linnon

verb. I sing

linnathon

verb. I will sing, I will chant

le linnon im tinúviel

*to thee I sing, I, Tinúviel

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

• Patrick Wynne: “✱to thee I sing, I, the Nightingale” (NTTLS/11)

• David Salo: “✱I sing to you, I, Nightingale” (GS/211)

• Bertrand Bellet and Benjamin Babut: “✱to thee I sing, Tinúviel myself” (GTLC)

The first word is the 2nd-person-polite pronoun le “thee”, with its use as the indirect object “to thee” implied by its position before the verb, as suggested by Wynne and Salo (NTTLS/10, GS/213). The second word linnon “I sing” is the present 1st-person-singular form of the verb linna- “to sing”. The third word is the first person or reflexive pronoun im “I, myself”. The last word Tinúviel is the other name of the speaker, Lúthien, usually translated “Nightingale”.

linna

sing

(i linna, i linnar) (chant)

linna-

verb. to sing, chant

linna-

verb. to sing

linna-

verb. sing

glir

sing

1. glir- (i **lîr, in glirir) (recite poem), 2) linna- (i linna, i linnar**) (chant)

glir

sing

(i ’lîr, in glirir) (recite poem)