ᴱQ. mandulómi anta móri Ambalar “the East raised black shadows out of hell”

⚠️ᴱQ. mandulómi anta móri Ambalar “the East raised black shadows out of hell”

[< Previous Phrase] Oilima Markirya (First Version) [Next Phrase >]


The fifteenth phrase (lines 15-16) of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/221). The first word is a compound of mandu “hell” and the plural of lóme “shadows”. It is followed by the aorist form of the verb anta- “to give”, with the looser English translation “raised”. For some reason the adjective móri “black” (plural form of móre) appears after the verb, with the subject Ambalar “East” as the final word of the phrase.

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

mandu-lóm-i anta mór-i Ambalar = “*hell-shadow-(plural) give black-(plural) East”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem, using a singular form of the adjective móre “black” and an alternate (definite) word for “East”: n’Ambustar (OM1d: PE16/62). Tolkien switched to the final form of this phrase in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74).

References ✧ MC/221; PE16/62, 72, 74

Glosses

Variations

Elements

mandu “hell; abyss” ✧ MC/221; PE16/62; PE16/72; PE16/74
lóme “dusk, gloom, darkness; shadow, cloud” plural ✧ MC/221 (lómi); PE16/62 (lómi); PE16/72 (loomi); PE16/74 (lómi)
anta- “to give” aorist ✧ MC/221; PE16/62; PE16/72 (äntä); PE16/74
móre “night, darkness; black, dark” plural ✧ MC/221 (móri); PE16/62 (more); PE16/72 (moore); PE16/74 (móri)
Ambalar “the East” ✧ MC/221; PE16/62 (Ambustar); PE16/72 (Ambustaar); PE16/74
“the” ✧ PE16/62 (n); PE16/72 (n); PE16/74 (n)

Element In