Á ilaurië nairi hata

Quenya translation

Á ilaurië nairi hata,
orta vínë ar intyalë!
Melda meren sín ata yála
rénelinnar antúrë ve.
Manen pollië sí ná ringa,
írë nísat Ringarëo
lauca vilya ar hwesta milya
sirta helci hón ninquëo?

Elen aistana né tintaina
lumbulenna ambaro,
élë fainanes alalanwa,
almarë ilya Atano;
írë hínion tier calta,
nén mirilya ar losta mar,
ara calima alda haira
umë oiala Valimar.

Finnish original by Alpo Noponen

Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä,
mieles nuorena nousta suo!
Armas joulu jo kutsuu meitä
taasen muistojen suurten luo.
Kylmä voisko nyt olla kellä,
talven säästä kun tuoksahtaa
lämmin leuto ja henkäys hellä,
rinnan jäitä mi liuottaa?

Syttyi siunattu joulutähti
yöhön maailman raskaaseen,
hohde määrätön siitä lähti,
viel´ on auvona ihmisten;
kun se loistavi lasten teille,
päilyy järvet ja kukkii haat,
kuusen kirkkahan luona heille
siintää onnelan kaukomaat.

English literal translation

Throw away your everyday worries,
let your heart rise up while you are young!
Beloved Christmas is already calling us
again to great memories.
Who could be cold now
when from the weather of winter whiffs fragrantly
a warm mild air and a gentle breeze
which dissolves the ices of the chest?

The blessed Christmas star was kindled
in the heavy night of the world,
a boundless sheen went out of it,
it is still the bliss of Men;
when it shines upon the ways of children,
lakes shimmer and pastures blossom,
by the bright spruce to them
loom the far-lands of paradise

Notes:

- Finnish huoli means "woorry", but there seems to be no attested Q(u)enya equivalent for it. I had to resort to using naire "lament", knowing that the meaning is quite different. But the gist is the same.
- According to PE17:93, double marking of tthe imperative can be used for emphasis.
- *réne "remembrance"t;, i.e. "memory" is of course a Vinquenya word based on the Common Eldarin form rēnē (REN "recall, have in mind"), whence Sindarin rîn "remembrance" (PM:372).
- túra "big, great",, TUR- "strong, might, in power" (PE17:115)
- *Manen, the probable dative form of man “who?”, happens to coincide with the possible word for “how?”, but either meaning would fit into the context.
- Vinquenya *nis- "emit aa sweet odour", based on Nísimaldar "Fragrant trees" (UT:167)
- Qenya tiqui- "melt"t; (PE12:92) is the word closest to the meaning I’m looking for, but it is marked as intransitive. So I opted for *sirta- "make flowing, liquid", based on sir- "flow" (LR:385) and sírima "liquid, flowing" (PE12:84). The verb is here in unmarked present participle, as several forms in Markirya. If this seems uncouth, another possibility would be sirtala i hón helceo.
- éle "flashing of [?starrry] light" (VT45:12): when would I ever get the chance to use this word if not here?
- Finnish määrätön means "t;boundless, endless". Although derived from määrä "quantity, number, amount", its meaning is not that "numeric". I first used*mettalóra "end-less", but Thomas Ferencz suggested to me a negation of lanwa "within bounds, limited, finite, (well-)defined" (VT42:8), hence *alalanwa.
- Finnish onnela is literally onni "happiness" + -la place ending. The dictionary translates it as "Eldorado, paradise, utopia, Happy Isles". With a word difficult to translate into English, let alone Quenya, I opted for a well-nigh idiomatic translation. Valimar fits into the picture perfectly, as it is a land of eternal happiness far-away across the sea. In addition, in early Qenya it meant something like "dwelling of the happy folk" or "Happy-land".
- P.S. The phrase Á ilaurië happens to be uncannily similar to the beginning of a famous poem by Tolkien: Ai! laurië... Clilck here to watch a performance of this Christmas song by the vocal group Rajaton. The melody is by Leevi Madetoja.

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Uploaded Jan. 5th 2008