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One evening years ago, near bedtime, Candace and I were surprised when Rachel came down from her room where she had been hard at work on some project known only to herself. For homeschool that year, Rachel’s language arts course was an introduction to linguistics and historical philology based upon Quenya, one of the ancient Elvish languages recovered by the lifelong work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Rachel then began to sing “Into the West” to us, in Elvish, as movingly as Annie Lennox’s rendition in English (English lyrics here). Rachel somehow discovered the original Quenya version of the song, which Peter Jackson et al. must have had translated into English for their cinematic version of The Return of the King. We have no video of Rachel singing this original Elvish version, but Annie Lennox’s English version is at YouTube and .

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A caita
Lissë findesselya
Lómë lantëa
Utúliel tië-mettanna
Sí á fumë
A óla i quenion ya utuliër
Tulteantë
Et ter haira falassello
Manan nyeril?
Man nar i nirë antalyassë?
Cenuvalyë
Autuva ilyë i nirë
Varna manyatsë
Er fúmalyë
Man cénalyë i Númenessë?
Manan lossi aiwi tultar?
Ter i ëar Isil ortëa
Ciryar túlar cólielyë mar
Ilya sintuva telpë hyellenna
Cala i nenna
Ilyë fëar auta
Sintëa estel i lómenna
Huinë lantëa
Et onótimello, lúmello
Áva quetë
Sa utúlielmë i mettanna
Tultëar lossi falassi
Nauva atomentielvo
Ar nauvalyë manyatsë
Er fúmala
Man cénalyë i Númenessë?
Manan lossi aiwi tultar?
Ter i ëar Isil ortëa
Ciryar túlar cólielyë mar
Ilya sintuva telpë hyellenna
Cala i nenna
Autëar sindë ciryar
I Númenna

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Note: My daughter Rachel made this Quenya translation of “Into the West” many years ago and posted it on her homepage.mac.com website. Since that service went away this past July, I’m reposting some of that content here, along with some drawings that she made around the same time. Cf. the previous two posts. Check out Rachel’s current blog, Onward Into Light. “Into the West” has been mentioned on this blog previously here and here.