Unfinished Tales - J. R. R. Tolkien [195]
43 Vanda: an oath, pledge, solemn promise. ter-maruva: ter ‘through’, mar - ‘abide, be settled or fixed’ future tense. Elenna·nóreo: genitive case, dependent on alcar, of Elenna·nórë ‘the land named Starwards’. alcar: ‘glory’. enyalien: en - ‘again’, yal - ‘summon’, in infinitive (or gerundial) form en-yalië, here in dative ‘for the re-calling’, but governing a direct object, alcar: thus ‘to recall or “commemorate” the glory’. Vorondo: genitive of voronda ‘steadfast in allegiance, in keeping oath or promise, faithful’ adjectives used as a ‘title’ or frequently used attribute of a name are placed after the name, and as is usual in Quenya in the case of two declinable names in apposition only the last is declined. [Another reading gives the adjective as vórimo genitive of vórima, with the same meaning as voronda. ] voronwë: ‘steadfastness, loyalty, faithfulness’, the object of enyalien.
Nai: ‘be it that, may it be that’ Nai tiruvantes: ‘be it that they will guard it’, i.e. ‘may they guard it’ (-nte, inflexion of 3 plural where no subject is previously mentioned). i hárar: ‘they who are sitting upon’. mahalmassen: locative plural of mahalma ‘throne’. mi ‘in the’. Númen: ‘West’. i Eru i: ‘the One who’. ea¨: ‘is’. tennoio: tenna ‘up to, as far as’, oio ‘an endless period’ tennoio ‘for ever’. [Author’s notes.]
44 And was not used again until King Elessar returned and renewed the bond in that same place with the King of the Rohirrim,Éomer the eighteenth descended from Eorl. It had been held lawful only for the King of Númenor to call Eru to witness, and then only on the most grave and solemn occasions. The line of the Kings had come to an end in Ar-Pharazôn who perished in the Downfall; but Elendil Voronda was descended from Tar-Elendil the fourth King, and was held to be the rightful lord of the Faithful, who had taken no part in the rebellion of the Kings and had been preserved from destruction. Cirion was the Steward of the Kings descended from Elendil, and so far as Gondor was concerned had as regent all their powers – until the King should come again. Nonetheless his oath astounded those who heard it, and filled them with awe, and was alone (over and above the venerable tomb) sufficient to hallow the place where it was spoken. [Author’s note.] – Elendil’s name Voronda, ‘the Faithful’, which appears also in Cirion’s Oath, was in this note first written Voronwë, which in the Oath is a noun, meaning ‘faithfulness, steadfastness’. But in Appendix A (I, ii) to The Lord of the Rings Mardil, the first Ruling Steward of Gondor, is called ‘Mardil Voronwë “the Steadfast” ’ and in the First Age the Elf of Gondolin who guided Tuor from Vinyamar was named Voronwë, which in the Index to The Silmarillion I likewise translated ‘the Steadfast’.
45 See the first citation in Appendix C to ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, pp. 337 – 81.
46 These names are given in Sindarin according to the usage of Gondor; but many of them were named anew by the Éothéod, being alterations of the older names to fit their own tongue, or translations of them, or names of their own making. In the narrative of The Lord of the Rings the names in the language of the Rohirrim are mostly used. Thus Angren = Isen; Angrenost = Isengard; Fangorn (which is also used) = Entwood; Onodló = Entwash; Glanhír = Mering Stream (both mean ‘boundary stream’). [Author’s note.] – The name of the river Limlight is perplexed. There are two versions of the text and note at this point, from one of which it seems that the Sindarin name was Limlich, adapted in the language of Rohan as Limliht (‘modernized’ as Lim-light). In the other (later) version, Limlich is emended, puzzlingly, to Limliht in the text, so that this becomes the Sindarin form. Elsewhere (p. 364) the Sindarin name of this river is given as Limlaith. In view of this uncertainty I have given Limlight in the text. Whatever the original