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The Two Trees
English
Qenya
Sarati

FÞ%?ÓÈÖ!ÀÓÀóèdÈè!FÓ?a
ÀÓFÒ#Ü?ÓÈÖ!ÀÓ#Ü!PÒ
FÜ"Ö!ÀÓ??ÖÈÖŸè!FÓÈÖ
Î!?ÓŸÒPÒ!aè!Fè¹Ó?!aè!ÀÓ?#ÖÀÓ?ŸòÒ!FÓÈÖ
Valar empannen Aldaru
mi kon-alkorin
ar sealálan táro
ar sílankálan ve laure ve misil.
The Gods planted the Two Trees
in a blessed garth
and they grow high
and shine like gold like silver.

Commentary
This sentence comes from a manuscript of Tolkien’s with notes about several Qenya phrases. On the back there is a draft for the chapter “The white rider” of The Lord of the Rings. Analysing the contents of this document, that the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship named the “Koivienéni Manuscript” and studied in Vinyar Tengwar n°14 and 27, allows to date it between the years 1937 and 1941.

This so-called “Two Trees” sentence given here exists only as a heavily emended draft, without English translation. We here give parts of a possible final version reconstituted by Patrick Wynne and Christopher Gilson in Vinyar Tengwar n° 27, with their interpretation of the meaning.

The text is transcribed in sarati or “letters of Rúmil”, written vertically from top to bottom and from left to right. The signs are used according to Tolkien’s valuation for Quenya. We made use of Måns Björkman Berg’s typeface Sarati Eldamar.  Open this mode in Glaemscribe

References
Vinyar Tengwar: The journal of the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, a Special Interest Group of the Mythopoeic Society. Edited by Carl F. Hostetter. Crofton (Maryland): 1988-  . ISSN 1054-7606. 🌍 The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship.

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.
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