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Hi folks, I'm trying to craft my next tattoo, which ideally will be the Mandos uttering words of doom taken from the work of another of my literary heroes, Octavia Butler. From her pseudoreligion Earthseed, one of the tennants is:
All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth, is change.
I tried my own translation but there's a lot of tensing and conjugations that are sort of beyond me in both the English-Quenya dictionary, and in the quote itself. I wound up with
Ilqua aplye, ahyalye. Ilqua ahyalye, ahyastë. Erya vórëa thanda (sanda) engwë, wirnë.
For what it's worth, ChatGPT provided this rendering:
Ilqua ya apalyë, vistalyë. Ilqua ya vistalyë, ahyalyë. Erya voronwa naitë na wirnë.
when given these words from Ambar Eldaron's Quenya-English Dictionary
ilqua = Everything (n)
-tyë = thee, you, thou pron. 2nd person intimate/familar
-l or lyë = pronominal endings for 2nd person sg. polite/formal you, thou
-ldë = pronominal suffix, 2nd person pl. you
-stë = 2nd person dual pronominal ending you
ap- = touch (one) in the figurative sense; concern, affect vb.
appa- = touch in the litteral sense
virya- = vb. change, alter(nate) (intransitive)
vista- = vb. change (transitive)
wirnë = noun change
ahya- = change (intransitive) vb.
erya = single, sole adj
vórëa = noun continuous, enduring, lasting
voronwa = adj. enduring, long-lasting
naitë = true, adj
sanda (Þ) = adj. firm, true
engwë = noun, thing
Would love any insights you might have, and hope this serves as a challenging enough translation to be a fun little puzzle. Thanks!
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