Matthew 1:18-2:11: The Story of Jesus' Birth
We have earlier attempted Neo-Quenya translations of certain Old Testament passages. Here is a section from the New Testament, the birth of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Names of places and people are only partially Quenyarized in form; names like Yósef (Joseph) and Ves-Lehem (Bethlehem) have final consonants not allowed in actual Quenya words. As for "Jesus" and "Mary", Tolkien himself used Yésus and María in Quenya texts; Hristo as the Quenya form of "Christ" is also Tolkien's own phonological adaptation of this word. Otherwise see verse-by-verse discussions below.
[From Chapter 1] 18 I colië Yésus Hristova
martanë sië: Írë amillerya María né
nauta vestien Yósef, nes hírina lapsarwa i Airefëanen,
epë nentë ertainë. 19 Mal Yósef vennorya,
i né faila ar úmë merë naitya se, mernë lerya
se nuldavë. 20 Mal apa sannes sin, en! i Heruo vala tullë
senna oloressë, quétala: "Yósef Lavirion, áva
rucë mapiello María vesselya mardenna, an ya ná nostaina
sessë i Airefëanen ná. 21 Coluvas yondo, ar estuvalyes
Yésus, an etelehtuvas lierya úcarintallon." 22 Ilqua
sina martanë quantien ya i Heru quentë tercánoryanen,
quétala: "En! i vendë nauva lapsarwa ar coluva yondo, ar antuvantë
sen i essë Immanuel" - ya tëa "Aselvë Eru". 24 San
Yósef, apa cuivierya fúmeryallo, carnë ve i Heruo vala
cannë sen, ar mampes vesserya mardenna. 25 Mal úmes
ista se epë colles yondo, ar ánes sen i essë Yésus.
[Chapter 2]
Apa Yésus né cólina Ves-Lehemessë Yúrëo
i auressen Heros i arano, en! elentirmor rómenyë ménallon
tuller Yerúsalemenna, 2 quétala: "Massë ëa
i ná cólina aran i Yúrain? An Rómessë
cennelmë elenerya, ar utúlielmë cavien sen." 3
Íre hlarnes sin, Aran Heros né horyaina, ar ilya Yerúsalemo
as se, 4 ar hostala ilyë i hérë airimor ar i parmangolmor
imíca i lië, maquentes te pa i colienómë i Hristo.
5 Quententë senna: "Ves-Lehemessë Yúrëo,
an sië ná técina i Erutercánonen: 'Ar elyë,
Ves-Lehem Yúrëo, laumë i ampitya imíca i cánor
Yúrëo; an elyello tuluva túro, i nauva mavar Israel
lienyan.' "
7 San Heros
nuldavë tultanë i elentirmor ar maquentë te pa i lú
ya minyavë cennentë i elen. 8 Mentaneryet Ves-Lehemenna
quétala: "Á lelya, á saca i hína, ar írë
ihírielles á nyarë ninna, sa yando inyë polë
lelya cavien sen." 9 Írë hlarnentë i aran lendentë
oa, ar en! i elen ya cennentë Rómessë lendë epë
te, tenna pustanes or i nómë yassë engë i hína.
10 Cenië i elen ánë tien alta alassë. 11
Lendentë mir i coa ar cenner i hína as María amillerya,
ar lantala undu canwentë sen. Pantanentë harmantar ar áner
sen annar, malta ar ninquima ar nísima suhtë.
Or verse by verse:
18 I colië Yésus Hristova martanë sië: Írë
amillerya María né nauta vestien Yósef, nes hírina
lapsarwa i Airefëanen, epë nentë ertainë.
The birth [colië, "bearing"] of Jesus Christ happened like
this [sië, "thus"]: When his mother Mary was betrothed to
Josef [né nauta vestien Yósef = "was obliged to marry
Joseph"], she was found [to be] pregnant by the Holy Spirit, before they
were united. [*Lapsarwa "baby-having" = pregnant: lapsë
"babe" + the suffix -arwa "having". *Ertainë pl. of
*ertaina "united", from *erta- "unite", the unattested cognate
of Sindarin ertha- as in aderthad "reunion".]
19 Mal Yósef vennorya, i né faila ar úmë
merë naitya se, mernë lerya se nuldavë.
But Joseph her husband, who was righteous [faila "just"] and did
not wish to put her to shame, wished to divorce [lerya- "release"]
her secretly. [The word for "husband" is given as verno
in the Etymologies as printed in LR, entry BES. But according to
VT45:7, verno is a misreading for venno in Tolkien's manuscript.
Naitya- "put to shame", QL:65.]
20 Mal apa sannes sin, en! i Heruo vala tullë senna oloressë,
quétala: "Yósef Lavirion, áva rucë mapiello
María vesselya mardenna, an ya ná nostaina sessë i
Airefëanen ná.
But after he thought this, look! the angel of the Lord came to him in
a dream, saying: "Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife
home [mardenna, allative], for [that] which is begotten in her
is by the Holy Spirit. [Sannes "he thought"; the verb *sana-
"think", pa.t. *sannë rather than *sananë, has
been isolated from sanar "thinker", VT41:13. We use vala
for "angel", since Tolkien translated this word as "angelic spirit" in
Appendix E to the LotR. Lavirion "Lavir-son"; the name David must
become Lavir (archaic Laviz) in Quenya sounds. Áva
rucë mapiello "do not fear to take"; according to WJ:415, the
verb ruc- "to fear" is constructed with "from" (ablative in -llo)
referring to that which is feared, here mapië the gerund of
mapa- "take, seize".]
21 Coluvas yondo, ar estuvalyes Yésus, an etelehtuvas lierya
úcarintallon.
She will bear a son, and you will call him Jesus, for he will save [or
"deliver", etelehta-] his people from their sins. [In this
text, the verb col- "bear" is repeatedly used with reference to
bearing or giving birth to a child, though possibly Tolkien only meant
col- to mean "bear, carry" in the most basic sense. Nosta-
means "give birth" according to one early source, but later sources define
this verb as "beget" instead (so used here: passive participle nostaina
"begotten" in verse 20). The form úcarintallon "from their
sins" includes *-nta as the ending for "their", extrapolated from
-ntë "they".]
22 Ilqua sina martanë quantien ya i Heru quentë tercánoryanen,
quétala: "En! i vendë nauva lapsarwa ar coluva yondo, ar antuvantë
sen i essë Immanuel" - ya tëa "Aselvë Eru".
All this [ilqua sina, "everything this"] happened to [ful]fill
[that] which the Lord spoke by his prophet [or "herald", tercáno],
saying: "Look! the maiden will be pregnant and shall bear a son, and they
will give him the name Immanuel" - which means "With Us [Is] God". [Tëa
"indicates" (VT39:6) = *"means". Aselvë "with us"; compare
aselyë "with thee", VT43:29).]
24 San Yósef, apa cuivierya fúmeryallo, carnë
ve i Heruo vala cannë sen, ar mampes vesserya mardenna.
Then Joseph, after waking up from his sleep [lit. "after his awakening
from his sleep"], did as the angel of the Lord [had] commanded him [dative],
and he took his wife home. [*Mampes "he took"; *mampë
is probably a better pa.t. of mapa- than *mapanë.]
25 Mal úmes ista se epë colles yondo, ar ánes
sen i essë Yésus.
But he did not know her [in the Biblical sense!] before she bore
a son, and he gave him the name Jesus.
[Chapter 2] 1 Apa Yésus né cólina Ves-Lehemessë
Yúrëo i auressen Heros i arano, en! elentirmor rómenyë
ménallon tuller Yerúsalemenna,
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
look! star-gazers from eastern regions came to Jerusalem, [Bethlehem
represents Hebrew Beth-Lechem "House of Bread"; by Quenyarizing
it as Ves-Lehem with a hyphen included to distinguish the two elements,
the impossible cluster sl is avoided (sort of!) Other Quenyarized
names: Yúrëa "Judea", here in genitive form Yúrëo
"of Judea"; Yerúsalem "Jerusalem" (final -m does
not occur in "real" Quenya words, so the phonological adaptation is only
partial). The name Herod we Quenyarize as Heros rather than
Heror: Normally, postvocalic d would come become z
and then r, but Tolkien indicated that this did not happen when
there was already an r in an adjacent syllable (WJ:413); in such
cases z rather became s.]
2 quétala: "Massë ëa i ná cólina aran
i Yúrain? An Rómessë cennelmë elenerya, ar utúlielmë
cavien sen."
saying: "Where is [the one] who is born king to the Jews? For in [the]
East we saw his star, and we have come to do him obeisance." [*Massë
"where" (a form I believe occurs in Tolkien's unpublished material). *Yúra
"Jew", from Hebrew Y(eh)udâ; here dative plural Yúrain.
Verb *cav- "bow, make obeisance": this is a phonological updating
of caw- in Tolkien's early "Qenya Lexicon" (QL:45). Tolkien later
decided that intervocalic w becomes v in Quenya, but since
we do assume that our updated form *cav- represents older caw-,
the nasal-infixed past tense is *canwë (verse 11).]
3 Írë hlarnes sin, Aran Heros né horyaina, ar
ilya Yerúsalemo as se,
When he heard this, King Herod was agitated, and all of Jerusalem with
him, [*Horyaina, here translated "agitated", is the passive
participle of horya- "have an impulse, be compelled to do something"
(VT45:22).]
4 ar hostala ilyë i hérë airimor ar i parmangolmor
imíca i lië, maquentes te pa i colienómë i Hristo.
and gathering all the chief priests and the scribes among the people,
he asked them about the birth-place of the Christ. [*Airimo
"priest" or "holy man": airë, airi- "holy" + the personal
(masculine) ending -mo. *Parmangolmo "scribe", literally
"book-scholar". Colienómë, "birth place" or "bearing-place":
*colië + nómë.]
5 Quententë senna: "Ves-Lehemessë Yúrëo, an
sië ná técina i Erutercánonen: 'Ar elyë,
Ves-Lehem Yúrëo, laumë i ampitya imíca i cánor
Yúrëo; an elyello tuluva túro, i nauva mavar Israel
lienyan.' "
They said to him: "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus [it] is written by
the prophet [Erutercáno "God-herald"]: 'And you, Bethlehem
of Judea, is by no means the smallest among the governors of Judea; for
from you [there] shall come a ruler, who will be shepherd for my people
Israel.' " [Laumë, strong negation, here translated
"by no means". See the entry LA- in the Etymologies. Ampitya
"smallest": pitya "small" with the superlative/intensive prefix
an-, here assimilated am- before a p- (compare amparca
from parca "dry", VT45:5). *Túro "ruler", from the
verb tur- "rule"; also compare the ancient primitive form tûrô
mentioned in Etym, entry TUR.]
7 San Heros nuldavë tultanë i elentirmor ar maquentë
te pa i lú ya minyavë cennentë i elen.
Then Herod secretly summoned the star-gazers and asked them about the
time when they first saw the star. [I lú ya... "the
time that/when..." *Minyavë, "first" as adverb: minya
"first" (adj.) + the adverbial ending -vë.]
8 Mentaneryet Ves-Lehemenna quétala: "Á lelya, á
saca i hína, ar írë ihírielles á nyarë
ninna, sa yando inyë polë lelya cavien sen."
He send them to Bethlehem saying: "Go, seek [for] the child, and when
you have found him tell me, that also I can go to do him obeisance." [Mentane-rye-t
"sent-he-them": we presuppose *-rye- as the long 3rd person sg.
ending; compare the corresponding possessive ending -rya "his,
her". Ihírielles "you have found him", with -lle-
as the ending for plural "you".]
9 Írë hlarnentë i aran lendentë oa, ar en!
i elen ya cennentë Rómessë lendë epë te, tenna
pustanes or i nómë yassë engë i hína.
When they heard the king they went away, and look! the star that they
saw [or, had seen] in [the] East went before them, until it stopped above
the place where the child was.
10 Cenië i elen ánë tien alta alassë.
Seeing the star gave them great joy. [Tien, "(to) them",
dative.]
11 Lendentë mir i coa ar cenner i hína as María
amillerya, ar lantala undu canwentë sen. Pantanentë harmantar
ar áner sen annar, malta ar ninquima ar nísima suhtë.
They went into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling
down they did him obeisance. They opened their treasures and gave him
gifts, gold and frankincense and fragrant gum [i.e., myrrh]. [Since
the pronoun se, dative sen, covers both "he" and "she" the
Quenya text is ambiguous; it could also be taken to mean that it was to
"her" (Mary) the star-gazers did obeisance and gave gifts. For clarity,
sen could be replaced by i hínan ("to the child")
here. *Ninquima "frankincense", etymologically simply "something
white" (ninquë, ninqui- "white"), imitating the etymology
of the word used in the original Greek text: Libanos (in this verse
in accusative form libanon) comes from Hebrew levonâ,
which in turn is derived from a root meaning "white", referring to the
milky colour of this substance. "Myrrh" we paraphrase as "fragrant gum":
The early (1915) "Qenya" word sukte "resin, gum", occurring in
QL:86, we update to LotR-style Quenya as *suhtë (since Tolkien
later decided that kt becomes ht in Quenya). The phrase
nísima suhtë "fragrant gum" also occurs in our translation
of Genesis 2:12 (in that case translating Hebrew bedolach rather
than levonâ, though).]