Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Early Quenya

alkarissen oilimain

in the last rays of light

The twenty-first phrase (line 25) of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/221) and the fifteenth phrase (line 26) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is the locative plural of alkar “rays of light”, followed by a poetic plural form of the adjective oilima “last”, as indicated by the Glossary Commentary accompanying the sixth draft (PE16/75).

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

> alkar-i-ssen oilima-in = “✱ray-(plural)-in last-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: This phrase also appeared in the fourth, fifth and sixth drafts (OM1d-f: PE16/62, 72, 74). Tolkien first wrote the phrase in the fourth draft with both the noun and adjective in the locative, but without the final n: alkarisse oilimasse (OM1d: PE16/62). In the fifth draft he switched from the noun alkar to the adjective alkara, and changed the second word to the locative of the (adjective?) panyara of unclear meaning (OM1e: PE16/72). He settled on the final form of the phrase in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74), and retained it for the final draft (MC/221).

Element in

Elements

WordGloss
alka“ray (of light), light of day; shining”
oilima“last”

Variations

  • alkarisse oilimasse ✧ PE16/062
  • alkarasse {oilimasse >> wanyarasse >>} panyarasse ✧ PE16/072
  • {alkarasse >> alkaraisen >>} alkarissen oilimain ✧ PE16/074
  • alkarissen {oilimaisen >>} oilimain ✧ PE16/077
Early Quenya [MC/221; PE16/062; PE16/072; PE16/074; PE16/077] Group: Eldamo. Published by

alkarissen oilimain

*in the last rays of light

Element in