Let's learn Quenya on the Downs

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

I'll start: Mo lalertë aspata minna Mordor.

Well, Mo = one, someone, so with that and Mordor I have a guess straight off.

Let's see... la-lerte is not+to be free to, though I can't pin down the tense on lerta-. As-pata a very nice "easily to walk", I think it's an infinitive. Minna is "into" in an older version of the language, but should hold up as mi-nna, in-towards. And Mordor is Mordor. So yes, one cannot simply walk into Mordor; Sauron has insomnia.

I wasn't sure if Mo was used like that, but Tolkien's uses say yes. I'm not sure I'd use lerta- here; "not free to" suggests it's forbidden, whereas *lapole "not able to" makes it clear that it's impossible. That said, an elf would like the sound of lalerta a lot more, so yours might be more historically accurate.

hS