Q. yéni avánier ve lintë yuldar “years have passed away like swift draughts”

Q. yéni avánier ve lintë yuldar, “years have passed away like swift draughts”

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The 3rd phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier >> yéni avánier ve lintë yuldar

Tolkien moved the prepositional phrase ve lintë yuldar “like swift draughts” from between the subject and verb to behind the verb in the prose version. As this phrase functions adverbally (describing how the years are passing), it makes sense that it would follow the verb.

Reference ✧ RGEO/58 ✧ Yēni avānier ve linte yuldar “Years have passed away (pl.) like swift (pl.) draughts”

Elements

yén “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” plural ✧ RGEO/58 (Yēni)
auta-¹ “to go (away), depart, leave; to disappear, be lost, pass away” perfect plural ✧ RGEO/58 (avānier)
ve¹ “as, like, similar, after the manner [of]” ✧ RGEO/58
linta “swift” plural ✧ RGEO/58 (linte)
yulda¹ “drink, draught, thing drunk; cup” plural ✧ RGEO/58 (yuldar)

Element In