laurië

goldenness

laurië noun "goldenness", also used as adv. "goldenly" (PE17:74); the word laurië occurring in Namarië Tolkien variously interpreted either as this adverb or as the pl. form of laurëa, q.v.

laurië

noun/adverb. goldenness; like gold

An abstract noun form of laurë “gold (light or colour)” meaning something like “goldenness”, also used adverbially for “like gold” or “goldenly” (PE17/58, 61). The word laurië “like gold” appeared in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377), but Tolkien vacillated on whether it was an abstract noun used adverbially or the plural of the adjective laurëa “golden” used as an adverb. See the discussion of Quenya adverbs for more information.

laurëa

adjective. golden (of hue)

An adjectival form of laurë “gold (light or colour)” (RGEO/62; PE17/61) appearing in its plural form laurië in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the adjectival form of ᴱQ. laure was ᴱQ. laurina “golden” (QL/51), but ᴱQ. laurea “golden” appeared in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/73), and Tolkien seems to have used that form thereafter.

laurëa

golden, like gold

laurëa adj. "golden, like gold"; pl. laurië is attested (Nam, RGEO:66)

laurina

golden

laurina adj. "golden" (LT1:258). Compare laurëa in later material.

ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen

ah! leaves fall golden in [by means of] the wind

The 1st phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen >> ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen

Tolkien moved the subject lassi “leaves” to be before the verb lantar “fall (pl.)”, consistent with the usual subject-verb word order of Quenya. However, for reasons unclear, he also moved the adjective laurië “golden (pl.)” after the verb, keeping it separate from the noun it modifies. Ordinally, adjectives in Quenya preceed the noun they modify (PE17/93, PM/346). It seems to me to be more natural to keep the adjective back in its original position.

> ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen »»» ✱ai! laurië lassi lantar súrinen

One possible explanation for this unusual placement is that Tolkien may have considered laurië to be an adverb (“like gold”) instead of an adjective (“golden”). This is consistent with English translation of this phrase in the poetic Namárië: “like gold fall the leaves in the wind”.

There are several places in the corpus where Tolkien designated the word laurië as an adverb (PE17/58, 61, 62). However, in the commentary on the Namárië poem (RGEO/62), Tolkien explicitly states that the word laurië is the plural form of the adjective laurëa. Since laurië is the form of both the plural adjective and the adverb derived from the noun laurë “gold (light or colour)”, perhaps Tolkien was playing with this ambiguity in his choice of word order.

ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen

ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind

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