Dir avosaith a gwaew hinar
"Dir avosaith a gwaew hinar" is the first line of a poem that was written by J.R.R. Tolkien to be part of his lecture A Secret Vice.
Though Tolkien never gave the poem a name, it is referred to by some people as the Nebrachar poem, a term first used by Paul Nolan Hyde in 1992.
Poem
| Noldorin | Translation |
|---|---|
Like a wind, dark through gloomy places the Stonefaces searched the mountains, over Tumledin (the Smooth Valley) from Nebrachar, orcs snuffling smelt out footsteps. Damrod (a hunter) through the vale, down mountain slopes, towards (the river) Sirion went laughing. Lúthien he saw, as a star from Elfland shining over the gloomy places, above Nebrachar. |
Background
Tolkien originally wrote a preliminary draft of the poem along with a modern English translation in the autumn of 1931, but sometime later revised the poem and its translation. Tolkien later used his revised poem and translation as an example of language invention in his lecture A Secret Vice. In 1983, the poem was posthumously published by Christopher Tolkien in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. "Damrod" is identified by Dimitra Fimi and Andrew Higgins as the son of the Fëanor later called Amrod. In The Book of Lost Tales, "Damrod" was a name given in passing to both the father and son of Beren. In 2024, the preliminary draft of the poem was published for the first time in The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien. Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull added line divisions to the translations that correspond with the poem.
Placement within the legendarium
Notably, in the 1930s Quenta Silmarillion, a potentially corresponding event occurs. Following Beren and Lúthien's retrieval of the Silmaril, they were assailed by Carcharoth at the threshold of Angband. The wolf consumed the Silmaril, and then fled in pain and madness. Morgoth's hosts then began to rally upon the pair, but they were rescued by the Eagles and carried away. As they flew, they passed over Gondolin where Lúthien, now "far above the earth", shed tears like "silver raindrops".
Referencias
1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 25/05/2026.
