I Yessessë

The First Chapter of Genesis in Quenya

Revised Version (September 2003)

Some years ago, I observed: "Newly written Quenya texts tend to be in verse. Prose is rare. Well, let's try to produce a relatively long Quenya text in prose. Let's translate the first chapter of the Bible into Quenya!" I did produce a suggested rendering of this text. However, Quenya research has since made some progress; more source material has been published. My original Quenya translation of Genesis 1 has long been overdue for revision.

As I wrote in the introduction to the original translation, most of the vocabulary we need is readily available. One of the very first words, "beginning", is however a little problematic. In the Etymologies we have essë "beginning", but this clashes with the word for "name", well attested in later sources and also listed in the previous entry in Etym! The entry ESE-, ESET-, that yielded essë "beginning", was marked with a query: Tolkien had to think about this! Another word derived from the same stem was esta "first", and this gives us a clue to how Tolkien eventually decided to remove the homophony: In LotR Appendix D, in the descriptions of the calendars, we find the word yestarë, the name of the first day of the year. Yestarë can hardly mean anything else than "first-day" (the element - "day" also appears in many other words). It seems, then, that Tolkien had decided to prefix a y to the stem ESE-, ESET- to keep the words derived from it apart from the derivatives of ES, having to do with names and naming. Esta "first" thus became yesta, and we must assume that essë "beginning" likewise became yessë. So the first words of the Bible, "in the beginning", may be rendered i yessessë.

In the original article I wrote: "It's a pity that we don't know what the nominalizer 'that' (as opposed to the pronoun 'that') is in Quenya. It would be needed in such sentences as 'God saw that the light was good'." In the original article I simply left out the word 'that', since in English at least, "God saw the light was good" is also possible. However, for this kind of "that" we now have the word sa, though the relevant source is rather obscure (see Lesson 20 of my Quenya course for details). I would now translate "God saw that the light was good" as Eru cennë sa i cálë né mára.

The verb "to be" is a problem. In the original article I observed that in the more LotR-compatible forms of Quenya, only the forms "is", nar "are" and nai "may it be" are attested. Since then a couple of more forms have luckily turned up. It is now known that the future tense "will be" is nauva (VT42:34). This was indeed my first guess also in the original article (though I listed two other possible alternatives as well), but I did not have the courage to use nauva in my translation; instead I used the form yéva, attested in Fíriel's Song in LR:72. This language of this song however differs somewhat from LotR-style Quenya, and I was painfully aware that I was probably mixing different conceptual phases: For "is" the language of Fíriel's Song has ye rather than , the attested form in LotR-style Quenya: Nauva for "will be" clearly goes with the latter form, whereas ye "is" and yéva "will be" clearly reflect another stem. But we're going to need a word for "was", too, and the material that has been published in recent years has not thrown any light on what the past tense of "to be" may be. If the verb is regular, we would expect "was" to be something like *nanë, but who's heard about a language with a regular verb "to be"? (Yes, there is esti, estas, estis, estos, estus, estu, but Esperanto doesn't count!) In her Basic Quenya, Nancy Martsch points out that there is some tradition for using as the Quenya word for "was", and this form is as good as any until Tolkien's linguistic papers are published. As for the imperative of "to be", I originally used na in conjunction with the independent imperative particle á - hence ána. New material however suggests that na by itself can function as the imperative, as in Tolkien's translation of the Lord's Prayer (another Biblical text!): Na airë esselya, literally probably *"be holy thy name".

Where the verb "to be" is not a mere copula, but acquires a more absolute sense ("to exist"), we will use the verb ëa. I originally assumed that its past tense would be **ëanë, but it is now known that because of the special derivation of this verb, its past tense is actually engë (VT43:38). Hence we will here use formulas like engë mornië or i undumë = "there was darkness (darkness existed) upon the abyss". The Ainulindalë tells how Eru gave the Music independent being with this verb: "Eä! Let these things Be!" Therefore, we can probably use constructions like ëa cálë! = "there be light!" It should be noted that the verb ëa is also used in an "absolute" sense, referring to an entire situation; Tolkien used the past tense engë when rendering a line from the Gloria Patri: "as it was in the beginning..." (VT43:36). This suggests that engë should likewise be used in the phrase "and it was so", occurring repeatedly in the Biblical creation account. Notice that so used, engë has no real subject (in English the dummy-subject "it" is filled in, though this "it" does not actually refer to anything).

We are also going to need a verb "divide". The Etymologies provides us with a primitive stem KIL having this meaning, but no Quenya verb. We could simply use *cil-, but cilmë, that would be the corresponding verbal noun, is used for "choice" in later works. Hence cil- = "choose"? This may represent the same basic idea "divide": by choosing you pick one alternative, thereby dividing or separating it from the other options. Even so, for "divide" we should probably try to find another word than cil-. By adding a very frequent verbal ending to KIL we derive *cilta- (a verb I believe I have seen in another Quenya text, not my own). The ending -ta may have a causative meaning, as in tulta- "summon" (make come) as compared to the stem TUL "come", but sometimes it adds nothing to the meaning of the basic root, as when the stem LEK "loose, let loose" yields the Quenya verb lehta- of similar meaning (*kt becoming ht in Quenya). Therefore a verb cilta- can have the same meaning as the basic stem KIL, "divide". (Cilta- is translated "separate" below.)

In the original version of this article, I wrote: "Then there is the problem of ordinals." I observed that we only had attested words for "first, second, third" (minya, tatya, nelya). What about "fourth", "fifth" and "sixth"? I tried to deduce these forms from the corresponding cardinals. I settled on canya for "fourth", and lempëa and enquëa for "fifth" and "sixth". The two latter forms were actually confirmed by Tolkienian material later published in VT42:25-26. However, the same material indicates that "fourth" should rather be cantëa, and Tolkien also noted that tatya was an archaic word for "second", later (in Arda time) replaced by attëa. I have used these ordinals in this revised version of the translation.

There are a few other problems, too; we shall have to invent a word for "insect" as we go along (what about celvallë, diminutive of celva "animal"?) But there are verse-by-verse comments below for those who need them. Vocabulary items not especially mentioned can be found (I hope) in the Quenya wordlists available on this site.

In the original version of this translation, I used the ending -lmë for inclusive "we", and the corresponding ending -lma for inclusive "our". It now appears that Tolkien later redefined this pronoun, turning it into exclusive "we/our" instead; it seems he decided that the inclusive forms should have -lv- instead of -lm-. I have implemented this revision here.

All right...let's do it!

1. I yessessë Eru ontanë Menel ar Cemen. 2 Cemen né cumna ar lusta, ar engë mornië or i undumë, nan Eruo Súlë willë or i neni.

3 Ar equë Eru: "Eä cálë!" Ar engë cálë. 4 Eru cennë sa i cálë né mára, ar Eru ciltanë i cálë i morniello. 5 Ar Eru estanë i cálë Aurë, ar i mornië estanes Lómë. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i minya aurë. 6 Ar equë Eru: "Eä telluma endessë i nenion, ar ciltuvas nén nenello." 7 Ar Eru carnë i telluma ar ciltanë i neni or i telluma i nenillon nu i telluma. Ar engë sië. 8 Ar Eru estanë i telluma Menel. Engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i attëa aurë.

9 Ar equë Eru: "Na i neni nu menel hostainë minë nómessë, ar na i parca nór cénina!" Ar engë sië. 10 Ar Eru estanë i parca nór Cemen, nan i hostainë neni estanes Eär. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.

11 Ar equë Eru: "Á colë cemen salquë, olvar carila erdi, yávaldar colila yávë nostalentassen, cemendë." Ar engë sië. 12 Cemen collë salquë, olvar carila erdi, nostalentassen, ar aldar colila yávë yassë ëar erdentar, nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára. 13 Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i nelya aurë.

14 Ar equë Eru: "Eä calmar tellumassë menelo ciltien aurë lómillo, ar nauvantë tannar asarion ar aurion ar coranárion. 15 Nauvantë calmar tellumassë menelo caltien cemenna." Ar engë sië. 16 Eru carnë i atta altë calmar, i analta calma turien auressë ar i pitya calma turien lómissë, ar i eleni. 17 Ar Eru panyanë ta tellumassë menelo caltien cemenna 18 ar turien auressë ar lómissë ar ciltien cálë morniello. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára. 19 Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i cantëa aurë.

20 Ar equë Eru: "Á ëa úvë cuinë onnolíva i nenissen, ar á wilë aiweli tellumassë menelo." 21 Ar Eru ontanë i altë ëarcelvar ar ilya i úvë cuinë onnaiva i rihtar i nenissen, nostalentassen, ar ilyë rámavoiti onnar nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára. 22 Ar Eru laitanë te ar quentë: "Na yávinquë ar na rimbë, á quatë nén i ëarion, ar na i aiwi rimbë cemendë!" 23 Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i lempëa aurë.

24 Ar equë Eru: "Á colë cemen cuinë onnar nostalentassen, lamni ar celvaller ar cemeno hravani celvar, nostalentassen." 25 Ar Eru carnë cemeno hravani celvar nostalentassen, ar i lamni nostalentassen ar ilyë celvar i vantar cemendë, nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára. 26 Ar equë Eru: "Alvë carë Atan venwelvassë, canta velvë; ar turuvas ëaro lingwi ar menelo aiwi ar i lamni ar ilya i cemen ar ilyë celvar i vantar cemendë." 27 Ar Eru ontanë Atan venweryassë, Eruo venwessë ontaneryes; hanu ar ní ontaneryet. 28 Ar Eru laitanë te, ar equë Eru tienna: "Na yávinquë ar na rimbë, á quatë cemen ar ása panya nu le, ar á turë ëaro lingwi ar menelo aiwi ar ilyë cuinë onnar i vantar cemendë." 29 Ar equë Eru: "En! antan len ilyë olvar carila erdi, ilya i ëar ilya i palúressë cemeno, ar ilyë aldar carila yávi yassen ëar erdi. Nas ya matuval. 30 Ar ilyë hravani celvain ar ilye menelo aiwin ar ilyan i vanta cemendë, ilya cuinan, antan ilyë laiquë olvar matien."

31 Ar Eru cennë ilya ya carnes, ar en! nes ammára. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i enquëa aurë.

Or verse by verse:

1. I yessessë Eru ontanë Menel ar Cemen.
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. [I don't think Menel "Heavens" and Cemen "Earth" require the article i "the" in Quenya; they are almost proper names. Tolkien did not include any articles in the versions of his Quenya Lord's Prayer translation that used these words in the phrase "on earth as in heaven" (VT43:10-12). However, in verse 26 we include the article before "earth" in the phrase ilya i cemen "all the earth", since ilya cemen would rather mean "every earth".]

2. Cemen né cumna ar lusta, ar engë mornië or i undumë, nan Eruo Súlë willë or i neni.
The Earth was [*] void and empty, and there was darkness upon [or, over] the abyss, but the Spirit of God hovered above the waters. [Others take the Hebrew text to mean "in the beginning, when God created the Heavens and the Earth, the Earth was void and empty..." = i yessessë, írë Eru ontanë Menel ar Cemen, Cemen né cumna ar lusta...]

3. Ar equë Eru: "Eä cálë!" Ar engë cálë.
And God said, "There be light!" And there was light. [In this text, we can make good use of the tenseless verb equë "says, said". According to WJ:392, it was used to introduce quotations. Tolkien noted that this strange form was used before a name or an independent pronoun, the whole phrase of verb and name/pronoun then being followed by the actual quote. Earlier versions of this text failed to take into account Tolkien's note on word order, and we had the name Eru preceding equë instead of following it.]

4. Eru cennë sa i cálë né mára, ar Eru ciltanë i cálë i morniello.
God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. [Verb *cilta- "separate" based on the stem KIL- "divide", LR:365.]

5. Ar Eru estanë i cálë Aurë, ar i mornië estanes Lómë. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i minya aurë.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And it became evening, and it became morning, the first day.

6. Ar equë Eru: "Eä telluma endessë i nenion, ar ciltuvas nén nenello."
And God said, "Let there be a firmament in the middle of the waters, and it shall separate water from water."

7. Ar Eru carnë i telluma ar ciltanë i neni or i telluma i nenillon nu i telluma. Ar engë sië.
And God made the firmament and separated the waters above the firmament from the waters below the firmament. And it was [became? remained?] so [sië "thus", VT43:24].

8. Ar Eru estanë i telluma Menel. Engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i attëa aurë.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And it became evening, and it became morning, the second day.

9. Ar equë Eru: "Na i neni nu menel hostainë minë nómessë, ar na i parca nór cénina!" Ar engë sië.
And God said: "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered in one place, and let the dry land appear!" And it was [became?] so. [*Na = "be", imperative, hence literally "be the waters...gathered..., and be the dry land seen".]

10. Ar Eru estanë i parca nór Cemen, nan i hostainë neni estanes Eär. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.
And God called the dry land Earth, but the waters [that were] gathered he called Sea. And God saw that it was good. [Nes "it was" - it is here assumed that * "was" is shortened to *ne- before pronominal endings like -s "he, she, it". Compare the attested present-tense form , which is shortened to na- before a pronominal suffix in the attested form nalyë "you are", VT43:10.]

11. Ar equë Eru: "Á colë cemen salquë, olvar carila erdi, yávaldar colila yávë nostalentassen, cemendë." Ar engë sië.
And God said: "Let the earth bear [forth] grass, plants making seeds, fruit-trees bearing [forth] fruit according to their kinds, in the earth." And it was [became? remained?] so. [Nostalë "species, kind": Qenya Lexicon p. 66, also LT1:272. Pl. locative nostalentassen is literally "in their kinds". Cemendë is the locative of Cemen "earth", attested in Tolkien's translation of the Lord's Prayer.]

12. Cemen collë salquë, olvar carila erdi, nostalentassen, ar aldar colila yávë yassë ëar erdentar, nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.
The earth bore [forth] grass, plants making seeds, according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which their seeds are, according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

13. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i nelya aurë.
And it became evening, and it became morning, the third day.

14. Ar equë Eru: "Eä calmar tellumassë menelo ciltien aurë lómillo, ar nauvantë tannar asarion ar aurion ar coranárion.
And God said: "Let there be lights [or, lamps] on the firmament of the heavens to separate day from night, and they will be signs of times and days and years. [According to SD:415, the noun lómë "night" has the stem lómi-, hence ablative lómillo here. Noun tanna "sign": MR:385.]

15. Nauvantë calmar tellumassë menelo caltien cemenna." Ar engë sië.
They will be lights on the firmament of the heavens to shine upon the earth." And it was [became?] so.

16. Eru carnë i atta altë calmar, i analta calma turien auressë ar i pitya calma turien lómissë, ar i eleni.
God made the two great lights, the greatest light to rule at day and the lesser [pitya, "small"] light to rule at night, and the stars.

17. Ar Eru panyanë ta tellumassë menelo caltien cemenna
And God placed them on the firmament of the heavens to shine upon the earth [For "them" I originally used te, attested in the Cormallen Praise in LotR. However, VT43:20 suggests that the pronoun te "they, them" refers to persons/animates; the plural pronoun referring to inanimates (as here) should rather be ta. In Tolkien's earlier conception, ta was assigned the singular meaning "that, it" (LR:389), and was so used in earlier versions of this article - written before the new information became available. As for the "personal" or "animate" form te, compare verse 22, where te "them" refers to animals, and verse 28, where this pronoun refers to the first humans.]

18. ar turien auressë ar lómissë ar ciltien cálë morniello. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.
and to rule by day and by night and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i cantëa aurë.
And it became evening, and it became morning, the fourth day.

20. Ar equë Eru: "Á ëa úvë cuinë onnolíva i nenissen, ar á wilë aiweli tellumassë menelo."
And God said: "Let there be a swarm [úvë = "abundance"] of living creatures in the waters, and let birds fly in the firmament of the heavens." [In this verse I use li-plurals for "creatures" and "birds"...just my intuition!]

21. Ar Eru ontanë i altë ëarcelvar ar ilya i úvë cuinë onnaiva i rihtar i nenissen, nostalentassen, ar ilyë rámavoiti onnar nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.
And God created the great animals of the sea and the whole abundance of living creatures that move in the waters, after their kinds, and all winged creatures after their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

22. Ar Eru laitanë te ar quentë: "Na yávinquë ar na rimbë, á quatë nén i ëarion, ar na i aiwi rimbë cemendë!"
And God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and be[come] many, fill the water of the oceans, and the birds shall be many in the earth [lit. "be the birds numerous on earth]!" [*Yávinqua pl. *yávinquë "fruitful", yávë + -inqua; rimbë pl. of rimba "numerous". - When no name or pronoun follows, we prefer quentë to equë for "said".]

23. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i lempëa aurë.
And it became evening, and it became morning, the fifth day.

24. Ar equë Eru: "Á colë cemen cuinë onnar nostalentassen, lamni ar celvaller ar cemeno hravani celvar, nostalentassen."
And God said: "Let the earth bring forth [lit. bear] living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and insects and the wild animals of the earth, according to their kinds." [*Celvallë: "insect", lit. "small animal", diminutive of celva; for the ending -llë cf. nandë "harp", ñandellë "little harp", LR:377. Hebrew remes seems to refer to something that creeps or moves.]

25. Ar Eru carnë cemeno hravani celvar nostalentassen, ar i lamni nostalentassen ar ilyë celvar i vantar cemendë, nostalentassen. Ar Eru cennë sa nes mára.
And God made the wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and the beasts according to their kinds and all animals that walk the earth [cemendë, locative], according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26. Ar equë Eru: "Alvë carë Atan venwelvassë, canta velvë; ar turuvas ëaro lingwi ar menelo aiwi ar i lamni ar ilya i cemen ar ilyë celvar i vantar cemendë."
And God said: "Let us make Man in our image, shaped like us; and he shall rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts and all the earth and all animals that walk the earth." [Alvë "let us", the imperative particle with the ending -lvë "we" attached, here expressing a command directed to "ourselves". One Tolkienian example demonstrates that the imperative particle á, a- can receive pronominal endings denoting the one who is to carry out the command: alyë anta *"give thou" (VT43:17). Venwë "shape, *image": Qenya Lexicon p. 100, also LT1:254. Velvë "like us": the preposition ve + the pronominal ending -lvë for inclusive "we".]

27. Ar Eru ontanë Atan venweryassë, Eruo venwessë ontaneryes; hanu ar ní ontaneryet.
And God created Man in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [Ontaneryes "he created him", ontaneryet "he created them" - as suggested by extrapolation, we assume *-rye- as a longer form of the pronominal ending -s, used before secondary object endings as in these examples.]

28. Ar Eru laitanë te, ar equë Eru tienna: "Na yávinquë ar na rimbë, á quatë cemen ar ása panya nu le, ar á turë ëaro lingwi ar menelo aiwi ar ilyë cuinë onnar i vantar cemendë."
And God blessed them, and God said to them: "Be fruitful and be[come] many, fill the earth and subdue it [place it under you], and rule the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and all living creatures that walk the earth." [Tienna allative "to them"; Tolkien used the dative form tien in his translation of the Lord's Prayer. Ása is the imperative particle á + the pronoun sa "it", the object of the imperative phrase.]

29. Ar equë Eru: "En! antan len ilyë olvar carila erdi, ilya i ëar ilya i palúressë cemeno, ar ilyë aldar carila yávi yassen ëar erdi. Nas ya matuval.
And God said: "Behold! I give you all plants making seeds, all there are on the entire surface of the earth, and all trees making fruits in which there are seeds. It is what you will eat.

30. Ar ilyë hravani celvain ar ilye menelo aiwin ar ilyan i vanta cemendë, ilya cuinan, antan ilyë laiquë olvar matien."
And to all wild animals and all the birds of heaven and to everything that walks the earth, to all that lives, I give all green plants to eat [matien "for eating", gerund in dative]."

31. Ar Eru cennë ilya ya carnes, ar en! nes ammára. Ar engë sinyë, ar engë arin, i enquëa aurë.
And God saw all that he [had] made, and behold! it was very good. And it became evening, and it became morning, the sixth day. [ammára < an-mára, sc. mára "good" with the "superlative or intensive" prefix an- mentioned in Letters:385.]

Well, that was the first chapter of the Bible. 1188 chapters to go...

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