"Namárië" () is a poem by

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

written in Quenya, a

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction ...

, and published in ''The Lord of the Rings''. It is subtitled "

Galadriel Galadriel (IPA: Help:IPA, �aˈladri.ɛl is a Character (arts), character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. She ...

's Lament in Lórien", which in Quenya is ''Altariello nainië Lóriendessë''. The poem appears in one other book by Tolkien, ''

The Road Goes Ever On ''The Road Goes Ever On'' is a 1967 song cycle that has been published as a book of sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, ...

''. The Quenya word ''namárië'' is a reduced form of ''á na márië'', meaning literally "be well", an Elvish formula used for

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indiv ...

and for farewell. "Namárië" is the longest Quenya text in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' and also one of the longest continuous texts in Quenya that Tolkien ever wrote. He rewrote it many times before it reached the form that was published, and he wrote many versions in his

Tengwar The Tengwar script is an artificial script, one of several scripts created by J. R. R. Tolkien, the author of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Within the fictional context of Middle-earth, the Tengwar were invented by the Elf Fëanor, and use ...

script. An English translation is provided in the book.

Poem

The poem begins:

Early versions

The earliest version of "Namárië" was published posthumously in ''

The Treason of Isengard ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''. The text is in Quenya, but Tolkien did not provide a translation and some of the words are unlike those used in the final poem. Many words can be found in the '' Etymologies''. Although there are words that can be recognized by consulting the appendices of ''

The Silmarillion ''The Silmarillion'' () is a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was edited and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by the fantasy author Guy Gavri ...

'', ''

Unfinished Tales ''Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth'' is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tale ...

'' and ''The Lost Road'', the sentence structure and spellings mark this version as different from the Quenya Tolkien decided on. For example, there are many parts ending in the consonant ''n'', while the Quenya in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and later works lack this ending, and there are many parts that are composed of several compound words, while the Quenya in later works tends toward more separate words.

Adaptations

Namárië was set to music by

Donald Swann Donald Ibrahim Swann (30 September 1923 – 23 March 1994) was a British composer, musician, singer and entertainer. He was one half of Flanders and Swann, writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders. Life Donald Swann was born ...

with Tolkien's help. The sheet music and an audio recording are in their 1967 book ''

''. In a separate recording, Tolkien sings the poem in the manner of a

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...

, indicating his preferred melody to Swann. Gill Gleeson, writing in '' Mallorn'', states that it has the quality of an "improvisatory plainsong for voice and (melodic) instrument, a self-contained unharmonised melody." She describes it as "finely balanced in proportion, and held in tension between two modal scales", with the reciting-note C^# as a "pivot". She likens the instrumental mode to a "descending

melodic minor scale In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which als ...

" in F^#, with the vocal mode in A major. In 2008, the Spanish neoclassical

dark wave Dark wave (also typeset as darkwave) is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as be ...

band Narsilion published a studio album called ''Namárië''. Among other Tolkien-inspired songs it features a track "Namárië: El Llanto de Galadriel amárië: Galadriel's Lament. From 1997 to 2005 the Danish Tolkien Ensemble published four CDs featuring every poem from ''The Lord of the Rings,'' amongst them two versions of "Namárië", both composed by the ensemble leader Caspar Reiff: The first, sung by Signe Asmussen, sets the original Quenya text to music; the second version features the English translation spoken by the actor Christopher Lee (who played Saruman in the movies). The band

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

adapted the first line of "Namárië" for the opening of their 1969 song "

Ramble On "Ramble On" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin from their 1969 album '' Led Zeppelin II''. It was co-written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and was recorded in 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio, New York City, during the band's second concert ...

", in the English line "Leaves are falling all around", representing "Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind". Further references to Tolkien's writing appear in the rest of the song, which mentions

Gollum Gollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel '' The Hobbit'', and became important in its sequel, '' The Lord of the Rings''. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the R ...

and

Mordor In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor (pronounced ; from Sindarin ''Black Land'' and Quenya ''Land of Shadow'') is the realm and base of the evil Sauron. It lay to the east of Gondor and the great river Anduin, an ...

References

Sources

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External links

Tolkien reciting ''Namárië''

by

Helge Fauskanger Helge Kåre Fauskanger (born 17 August 1971) is a Norwegian author and philologist. In Norway he is known as a crime novelist; elsewhere, he is best known as a Tolkien scholar with an interest in Tolkien's constructed languages. Education Fau ...

The Donald Swann version

The Ilúvamil version
* Song rendition of Namárië in Quenya, b
Aijin Hidelias
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MP3Official Website
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MP3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Namarie 1954 poems Middle-earth poetry Greeting words and phrases Words originating in fiction Poems in The Lord of the Rings