Post by artanaro on Nov 15, 2005 16:57:40 GMT -5
(From "The Peoples of Middle-Earth")
OF LEMBAS
For the association of this brief work, extant in a
single manuscript, with the Dangweth Pengolod see p.
395. It is a finely written text of two pages, in
style like that of the fine manuscript of the
Dangweth which it accompanies, but not of the same
quality, and on thin paper.
My father introduced some illumination at its
beginning in red ball-point pen, and with the same
pen wrote at the head of the first page, above the
title: "Of Lembas: 'Mana i-coimas in-Eldaron?'
maquente Elendil" (the same question as appears on
the cardboard folder enclosing the two texts, p.
395).
At the same time he added quotation marks at the
beginning and end of the text, showing that it is the
answer of Pengolod to AElfwine's question, 'What is
the coimas of the Eldar?' It seems possible that
these additions in ball-point pen were added later,
to make the text into a companion piece to the
Dangweth; but there is in any case no evidence for
date, beyond the limits of 1951 and 1959 (p. 395).
Of Lembas.
'This food the Eldar alone knew how to make.
It was made for the comfort of those who had
need to go upon a long journey in the wild,
or of the hurt whose life was in peril. Only
these were permitted to use it. The Eldar did
not give it to Men, save only to a few whom they
loved, if they were in great need.*
The Eldar say that they first received this food
from the Valar in the beginning of their days
in the Great Journey. For it was made of a kind of
corn which Yavanna brought forth in the fields
of Aman, and some she sent to them by the
hand of Orome for their succour upon the long march.
(* This was not done out of greed or jealousy,
although at no time in Middle-earth was there great
store of this food; but because the Eldar had been
commanded to keep this gift in their own power,
and not to make it common to the dwellers in mortal
lands.
For it is said that, if mortals eat often of this
bread, they become weary of their mortality,
desiring to abide among the Elves, and longing for
the fields of Aman, to which they cannot come.)
Since it came from Yavanna, the queen, or
the highest among the elven-women of any
people, great or small, had the keeping and
gift of the lembas, for which reason she was
called massanie or besain: the Lady, or breadgiver.(1)
Now this corn had in it the strong life of
Aman, which it could impart to those who had
the need and right to use the bread. If it
was sown at any season, save in frost, it
soon sprouted and grew swiftly, though it did
not thrive in the shadow of plants of
Middle-earth and would not endure winds that
came out of the North while Morgoth dwelt
there. Else it
needed only a little sunlight to ripen; for it
took swiftly and multiplied all the vigour of any
light that fell on it.
The Eldar grew it in guarded lands and sunlit
glades; and they gathered its great golden ears,
each one, by hand, and set no blade of metal
to it. The white haulm was drawn from the
earth
in like manner, and woven into corn-leeps (2)
for the storing of the grain: no worm or
gnawing beast would touch that gleaming straw,
and rot and mould and other evils of
Middle-earth did
not assail it.
From the ear to the wafer none were permitted
to handle this grain, save those elven-women
who were called Yavannildi (or by the
Sindar the Ivonwin),(3) the maidens of Yavanna;
and the art of the making of the lembas, which
they learned of the Valar, was a secret among them,
and so ever has remained.'
Lembas is the Sindarin name, and comes from
the older form lenn-mbass 'journey-bread'. In
Quenya it was most often named coimas which
is 'life-bread'.(4)
Quente Quengoldo.
NOTES.
1. In the story of Turin it is said of Melian's gift
of lembas to Beleg the Bowman (The Silmarillion
p. 202) that it was 'wrapped in leaves of
silver, and the threads that bound it were sealed
at the
knots with the seal of the Queen, a wafer of
white wax shaped as a single flower of Telperion;
for according to the customs of the Eldalie the
keeping and giving of lembas belonged to the
Queen alone.
In nothing did Melian show greater favour to Turin
than in this gift; for the Eldar had never before
allowed Men to use this waybread, and seldom did so
again.'
With 'massanie or besain' cf. the entry in the
Etymologies, V.372, stem MBAS 'knead': Quenya
masta, Noldorin bast, 'bread'; also the words
lembas, coimas, explained at the end of the present
text as 'journey-bread' and 'life-bread'. Above the
ain of besain is faintly pencilled oneth. sc.
besoneth.
In using the word Lady here my father no doubt
had an eye to its origin in Old English hlaef-dige,
of which the first element is hlaf (modern English
loaf) with changed vowel, and the second a
derivative of the stem dig- 'knead' (to which
dough is ultimately related); cf. lord from
hlaf-weard 'bread-keeper'.
2. haulm: the stalks of cultivated plants left when
the ears or pods have been gathered; corn-leeps:
leep (leap) is an old dialect word for a basket
(Old English leap).
3. Ivonwin: the Noldorin (i.e. later Sindarin)
form Ivann for Yavanna appears in the Etymologies,
V.399, stem YAB 'fruit'.
4. This was written at the same time as the rest of
the manuscript, but set in as printed, and was
excluded from the quotation marks added later
to the body of the text. The words Quente
Quengoldo ('Thus spoke Pengolod') also belong to
the time of writing.
OF LEMBAS
For the association of this brief work, extant in a
single manuscript, with the Dangweth Pengolod see p.
395. It is a finely written text of two pages, in
style like that of the fine manuscript of the
Dangweth which it accompanies, but not of the same
quality, and on thin paper.
My father introduced some illumination at its
beginning in red ball-point pen, and with the same
pen wrote at the head of the first page, above the
title: "Of Lembas: 'Mana i-coimas in-Eldaron?'
maquente Elendil" (the same question as appears on
the cardboard folder enclosing the two texts, p.
395).
At the same time he added quotation marks at the
beginning and end of the text, showing that it is the
answer of Pengolod to AElfwine's question, 'What is
the coimas of the Eldar?' It seems possible that
these additions in ball-point pen were added later,
to make the text into a companion piece to the
Dangweth; but there is in any case no evidence for
date, beyond the limits of 1951 and 1959 (p. 395).
Of Lembas.
'This food the Eldar alone knew how to make.
It was made for the comfort of those who had
need to go upon a long journey in the wild,
or of the hurt whose life was in peril. Only
these were permitted to use it. The Eldar did
not give it to Men, save only to a few whom they
loved, if they were in great need.*
The Eldar say that they first received this food
from the Valar in the beginning of their days
in the Great Journey. For it was made of a kind of
corn which Yavanna brought forth in the fields
of Aman, and some she sent to them by the
hand of Orome for their succour upon the long march.
(* This was not done out of greed or jealousy,
although at no time in Middle-earth was there great
store of this food; but because the Eldar had been
commanded to keep this gift in their own power,
and not to make it common to the dwellers in mortal
lands.
For it is said that, if mortals eat often of this
bread, they become weary of their mortality,
desiring to abide among the Elves, and longing for
the fields of Aman, to which they cannot come.)
Since it came from Yavanna, the queen, or
the highest among the elven-women of any
people, great or small, had the keeping and
gift of the lembas, for which reason she was
called massanie or besain: the Lady, or breadgiver.(1)
Now this corn had in it the strong life of
Aman, which it could impart to those who had
the need and right to use the bread. If it
was sown at any season, save in frost, it
soon sprouted and grew swiftly, though it did
not thrive in the shadow of plants of
Middle-earth and would not endure winds that
came out of the North while Morgoth dwelt
there. Else it
needed only a little sunlight to ripen; for it
took swiftly and multiplied all the vigour of any
light that fell on it.
The Eldar grew it in guarded lands and sunlit
glades; and they gathered its great golden ears,
each one, by hand, and set no blade of metal
to it. The white haulm was drawn from the
earth
in like manner, and woven into corn-leeps (2)
for the storing of the grain: no worm or
gnawing beast would touch that gleaming straw,
and rot and mould and other evils of
Middle-earth did
not assail it.
From the ear to the wafer none were permitted
to handle this grain, save those elven-women
who were called Yavannildi (or by the
Sindar the Ivonwin),(3) the maidens of Yavanna;
and the art of the making of the lembas, which
they learned of the Valar, was a secret among them,
and so ever has remained.'
Lembas is the Sindarin name, and comes from
the older form lenn-mbass 'journey-bread'. In
Quenya it was most often named coimas which
is 'life-bread'.(4)
Quente Quengoldo.
NOTES.
1. In the story of Turin it is said of Melian's gift
of lembas to Beleg the Bowman (The Silmarillion
p. 202) that it was 'wrapped in leaves of
silver, and the threads that bound it were sealed
at the
knots with the seal of the Queen, a wafer of
white wax shaped as a single flower of Telperion;
for according to the customs of the Eldalie the
keeping and giving of lembas belonged to the
Queen alone.
In nothing did Melian show greater favour to Turin
than in this gift; for the Eldar had never before
allowed Men to use this waybread, and seldom did so
again.'
With 'massanie or besain' cf. the entry in the
Etymologies, V.372, stem MBAS 'knead': Quenya
masta, Noldorin bast, 'bread'; also the words
lembas, coimas, explained at the end of the present
text as 'journey-bread' and 'life-bread'. Above the
ain of besain is faintly pencilled oneth. sc.
besoneth.
In using the word Lady here my father no doubt
had an eye to its origin in Old English hlaef-dige,
of which the first element is hlaf (modern English
loaf) with changed vowel, and the second a
derivative of the stem dig- 'knead' (to which
dough is ultimately related); cf. lord from
hlaf-weard 'bread-keeper'.
2. haulm: the stalks of cultivated plants left when
the ears or pods have been gathered; corn-leeps:
leep (leap) is an old dialect word for a basket
(Old English leap).
3. Ivonwin: the Noldorin (i.e. later Sindarin)
form Ivann for Yavanna appears in the Etymologies,
V.399, stem YAB 'fruit'.
4. This was written at the same time as the rest of
the manuscript, but set in as printed, and was
excluded from the quotation marks added later
to the body of the text. The words Quente
Quengoldo ('Thus spoke Pengolod') also belong to
the time of writing.
