coacalinalya firnë ve lícuma súrinen "your coacalina died (or faded) like a candle in (the) wind" (literally by the wind, because of the wind: instrumental case). Coacalina "light of the house" is an Elvish metaphor for the soul inside the body (MR:250). This line represents, as Vicente notes, "a nod to E.J." (your candles burned down long before your legend ever will). Nó, conjuction "but" (VT41:18); melmemma "our love": the possessive ending -mma "our" corresponds to -mmë "us". len "for you" (dative of le "you"). úva firë "will not fade (or die)": úva "will not", future tense of the negative verb u- (LR:72; first person aorist uin "I am not", LR:396). firë is an infinitive form (or aorist stem) of fir- "fade, die" (cf. quetë from quet- "speak" in polin quetë "I can speak", VT41:6). Hence úva firë = "will not die". Indotári: "Heart-queen", Queen of Hearts. wila: "fly", imperative following the pattern of such words as ela "behold!" (WJ:362). rámainen "on wings", or literally "by wings, using wings": plural instrumental in -inen. (Conceivably the dual instrumental could have been used here, rámanten, referring to a pair of wings - but in such highly symbolic language there seems to be little reason to insist on this, even if we think of the departed as an angel.) nai fëalya seruva: "may your soul rest" (nai + a future tense-form like seruva is the normal Quenya "wishing formula"; fëalya is fëa-lya "soul-your"). oialmaressë "in eternal bliss": oi- "ever(lasting)" + almarë "bliss" + -ssë locative ending "in".