Glǽmscrafu - A Elbereth Gilthoniel

  	A Elbereth Gilthoniel	O Elbereth Star-kindler,
  	silivren penna míriel	white glittering and sparkling like jewels
    	o menel aglar elenath!	the glory of the star-host slants down from the firmament!
 	Na-chaered palan-díriel	Having gazed afar
   ⸱	o galadhremmin ennorath,	from the tree-tangled lands of Middle-earth,
  	Fanuilos le linnathon	to thee, Everwhite, will I sing
  ⸱    	nef aear, sí nef aearon!	on this side of the ocean, here on this side of the Great Ocean.

Commentary

A Elbereth Gilthoniel is a fragment of a hymn to Elbereth. This extract in the Sindarin language appears in The Lord of the Rings, book II, chapter 1; but another part of the hymn is evidently sung by Gildor Inglorion’s company (book I, chapter 3). Both appear mixed in the last chapter of the tale (book VI, chapter 9). Tolkien left a detailed analysis in The Road Goes Ever On, with a tengwa transcription in the mode of Beleriand, in which the poem has a subtitle: Aerlinn in Edhil o Imladris “Hymn of the Elves from Eldamar”.

Our translation is based on Tolkien’s interlinear gloss in The Road Goes Ever On. He also provided a poetic rendering of his own, less literal and rather florid.

The text is transcribed in tengwar or “letters of Fëanor” according to the mode of Beleriand created by Tolkien and illustrated for instance by the Moria gate inscription in The Lord of the Rings, book II, chapter 4. We made use of Måns Björkman Berg’s typeface Tengwar Parmaite. Open this mode in Glaemscribe

References

࿔ Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Lord of the Rings. London: HarperCollins, 1999. 3 vol. ISBN 0-261-10235-1.

࿔ Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel & Swann, Donald. The Road Goes Ever On: a song cycle. Poems and decorations by J. R. R. Tolkien, music by Donald Swann. London: HarperCollins, 2002. 84 p. ISBN 0-00-713655-2.

The works of John Ronald Reuel and Christopher Tolkien are under the copyright of their authors and/or rights holders, including their publishers and the Tolkien Estate.
Quotations from other authors, editors and translators mentioned in the bibliography are under the copyright of their publishers, except for those whose copyright term has ended.