Bilingual version Quenya - English - Ambar Eldaron

Concerning Copyright and Other Matters
Some of the persons and locations in the following story are loosely based on persons
and locations described in Tolkien’s works. This is for the purpose of atmosphere only and is
not intended as a reinterpretation of Tolkien’s works.
This story was originally written for the author’s personal amusement as an attempt to
better understand the Quenya language in all its beauty and complexity, but it is essentially a
neo-Quenya text. The grammatical structure, syntax and vocabulary are mostly based on
Thorsten Renk’s Quetin i lambë eldaiva, and Helge Fauskanger’s Quenya Course. Any
divergence from this is based on my own interpretation of the language. Reconstructed words
either from Sindarin or Common Eldarin not found in the usual wordlists are so noted.
For those who find neo-Quenya untenable, may I respectfully suggest you treat the
language of the text as dialectical, since it is attested that there were dialectial differences
between the three groups of Elves living in Valinor. And while Quenya was never spoken in
Númenor as an everyday language, for purposes of this story, this is the language of choice
among the various characters.
Due to the complexity of, and even uncertainty about, the Quenya pronomial system,
certain editorial decisions were made. Thus, for purposes of this story, the following holds
true:
The second person pronomial endings are:
-tyë/-t: familiar singular -ccë/-l: familiar plural
-lyë/-l: polite singular -llë/-l: polite plural
The third person singular pronomial endings are –ryë/-s for all genders.
The first person plural pronomial endings, based on Thorsten Renk’s reasoning, are:
Exclusive We: -mmë/-m Inclusive We: -lmë/-m
Dual We: -lvë/-m
The independent first person plural subject pronoun remains me for both the Inclusive
and Exclusive forms and met for the Dual, while the Accusative/Dative forms are me/men,
respectively for both the Inclusive and Exclusive forms. The Dual Accusative/Dative forms
are met/ment, respectively.
My thanks to Helge Fauskanger and Evenstar for their assistance in this project,
and to David Wyatt for giving us the permission to use one of his
wonderful illustrations.
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The events of this story take place in Númenor in the final years before the Downfall,
when Isildur steals a seed of Nimloth, the White Tree of Númenor.
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