https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzEjHd54reI
(click on "show more" in the description).
Don't ask my why but for some reason I translated the last two lines into Cornish, and then went on to translate the whole thing. Since Sindarin is largely based on Middle Welsh, at least as far as sounds and some of the grammar goes, Cornish ought to have a similar sort of 'sound texture'.
So then I went looking for the 'original' version, but can't seem to find one. Did Tolkien simply compose this in English from the start? If so someone somewhere must at least have attempted to reconstruct the Elven version.
I realise I may be disappointed, as I came upon one site which was rather dismissive of Elvish fans, claiming that no one really understood the languages and simply did word-for-word dictionary 'translations' from English (or presumably any other native language) and (Shock! Horror!!) that this even applied to the Elvish used in the films.
You comments please. (BTW I'm sort of luke-warm when it comes to JRRT but I should probably look again at his languages, and he was certainly an inspiration to many creative people, which I suppose is the mark of good art, that it inspires more art).
My translation FWIW (I'm thinking of making a (spoken!) sound file) :
Literal and deliberately un-poetic back translation :
** Galargan Galadrïel dhe Lórïen **
A dhel y kenis, del owreg, yn tyller heb parow,
Ha'n gwyns a dho 'vel hwyth kosel, der oll an skorrennow.
A-dryv an howl, a-dal an loer, yth eze mordardh lowr,
Hag eno worth Treth Ilvarin, y teve Prenn an Owr.
Yn-dann an ster byz vynnari, ow terlentri mar deg,
Erbynn an fos, dhe Edhelvar, a Dirïon Edhleg.
Hir-devyz yw an del a owr, war varrow blydhenyeg,
Hag omma dres Moryow Dibarth, y koedh dagrow Edhleg.
A Lórïen, an gwav a dheu, pan vydh pub gwydh di-dhel,
Pub delenn y'n avon a goedh, ha'n liv a's deg a wel.
A Lórïen, hir re drigis, war dreth an tir estren,
Ha'n Ster-an-Howl gwedhryz, plethyz, y'n gurun war ow fenn.
Mar kanav vy a worholyon, py skath a'm portho vy?
Py par lester dhe'm doen arte, a-dreus mar vras weylgi?
* gwydh is actually a collective noun, a single tree being gwydhenn, but the internal rhyme that came unbidden with vydh 'will be' was just too good to lose. I suppose you might translate it as 'every copse', 'every stand of trees' or similar.Of leaves I sang, golden leaves, in a place without equal,
And the wind came (impf) as a gentle breath, through all the branches.
Behind the Sun, opposite the Moon, there was plenty of surf,
And there by Ilmarin Beach, there grew (impf) the Tree of Gold.
Under the stars for ever, shining so fairly,
Against the wall, in Eldamar, of Elvish Tirion.
Long-grown are the leaves of gold, on annual twigs,
And here across the Seas of Separation, Elvish tears fall.
O Lórien, the winter comes, when each tree* will be leafless
Each leaf into the river falls, and the flow/flood bears it out of sight.
O Lórien, long I have stayed, on the beach of the foreign land,
With the '-x-Angel-x- -x-Stars of Gold-x-' 'Sun-stars'** withered, woven in the crown on my head.
If I sing of ships, what boat may carry me?
What sort of vessel to take me back/again, across so wide/great a wild-ocean?
** The English text has, And in a fading crown have twined the golden Elanor. I couldn't fit the word 'golden' (owreg) or even 'gold' (owr) into this line, so knowing that Elanor was a plant name, I reinterpreted it as the Cornish for 'Golden Angel' El an Owr. Now that I've dug out an Elvish book (pre Silmarilion!) I read, "êl+anor, 'Sun-Star', a small star-shaped golden flower that grew on Cerin Amroth in Lothlórien (I:365;III:306)", so good enough?
----
Edit : I was never too happy with the 'angel' (even though it might be seen as equivalent to some Middle Earthly entity), so have now part-translated Elanor = 'Sun Star' to 'Ster-an-Owr' lit. 'Stars of Gold'. Maybe I should go the whole way to 'Ster an Howl' or 'Howl-sterenn' or something, but for now I'd like to keep at least a suggestion of the original name. After all 'gold' seems to be the defining quality of Lothlórien with it's Mallorn trees.
Edit : A couple more minor tweaks. Now it's 'Ster-an-Howl', 'Stars of the Sun/Sun-stars' which is pretty much a straight translation of 'El-Anor'.