penna-

verb. to come down (in a slant), fall

A word appearing in the phrase silivren __penna__ míriel within the A Elbereth Gilthoniel prayer from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/238). In The Road Goes Ever On (RGEO) from 1967, Tolkien loosely translated this phrase as “from glittering crystal slanting falls with light like jewels” and more exactly as “(white) glittering slants-down sparkling like jewels” (RGEO/63-64). In various private notes, Tolkien specified that penna- was a verb meaning “come down” or “come down in a slant, fall” derived from the root √PED “fall in steep slant, incline, slope” (PE17/24, 173).