translations:barrow_wight_incantation

Cold be hand and heart and bone

Cold be hand and heart and bone” was a magical incantation sung by a Barrow-wight which caused fear paralysis on the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings (Book One, Chapter VIII: Fog on the Barrow-downs). As Barrow-wights were probably nobles of Cardolan, the original was in Common Speech or some form of Elvish. But because they died of Great Plague and were resurrected/possessed by evil spirits sent by the Witch-king of Angmar, I find it's plausible they got knowledge of Black Speech after death.

Cold be hand and heart and bone,
and cold be sleep under stone:
never more to wake on stony bed,
never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead.
In the black wind the stars shall die,
and still on gold here let them lie,
till the dark lord lifts his hand
over dead sea and withered land.

Nûrlâm translation

On the moment of the translation there were enough words in Nûrlâm dictionary. Nevertheless, the translation was difficult due to different modalities used here. The meter was changed from trochee to iambic, and lines except 3 and 4 became one syllable longer. “Land” was translated with word “ghâmp” (earth, soil) as it was opposed to the sea.

Gâkh bazg agh tish agh takh kul graz,
gâkh lorum lata gund kul graz:
naril rilorat khauzir gundûrz,
naril, zi ûzh saugubâ agh shil kub gûrz.
Morzûlumor za ilz maug matut,
agh lûrir zin rubh dabhul kâtut,
zi ulkubâ tab bazg goth bûrz
tala kârsh gûrz agh ghâmp narkûrz.

Interlinear glossing and translation back

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Nûrlâm Glossing English
Gâkh bazg agh tish agh takh kul graz, let.IMP hand and heart and bone be.IMP cold Let's hand and heart and bone be cold,
gâkh lorum lata gund kul graz: let.IMP sleep-DEF under stone be.IMP cold let's sleep under stone be cold,
naril rilorat khauzir gundûrz, never awake-GERV bed=ADE stone-ADJ never awake on stone bed,
naril, zi ûzh saugubâ agh shil kub gûrz. never, till sun fail-FUT-3SG and moon be.FUT dead never, until Sun will fail and Moon will be dead.
Morzûlumor za ilz maug matut, black=wind-DEF=INE the star(s) must die-INF In the black wind the stars shall die,
agh lûrir zin rubh dabhul kâtut, and gold=ADE here still let.IMP=3PL.OBJ lie-INF and on gold here let them lie,
zi tulkubâ tab bazg goth bûrz till lift-FUT-3SG his hand lord dark till lifts his hand the dark lord
tala kârsh gûrz agh ghâmp narkûrz. over sea dead and soil wither-ADJ over dead sea and withering land.

translations/barrow_wight_incantation.txt · Last modified: by morgoth