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The twenty-fourth line of the Markirya poem (MC/222). It consists of another subordinate clause menel acúna “heavens bending”, with the noun menel “heavens” followed by the infinitive of the verb cúna- “to bend”. The prefix a- in acúna marks the infinitive as an object of the primary verb, which is the verb “see” of the previous phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

menel a-cúna = “*heavens (object)-bending”

Conceptual Development: In the first draft, Tolkien used na- for the object-prefix, which he first retained in the second draft before changing it to a- (MC/222).

[< Previous Phrase] Oilima Markirya [Next Phrase >]

The twenty third line of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/214). The first word is the noun telume “heavens” followed by the “bare stem” infinitive form of the verb lunga(na)- “to bend”, as suggested by Gilson, Welden, and Hostetter (PE16/84, notes on line #10 and #11), apparently functioning as either an active-participle or a verbal object.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

telume lunga-ne = “*heavens bend-ing”