Robert Fisher

Just thinking out loud

Hringa hlaford

If you register and log in you can add comments to my pages. If viewing the main blog page, click the # underneath an entry to comment on it.

The rings verse in old englisc.

Þri hringas for þæm ælf·cyningum under wolcnum
Seofon for þæm dweorh·hlafordum on hir[a] stan·haellum
Nigon for [deadlic] mannum demed[/faege] forþfaranum
An for þeam deorc·hlafordum on his deorc·cynestole

On lande Mordores hwær sceada ahildaþ
An hring hiere ealle to rædenne; an hring hie to findenne
An hring hiere ealle to bringenne; ond on deorcnese hie to bindenne
On lande Mordores hwær sceada ahildaþ

Notes

The following changes were based on suggestions from Dewey Notlow on alt.language.latin:

Moved pronouns before inflected infinitives. Originally:
An hring to rædenne hiere ealle; an hring to findenne hie
An hring to bringenne hiere ealle; ond on deorcnese to bindenne hie
Replaced my original "of Mordor" with a genitive: "Mordores".
Suggested "deadlic" for mortal. (I'd not found a word for it & had left it out.) Also, "faege" for "doomed". (I'd used "demed".)

Alex Bolton on the Old_English list pointed out that "Mordor" means "black land". Based on his observation, I could have said:

On blæc·lande hwær sceada ahildaþ.

If the weak verb 'déman' (to judge, to deem) were a strong verb, then its past participle would be 'dómen', which is similar to the noun 'dóm' (judgement, doom).

I am wondering why I used "for" instead of the dative case.