Translation Notes for "Maileheri Mirwa ar Undómë-Aranelirya" · 2:13am Apr 21st, 2018
So apparently some people are actually interested in the Quenya used in my deer clopfic?
As I said in the Author's Note, I didn't keep translation notes, so I actually don't know what some of these sentences mean, but I've retranslated a portion of it (the first 40% or so of the story), along with some linguistic notes. I might do some more translations later, though likely without the grammar explanations.
Note that in addition to English grammar, I'm assuming a basic knowledge of the ideas of verb conjugations and noun declensions. Default declension is nominative. I've also just finished a freshman-level course on Latin, so a lot of my terminology and thinking is likely going to be influenced by that. Finally, the Quenya dictionary is woefully incomplete, so there's a lot of hacks and other weird tricks to try and translate certain words/phrases.
And now, without further ado, Part 1 of ??? of "I already wasted my life on this, why are you following me down this hole?"
"Maileheri Mirwa ar Undómë-Aranelirya" - "Mistress Rarity and Her Princess Twilight." "Maileheri" is a combination of "Mailë" ("lust") and "heri" ("lady"), so it literally translates to "Lady of Lust" (Strictly speaking "Maileoheri" might be better as it uses the genitive form of "Mailë," but since this is a compound word I'm taking liberties to make it sound better to me). "Mirwa" means "precious," which I picked because Quenya doesn't have a word for "rarity." "Ar" = "and." "Undómë" = "Twilight." "Aranelirya" is the root word "aranel" ("princess") with the third person possessive suffix "-rya" ("his/her/its." In Quenya, possession is indicated using suffixes, and if a noun ends with a consonant, we add an "i" to bridge the gap between the noun and the possessive suffix.)
"Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo, Undómë-Aranel." - "A star shines upon the hour of our meeting, Princess Twilight." "Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo" is a traditional Elvish greeting.
"Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo, Mírëheri Mirwa." - "A star shines upon the hour of our meeting, Lady of Jewels Rarity." Rarity's title is "Mírëheri" which is formed from "Mírë" ("jewels/precious stones") and "-heri" ("lady").
"Aldalambë" - "Treetongue." "Alda" = "tree" and "lambë" = "tongue" (as in language). It's the name I hacked together for the Deer's language, since I didn't want to use "Quenya" and Quenya has no word for "deer."
"Naira-Aranel and Rána-Aranel" - "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Literally "Princess Sun and Princess Moon," because I'm lazy and didn't want to try for something clever.
"I Luhtaina Parmosambë" - "The Enchanted Library." "I" = "The," "Luhtaina" = "Enchanted," and "Parmosambë" is a compound word consisting of the genitive form of "Parma" ("Book") and "sambë" ("room/chamber") (literally "Room of Book"). Quenya, unfortunately, doesn't have a word for "library" so I had to improvise.
"Mára este, Undómë-Aranel." - "Good rest, Princess Twilight." "Mára" = "Good" and "este" = "rest."
"Harya mára lóme, Mírëheri Mirwa." - "Have a good night, Lady Rarity." "Harya" = "Have/possess" (aorist stem conjugation), "lóme" = "night" (nominative declension, since Qeunya uses the nominative for both subject and direct object (where some language might use accusative instead)). I got this from a phrasebook, which is why it uses the aorist stem for the imperative, which is a bit of an archaic construct.
"Alatulya, aranelinya." - "Welcome, my princess." "Alatulya" = "welcome" and in this case, the first person singular possessive suffix "-nya" is used to denote "my."
"Lúmë anda avánië" - "It has been too long." Grabbed this one straight from a phrasebook, and haven't verified it. Literal translation should be "a long time has passed."
"Olórin-Aran" - "King Gandalf." "Aran" = "King" and "Olórin" is the Quenya name for Gandalf in LotR.
"Ece ment?" - "Can we?" "Ece" = "Can/may" and "ment" is the first person dual dative personal pronoun. Quenya differentiates between plural ("many") and dual ("two") forms of a noun. A more literal translation might be "can the two of us?"
"Yé mána!" - "What a blessing!" Traditional Elvish phrase.
"Sina lómë nauva anda." - "It's going to be a long night." Literally "This night will be long" ("Sina" = "this," "nauva" = "will be" in aorist tense, "anda" = "long")
"Horyatye horyië, aranelinya." - "You must do what you must do, my princess." This started out as an attempt to translate the phrase "duty calls," and after an hour of failure and dead ends, I gave up. "Horyatye" is the aorist tense of "horya" (be compelled to do) with the second-person singular/familiar personal pronoun suffix "-tye" (note that "-t" is also valid but it sounded better with "-tye"). "Horylë" = "that which must be done" (the noun form of "horya").
"Áva soryat, envéluvanque wet." "Don't worry, we'll see each other again." In Quenya, the imperative is formed by taking the word "Á" and adding the infinitive of the word. To negate the imperative, we use "Áva" instead of "Á." "Soryat" is the verb "sorya" ("dread/feel fear") with the second person singular/familiar personal pronoun suffix "-t." "envéluvanque" is the prefix "en-" ("again"), the future tense "véluva" of "véla" ("see") and "nque" is supposed to be the reflexive pronoun ending, but the documentation for the reflexive pronouns are quite sparse, so I probably used it wrong. "Wet" = first person dual personal pronoun, used as the direct object in this case.
"Melinyet" - "I love you." If the subject and direct object of a verb are both pronouns, then we use the long form of the subject followed by the short form of the direct object. In this case, "Melinyet" = "Meli-" (aorist tense of "Mel-" (love)) + "-nye-" (long form of the first person singular personal pronoun suffix) + "-t" (you).
"Melinyet yando." - "I love you also." "Yando" = "Also."
"Á tule asenye. Á vestanquë húmie lúmi pá caima sinasse." "Come with me. We will wed a thousand times on this bed." Grabbed both of these from a phrasebook. First sentence is the Imperative form of "tul-" (come) with "asenye" = "as-" (with) + "-e-" (bridge) + "-nye" ("me"). Second sentence is the imperative form of "vesta-" ("wed") with the first person inclusive dual personal pronoun suffix "-nquë," followed by "húmië" ("thousand"), "lúmi" ("time." Should probably be plural but I'm not sure), "pá" ("on"), "caima" ("bed"), and "sinasse" (locative declension of "sina" ("this")).
"Á capet i caima, aranelinya." - "Climb onto this bed, my princess." Imperative form of "cap-" ("climb") + "-t" ("you"). "Caima" = "bed."
"Man merit, nwalca hya milya?" - "What do you want, cruel or gentle?" "Man" = "what, "merit" is the aorist tense of "mer-" ("want/desire") with the ending "-t" ("you"), "nwalca" = "cruel," "hya" = "or," "milya" = "soft/gentle."
"Uin hlarë ta, aranelinya." - "I didn't hear that, my princess." In Quenya, we use "ua-" to negate a verb, and append the pronoun suffixes to it instead. "Uin" is an archaic form of what would most properly be "uan," which is "ua-" + "-n" ("I"). The next verb "hlarë" (hear) is conjugated normally, using the aorist tense in this case. "ta" = "that."
"Sië nauvasa." - "So be it." "Sië" = "thus," "nauvas" = "nauva-" ("will be") + "-s" (short suffix for the third person singular personal pronoun).
"Nanwenuvan rato." - "I will return soon." "Nanwenuvan" is the future tense of "nanwen-" ("return") with the suffix "-n" ("I"). "Rato" = "soon."
"alufurië" - "faux leather." "Alu" = "dressed leather" and "furië" = "lie" (gerund of "fur-" = "lie").
"Ma nán írima?" - "Am I beautiful?" "Ma" is the interrogative pronoun, "nán" = "ná" ("to be") "-n" ("I"), and "írima" = "lovely/beautiful/desirable."
"Ánillo avatyare!" = "Forgive me!" Grabbed this from a phrasebook. "Avatyare" is the aorist tense of "avatyar-" ("forgive"). "Ánillo" is probably the imperative "Á" with the first person singular dative personal pronoun suffix "-nillo" added to the end.
"Uanenyalën ata!" - "I won't forget again!" ""Uanenyalën" = "Uan" ("I won't be") + "enyalë" (gerund of "enyal-" = "forget") + "-n" ("I," repeated to make it sound better and for emphasis). "Ata" = "again."
"Nán manwa, Mírëheri Mirwa." - "I'm ready, Lady Rarity." "Manwa" = "ready."
"Umin 'Mírëheri' mí caimasan." - "I am not 'Lady of Jewels' in the bedroom." "Umin" is the aorist tense of "um-" ("not be") with the first person suffix "-n." "mí" = "in/within the." "caimasan" = "bedchamber."
"Á estatyen 'Maileheri,' ve Melessë-Aranelitya." - "Call me 'Mistress,' like your Princess Cadance." "Á estatyen" = imperative with second person subject and first person object of "esta-" ("to name"). The "Maileheri" part is a bit of a play on the fact that "mailë" can refer to love ("Lady of Love" = Cadance) or lust ("Lady of Lust" = Mistress). "Ve" = "as/like." "Melessë" = "love" (For anyone curious, my username Melessë Lindenya translates approximately to "My Love Song," or "Mi Amore Cadenza.") "Aranelitya" = "Aranel" ("Princess") + "-tya" ("your").
"Sá, Maileheri." - "Yes, Mistress." ""Sá" = "All right/I agree/Of course I do."
"Mára." - "Good."
"Á nyaretyen tyávenya," - "Tell me how I taste." "Á nyaretyen" = imperative with second person subject and first person object of "nyar-" ("tell"). "tyávenya" = "tyávë" ("taste") + "-nya" ("my").
"Nát ve lís lambenyassë, Mailerheri." - "You taste like honey on my tongue, Mistress." "Nát ve lís lambenyassë" is from a phrasebook. "lís" = "honey" and "lambenyassë" = locative declension of "lambe" ("tongue") with first person singular possessive pronoun suffix "-nya" (suffix goes before the declension).
"Ma merit enta?" - "Do you want another?" "enta" = "another."
"Merinyes." - "I want it."
"Cendan i nás néna i lúmen." - "I see it's wet for occasion." Taken directly from the phrasebook - I haven't actually looked up the construction.
"Tyávë i arya, ve miruvórë." - "The taste is the best, like ambrosia." "i arya" = "the best." "Miruvórë" is a special drink made the nectar of flowers by the Valar. The closest English equivalent would be ambrosia, the food of the gods.
"Áva nwalyatyen ar áni puhta!" - "Stop tormenting me and fuck me!" "nwalyatyen" = infinitive of "nwalya-" ("torment") + "-tye" ("you") + "-n" ("me"). "Puhta" = "sex/fuck."
"Apa telyan tyálië tyé, aranelinya." - "After I finish my game with you, my princess." "Apa" = "after," "telya-" = "finish," "tyálië" = "game," "tyé."
I wish I could favorite blogs :O
4844269
You could give them a
Melinyet.
4844279
👍
I find it telling that the expanded modern Quenya lexicon is well supplied with words like lust and other sex terms, but not library. I take it there's a wealth of elfporn fanfic out there?
4844378
Not as much as I'd like. I did a quick search of AO3 and only found a couple dirty stories with a few Quenya phrases in them.
Also, to be fair, words like "library" are easy enough to hack together. Deriving a word for "coitus" actually took some work (the word "puhta" is derived from an early version of the language called "Qenya," which used the word "pukta"), so those would be the ones that get added to the lexicon, with the assumption that anyone with some skill at Quenya could figure "library" out.
Later on in the story, I had to invent my own word for "orgasm," since this new lexicon doesn't have a word for it, or even for "pleasure" of any kind. The phrasebook I was using had "cry out in joy" as a loose translation, but it didn't fit what I wanted. So I took the word "telma-" ("end/conclusion") and the participle of "puhta-" and created "telmapuhtaina."
So in conclusion, the Quenya lexicon is just really weird, and filled with holes at completely random places.
Some languages make the distinction between a room of books and a building of books, and they're mostly illogical. In French, librairie means bookstore, and bibliothèque means library. In Farsi, "bookhouse" means bookcase, not library. So what I guess I'm saying here is that your construction of Quenya word is eminently defensible.
...I come to this account randomly out of a review, and discover very sexy elvish.
Well then. It is apparently a good day, and I need to study some linguistics.
4983888
In Spanish, "librería" means bookstore, and "biblioteca " means library. I think is a Latin thing.