S. si loth a galadh lasto dîn “*here flower and tree listen [in] silence”

S. si loth a galadh lasto dîn “*here flower and tree listen [in] silence”

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The third phrase of Lúthien’s Song (LB/354). Three translations of this phrase are:

The first word si resembles the Sindarin word “here”, though that word usually appears with a long vowel. All of Wynne, Salo, Bellet and Babut suggested instead that it might in this particular case be used temporally like its Quenya cognate Q. “now”. However, in notes published after all of their analyses, Tolkien stated that S. only meant “here”, and used for “now” (PE17/27). I think it is safer to assume that si means “here”.

The second word is loth “flower” joined by the conjunction “and” to galadh “tree”. The fifth word lasto is the imperative form of the verb lasta- “to listen”. The last word is probably the noun dîn “silence”, though Wynne suggested it might be some form of di¹ “beneath” (NTTLS/9).

Reference ✧ LB/354

Elements

“here, in this place (of speaker)” ✧ LB/354 (si)
loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ LB/354
“and; †by, near, beside” ✧ LB/354
galadh “tree” ✧ LB/354
lasta- “to listen, give ear” imperative ✧ LB/354 (lasto)
dîn “silence; silent, quiet” ✧ LB/354

Element In