ERINQUA RANNEN FANYA VE
the
first verse of I
wandered lonely as a cloud by William Wordsworth
translated to Quenya by Petri Tikka
Erinqua rannen fanya
ve
Or
nandi, ambor wílala,
Cennenye
íre hostale
I
cancale-malinava;
Nu
aldali, i nén ara,
Hwestasse
wilwa, liltala.
the original:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
NOTES
The scansion
of the translation is intended to follow that of the original, which is an
iambic tetrameter. The language is Quenya.
Erinqua rannen fanya ve
Alone ran-I
cloud like
Line 1: erinqua
adj. ’single, alone’ (VT42:10) here used adverbially, cf. laurie lantar
lassi ’like gold fall the leaves’ (LotR:398, emphasis mine). eressea
’lonely’ (LR:356) would have been ideal, since it is of similar construct as
laurea ’golden’ (RGEO:66), but it proved impossible to fit into the
metre. *rannen ’I wandered’ < RAN- ’wander, stray’ (LR:383) +
-ne past tense marker + -n
1st person singular subject marker, cf. pa.t. farne < PHAR-
’suffice’ (LR:381). fanya ’cloud’ < SPAN- ’white’
(LR:387). ve ’as, like’ (RGEO:66). Placing the adverb ve after
is unattested, but I couldn’t find a reasonable way to fit it into the metre
any other way. If it is any comfort, *-ve in
the adverb andave (Letters:308) ’long’ may be an attested
example of such behaviour, but it is far from certain.
Or nandi, ambor wílala,
Above
valleys, hills flying,
Line 2: or
’above’ (UT:305). *nandi ’vales’ < nan, nand-
’valley’ (Letters:308) + -i plural marker. *ambor ’hills’
< ambo ’hill’ (MC:223) + -r plural marker. *wílala
’flying’ < wil- ’fly’ (LR:398) + lengthening of the stem vowel
+ -a + -la present pariticipial ending.
Cennenye íre hostale
I saw when
(a) gathering
Line 3: *cennenye
’I saw’ < cen- ’see, behold’ (MC:222) + -ne past tense
marker + -nye 1st person singular subject marker. íre ’when’
(LR:72). *hostale ’gathering, collecting, assembling’ < hosta-
’gather, collect, assemble’ (MC:223) + -le deriver of verbal nouns,
cf. makale ’commerce’ < manka- ’trade’ (LR:372). There
would have been several attested with similar meanings to ’crowd’ and
’host’, such as hosta ’large number’ (LR:364), sanga
’crowd, throng, press’ (LR:388) and rimbe ’crowd, host’ LR:383),
but all of them had too many syllables, so I had to opt for an unattested
derivation.
I cancale-malinava;
Which (is)
laughing-yellow-of;
Line 4: i
’which, that’ relative pronoun (UT:305). *cancale-malinava ’of
daffodils’ < kankale-malina
’daffodil’ (QL:?) + -va possessive-adjectival ending. According
to the commentary on Namárie in ”The Road Goes Ever On”, long words long words ending in two short syllables, the last
of these syllables may receive a weaker secondary stress. The metre seems all
right. The stress pattern of another 7-syllabled word: LISse-MIruVÓreVA
(RGEO:66) is perfect for the metre.
Nu aldali, i nén ara,
Under trees,
the water beside,
Line 5: nu
’under’ (RGEO:66). *aldali ’trees’ < alda ’tree’
(LR:357) + -li plural suffix (LR:369). i ’the’ indeclinable
article (LR:361). nén ’water’ (LR:376). ara ’outside,
beside’ (LR:349).
Hwestasse wilwa, liltala.
Breeze-in
fluttering, dancing.
