ᴱQ. silmeráno tindon “shining in the silver moon”

⚠️ᴱQ. silmeráno tindon “shining in the silver moon”

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The twelfth phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). Its first word is the genitive form of silmerána “gleaming moon” followed by the aorist 3rd-plural masculine form of the verb tini- “to shine, gleam”. The subject of this phrase is actually ondolin “rocks” appearing in the previous phrase, with the genitive silmeráno giving the context in which the rocks shine. A more literal translation would be “*of the gleaming moon they shine”.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

silme-rán-o tin-don = “*gleaming-moon-of shine-they”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem as no silmerána tindon, with no “under” serving the same role as the genitive (OM1d: PE16/62), hence “*under the gleaming moon they shine”. Tolkien switched to the final form of the phrase in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74).

References ✧ MC/220; PE16/62, 72, 74

Glosses

Variations

Elements

silmerána “gleaming moon, silver moon” genitive ✧ MC/220 (Silmeráno); PE16/62; PE16/72 (silmeraana); PE16/74 (silmeráno)
tini- “to gleam, shine as a star” aorist 3rd-pl-masc ✧ MC/220 (tindon); PE16/62 (tindon); PE16/72 (tindon); PE16/74 (tindon)
nu “under” ✧ PE16/62 (no); PE16/72 (no); PE16/74 (no)

Element In