Certain pages of this website, like the entire subsection about Wicca, may have indicated that I practice Wicca. I do. It's an embedded part of my life.
Tolkien's own translations of Christian liturguy and poetry into Quenya are beautiful. I doubt I will ever write poetic Quenya so beautiful, but reading them put an itch under my skin to see my religion in Quenya as well. This page contains works about Wicca in Quenya; only a little to start with, translations of chants and liturgy and musings on words, but I have no doubt it will expand.
But this begs the question: What would someone even call Wicca in Quenya?
Some older wiccan books will claim the word ‘wicca’ comes from a word meaning ‘to twist’, an image of twisting or braiding dry straw or threads together, of tying knots and teasing fate. Based on my research I believe this is a folk etymology; ‘twisting’ is unlikely to be the original source of the word ‘wicca’.
The oldest uses of the word ‘wicca’ or ‘wicce’ meant witch, sorcerer, specifically male witches. There is no proven root of the word, so the most accurate translation of wicca is just ‘witch’. To me, though, ‘Wicca’ as the name of a religion is its own word in the modern day, obviously divorced from its historical use as ‘malign male sorcerer’.
Tolkien did provide a Quenya translation of the word ‘witch’: curuni. This is a fantastic word as it clearly contains the root ‘cur/curwe’, ‘clever/crafty’. This is the same root that makes ‘Curufinwe’ ‘Clever-Finwe.’ This is a word considered to be an ‘early Quenya’ word, one that does not have any equivalents in later versions of the language. Other early Quenya terms I would consider in making quettar for witches include ‘luhtu’, spell, and ‘sairina’, ‘magic’ as an adjective.
If using the folk etymology of ‘to twist’, I recommend Ricie, from ‘ric-’, to twist. Ric- as a verb is later/mature Quenya. You will note from the title of the page that I have decided to follow this false lead despite knowing it is false. I was taught that wicca honors the protective lying that keeps us safe when the truth would endanger us, and I incorporate some sacred lying in my practice. I do, however, readily share which claims are lies when in a safe environment, as I am doing now.
If looking for a word more like ‘the craft’, I suggest I Curwe, and I can’t help but want to name it altogether I Curwe Ricio, the craft of twisting. Calling yourself a Curuni (plural Curunir) is just about as correct as it can possibly get. For a full use sentence: ‘Oialaica Curuni; caris I Curwe ar hilyas Ricie.’ Translated, ‘Oialaica is a witch; she does/practices the Craft and she follows Wicca.’
There’s no reason to not use ‘luhtu’ to mean ‘magic’ or ‘spell’, either, though I am someone in the slightly odd situation where I am primarily a religious witch. My focus is relationships with spirits and divinities and their worship, magic is a secondary effect of that worship. I would be more likely to explain my personal state with ‘Hildan I Yáravalar,’ 'I follow the old Gods', without even getting into any words for spellcraft or magic. But my name for that practice is Ricie, Wicca.
One core issue of talking about religion in Quenya is that the elves who invented it simply didn’t have religion. They lived their lives in their afterlife accompanied by the spiritual powers of their world. There would probably be abundant and approximately accurate words for Wiccan in Adunaic and Westron, in peoples and places where cults flourished, but we do not have those words. I enjoy forcing some plurality into sweet, myopic Quenya, though.
Here are some potential translation for common wiccan liturgial phrases or sayings. I may get deeper into longer texts eventually.
Do As Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole of the Law: A rather literal translation of the 'Axan Ricio' is 'Caritye yan Indutye nauva ilya Axano'; 'Dost-thou as Wilt-thou will be all of the law.' I am not fully satisfied with this basic translation and will mull on a more poetic one. I do think 'indu', 'will/intend', is the right translation of 'wilt'.
Hail and Welcome: Aiya'r Maitulya.
Hail and Farewell: Aiya'r Namarie.
Blessed Be: There are many options here. 'Nai manna ná' or 'Nai aistana ná' are two versions of 'May [it] blessed be.' Another version, using the verb 'manya', to bless, could be 'A manya ná', 'be blessed'. I am tempted to use any of these with the final 'ná'/'be', cut off; it makes it grmatically uncertain but its context as a liturgical responce provides its own context. Right now, simplicity and euphony makes 'Nai manna', 'May blessed be'/'May blessed' my favorite of the options.
Well Met: Marie Omenne or Mai Omenne. (Mai Omenne lyen/tyen for 'Well met to you', greeting a single person. Lyen is formal and tyen is informal.)
My mode here will be to reproduce the original lyrics first, then my Quenya translation, then the re-translation of the Quenya words into English. Poetic Quenya usually uses very spare sentences that forgo grammar as we expect to see it, so there will be significant changes.
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Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
Ráma’r rasse, ráma’r rasse,
Wing and horn, wing and horn,
All who die shall be reborn.
Ilya qualmar enostauvar.
All who die will be begotten again.
Vine and grain, vine and grain,
Yausta’r yáve, yausta’r yáve,
Crop and fruit, crop and fruit,
All who fall shall rise again.
Ilya firir entuluvar.
All who fade shall return.
Note: instead of 'falls' I used two Quenya verbs for 'die', 'qual', die by misadventure/die suddenly, and 'fir', fade/expire/die peacefully. If you would like to include 'all that falls shall rise again' more literally, some options are 'Lantar ilya enoryauvar'/'All that falls shall rise again' or 'Taltar ilya encaruvar'/'All that collapses shall be rebuilt.'
Another fun note: In one of the early sketches/summaries of the Silmarillion, found in The Lost Road, Orome is actually the son of Yavanna. (In some of the oldest versions Valar could have children.) This version of events specifically states that Orome was son of Yavanna but not son of Aule, as Orome was born before she married him. If Orome has a father, he is not mentioned. I wonder if it was intended as a virgin birth, or of a mating with a force of nature like earth or wind. I was thinking of Orome being a son of Yavanna while translating this chant. It fits well, as the first half has a very Orome feeling of wild animals, the hunt and the horn, and in the second there is fruit, grain, crops, and seasonal renewal; in fruit, 'yáve', Yavanna's name is given to the harvest-month Yavannie, September.
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Translating the entire Kore chant is a bit daunting and I haven't approached that yet. I do have a translation of the chorus that I find rather appealing, parially because it is such a direct, exact translation and partly because the syllable count in Quenya is the same as it is in English and so it can be sung to the same rhythm. It even has about the same amount of rhyme as the original English.
My translation of 'Kore Chant', by the by, is 'Maiden Repeat-Song,' 'Kore' being literally maiden/girl in Greek.
She changes everything she touches and everything she touches changes
Vistasse ilyama appasse ar ilyama appasse vistar
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We are the rising of the moon
Nalve Rána oryaila
We are the moon rising
We are the shifting of the ground
Nalve orto rúmala
We are a mountain moving
We are the seed that takes root
Nalve ore racite
We are the seed/heart which can break
When we bring the fortress down.
Ya i osto taltaite.
When the fortress can be struck down.