[catalogue number 1334/C/7a]
A recently discovered scrap of manuscript from a privately held collection of Saxon texts.

presumably being the original manuscript translated by Charles Lutwidge Dodson.

NB: the Quenya is in the dialect of Kortirion c.late 5th Cent. AD, but the Anglo Saxon translation is later, an early mediaeval copy (not wholly accurate in places,) of a probably 8th Cent. West Saxon original of base style and imperfect metre.
Dodson's English translation has been interspersed in red for the convenience of readers, and modern punctuation and alphabet has been applied to all versions. Notes on the Quenya etymology are given at the end.
Se Eldales Aelfsang of Cor Tirion on Aelfenholm, ofer
Some verses of the Eldalie of Kortirion in Alalminore, across

se Westes sae, gaderiade bi Aelfwine Saelida, bi sum
the Western Sea collected by Aelfwine the mariner, known to some

cuth Ottor Waefre, Hengestes ond Horsas faeder, hwil se
as Ottor Waefre, Hengest and Horsa's father, while he

gang on thaet uncutha holm, Tol Eressea. Giefen to Garulf,
visited the uncertain island of Tol Eressea. Given to Garulf,

Gefwulfes bearn, Eotenes cyning, in Finnsburh.
son of Gufwulfes, king* of the Jutes, in Finsbury.

* NB: the grammar is confused in the original. Gefwulfes was
the last king at Finnsburh, while his son, Garulf, died in exile.

LAMALÓCE


Yapsarna né ar pastunge
astumbari osirive
ar sance lassaná;
Uherengwe nénte ilya
fasfilici - timbe tuicar
lamiule-escenna.

EABORHWOC


Daeg waes breaglic. . deofon smeolic
tha the on thaet wymbe. . gethyrdon and gimbon.
Earmismic waeron. . ealle gofbore
tha momarythan. . thaer othgrebion.

'Twas brillig and the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe. / All mimsy were the borogoves, / and the mome-raths outgrabe.

"Feuya i lamalóce
yondonya! Anca nacilte
ar atsar narcilte!
O feuya i ossea
Útút-aiwa ar avara
hisquinque mandmape." 		Beo-waer, sunu min,. . bealu Eaborhwoc -
Grist-bitende. . gripende finger-billu.
Beo-waer eab-eab fogel. . beadurinca-bana
and forcierrane. . fraemne banafon.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son, / the jaws that bite, the claws that catch. / Beware the Jub-Jub bird and shun / The frumious Bandersnatch!"

Mapanero macilerya
versare, voroitanero
orsaure cotumo.
Pustanero no endende
aldasse ar serenero
nuesta nausennen. 		Geoplic sweord. . genam mid hande
thy lange sohte. . thaet mahslic feond;
tha se restede. . be tham-tham treow,
stod hwoene,. . saet in gethohte.
He took his vorpal sword in hand / Long time the manxome foe he sought / Till rested by the tum-tum tree / And stood awhile in thought.

Ar nuesta nausennen
pustesi i lamalóce
anhendi anaro.
Hwescila ter utulies
taurello arfuiniswe
nelaml'ya tulines. 		Thaer standen. . the ufelic-thohte,
man Eaborhwoc. . mid eagum-aelane
thurh wudu-tolacg. . tha cam gewyflican
forth-beahlman. . and forth-cam thaer!
And as in uffish thought he stood, / the Jabberwock with eyes of flame / came whiffling through the tulgey wood and burbled as it came.

Er att'! Er att'! Ar ter ar ter,
Versare macil nallamye.
Ting-tang! ar Linge-lang!
So qualin mahteros, ar i
cárya mapanero so
pelendellalmero. 		An-twa, an-twa. . and thurh gan thurh
feoplic sweord. . flecg-flacg eode.
Geslaen tha laege. . hafela se haefde -
se baec-eode. . tha sigaelande.
One-two! One-two! And through and through! / The vorpal blade went snicker-snack. / He left it dead and with its head / he went galumphing back.

"I lamalóc unanelye?
tulinalye ramquinyannar
yondonya almirinque!
O are alcalmerimya!
Callo! Cale!" Limeltero
alasseryamen. 		Gecwylmed thu. . gram Eaborhwoc?
Com faethman min!. . Com, baeglic hysse!
Cafol! Cafal!. . Ceafonlic daeg
inthohrte. . in his gefea.
"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? / Come to my arms, my beamish boy! / Callooh! Callay! Oh, frabjous day!" / he chortled in his joy.

Yapsarna ne ar pastunge
astumbari osirive
ar sance lassana;
Uherengwe nénte ilya
fasfilici - timbe tuicar
lamiule-escenna. 		Daeg waes breaglic. . deofon smeolic
tha the on thaet wymbe. . gethyrdon and gimbon.
Earmismic waeron. . ealle gofbore
tha momarythan. . thaer othgrebion.
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe. / All mimsy were the borogoves, / and the mome-raths outgrabe.

GENERAL NOTES
The reduction of the original metrical complexity, and disposal of most of the rhyme in Anglo-Saxon accounts for the difference between the Elvish original and Dodson's 19th Cent. version. It appears that the first verse has been written with strong elements of internal rhyme, this is unusual in Anglo-Saxon of this period, and may point to being blending with a later version by the mediaeval scribe who copied it. But there is some difference in style between the first verse of the original Quenya and the rest of the poem, so this cannot be assumed with certainty.

Although Dodson makes no mention of the Quenya original, it is clear that, while preserving the style of the Anglo-Saxon, he at least attempted in part to understand the etymological basis of the vocabulary in the Quenya.

TITLE



LAMALÓCE - Jabberwocky

   
It appears that this word originally meant merely "twisting beast" 
- (q.v. QL:[LAMA] + QL:[LOKO]) 
some sort of dragon presumably (as there were in those days and  
parts,) and has been mistranslated via mature Quenya to its present 
connotation of "noisy" dragon, in response to the redundancy of 
early Qenya QL:[LAMA - animal] in mature Quenya as Et:[LOKO - twist] comes 
to incorporate both meanings (q.v. Et:[LAM- sound] + Et:[LOK- dragon]).
 






FIRST VERSE




   (line 1)
 YAPSARNA - brillig


According to Dodson "derived from the verb to "bryll" or "broil". 
The time of boiling dinner, ie: the close of the afternoon - about 
4 o'clock".  This is of course nonsense, originating in the mistaken
translation from Quenya into AS.  Clearly the sense must derive from
the archaic early root QL:[YAPA snarl, snap], and not the later mature
roots Et:[YA- time], Et:[AP- food] and possibly Et:[SAB- juice]. It also appears
to be a contracted past participle of the hypothetical verb *yapsa-, 
rather than an adjective. For more on this see notes at end of verse.






NÊ - was 







AR - and







PASTUNGE - slithy


According to Dodson "compounded of slimy and lithe. Smooth and active. 
Like a portmanteau, there are two meanings packed up into one word". 
That it fits Dodson's "portmanteau theory" is, of course, mere 
coincidence, but this is not too dissimilar from the correct Quenya 
derivation - Et:[PATH- smooth] + Et:[TUG- taut, tight].  clearly a pl."-e" 
of the elsewhere unattested adjective *pastunga.







(line 2)
 ASTUMBARI - toves
  

   According to Dodson "a species of badger... smooth, white hair 
   and short horns like a stag. ...lived chiefly on cheese." I have no idea 
   where this description comes, as it seems rather specific for a creature 
   that is only described as living underground, and might be no more than 
   a mole or rabbit! Possibly it was defined more clearly in a preceding 
   section of the poem now lost (see notes at end of verse.) 
   Evidently derived from Et:[GAS- hole] + Et:[TUB- deep] + Et:[MBAR- inhabit]. 
   An "-i" plural form of the singular *astumbar presumably.








OSIRIVE - gyre

	
   According to Dodson "to scratch like a dog" 
   If there was any reference to dogs, I would expect husirive or 
   something of the sort ([KHUG- dog]), but "scratch around" might be a 
   better translation, derived from Et:[OS- round about] + Et:[SRIP- scratch]
 




	

(line 3)
AR - and







'SANCE - gimble

	
   According to Dodson "to bore holes... like a gimlet", and this is indeed
   accurate enough, being derived from Et:[GAS- hole] + Et:[STAK- cleft, split] 
   and clearly contracted (from *asanke) to fit the metre.







LAS'QUANA - wabe

	
   According to Dodson "the grass plot round a sundial" because it "goes 
   a long way before it, a long way behind it and a long way beside it." 
   Another one of his little jokes, but possibly mostly accurate, being 
   seemingly a contraction of *lasalquana derived from Et:[LAT- open] + 
   Et:[SALAK- grass].






(line 4)
 UHERENGWE - mimsy

	
   According to Dodson "a combination of flimsy and miserable. Not a 
   bad translation, given the derivation Et:[U- un] + Et:[KHER- fortune] + 
   Et:[GENGWA- sickly]. "-e" plural of the singular adjective *uherengwa.







NÉNTE - they were







ILYA - all







(line 5)
 FASFILICI - (the) borogoves


   According to Dodson "An extinct parrot... with upside down beaks. 
   Wingless... live on veal." Another flight of fancy I think, unless 
   Dodson had access To other material not available now. Tentatively 
   believed to derive from the archaic QL:[FAS- tassel] (later Et:[PHAS- 
   tangle],), or perhaps the unattested Et:[ASTA- tangle] (I suppose they 
   would get tangled up with their beaks the wrong way round!) Et:[PHILIK- 
   little bird] is at least clear enough, so we have "tangled birds" or 
   "fringed birds" as possible meanings "-i" plural of probably 
   *fasfilit.







TIMBE - mome

	
   Another florid and inaccurate pun (like "wabe") - according to 
   Dodson it means miserable "because they were a long way from 'ome". 
   It may indeed have a meaning of "sad/gloomy/homesick" though, being 
   seemingly derived from Et:[DEM- sad, gloomy] (a poetic borrowing from 
   Ilkorin) and Et:[MBAR- dwell, home] with an "-e" pl. ending, 
   suggesting a singular form of *timba.







TUICAR - raths

	
   According to Lewis Carroll "a sort of green pig". This word is 
   seemingly derived from Et:[TIW- fat] or Et:[TUY- swell, grow]. "-r" 
   plural, so may be nothing of the sort. 
   That polkar is not used suggests that this is not a common or 
   garden pig, and no green species are known to science in this Age 
   of the World, but we may regard it as some sort of hog perhaps, given 
   the lack of any other explanation.







(line 6)
 LAMIULE-ESCENNÁ - outgrabe

	
   A complicated one. According to Dodson "something between bellowing 
   and whistling with a kind of sneeze in the middle", which sounds 
   accurate enough from the clearly derived Et:[LAM- sound] + Et:[MIW- whine] 
   as the active verb (past tense "-e") + Et:[EZGA- rustle] as a 
   pres. part. (a > á) in an adverbial role. We would usually 
   expect to see such a construction the other way round, with the adverbial 
   qualification preceding the verb, but due to the constraints of the metre, 
   this was clearly not possible in the original. 

   
   This does not sound like any kind of normal behaviour on the part of 
   pigs or any creatures, and as sufficiently notable to be recorded in 
   the verse, it may be that they are alarmed or upset in some way - see 
   notes below for further discussion of this.


   Unfortunately at this point Dodson's explanation stops, and all 
   subsequent words are left up to the reader to conjure up explanations.






FIRST VERSE - Conclusion




The first verse overall presents something of a challenge, with a number 
of words unattested elsewhere in the Quenya (or for that matter Anglo-Saxon 
or modern English,) corpus.


It seems from the sense and grammar, that there is a portion missing at the 
beginning - we do not know what the subject of né is in line 1, 
and it seems likely that a preceding section would contain this. Perhaps it
is whatever fierce creature that is making the birds unhappy, and may be 
responsible for all the actions of the creatures mentioned - the birds are 
upset, the burrowers are trying to hide in the grass, and the hogs(?) are 
agitated. Perhaps even the preceding lines refer to the dread Lamalóce 
itself, detailing the reasons why it must be killed.  Without this, the 
poem does indeed appear incomplete - we are not told what may be the most 
important point in it: why does the hero go on his quest in the 
first place?  What has the dragon done to warrant such a perilous quest?



That the word Yapsarna refers to a time of day or even to some general 
"brilligness" of the weather/situation seems unlikely - there is no neut. 
3rd.person suffix "-s" on né, as we would expect if this were the 
case.
Also the lack of any "abstractive elements" (eg: "-e", "-ie", "sse", 
"-we" etc.) that might temper the meaning into more general terms seems 
more in keeping with a description of some creature or other entity capable 
of snarling. 
There is also no attested use of this as anything resembling Dodson's (and 
the Anglo-Saxon translator/scribe's,) most complexly derived adjective (from 
3 separate roots!), whereas the participle is clearly and simply derivable from 
the published root (Qenya Lexicon).



I would propose then, that it was the failure to identify this by the 
original Anglo-Saxon translator (Aelfwine himself?), that introduced the 
error by applying the possibly meaningless Anglo-Saxon adjective breaglic 
(nowhere else attested,) to daeg (lit: "the day was brillig").
Dodson may have identified this as an error of meaning, since he removed 
the sense of "day", only to replace it with a wholly specious explanation 
and the certainly meaningless English adjective "brillig" - derived, 
like the Anglo-Saxon from a hypothetical present participle instead 
of seeing it as the past participle of a meaningful verb that it 
clearly is.



To summarise, then:



	(...The dragon...)
	was snarling and the [smooth, taut]
	[deep-hole-dwellers] scratched around 
	and burrowed on the grass.
	Unhappy were all 
	the [species of bird], and the [hog/creatures] 
	snuffled.


	
A less florid and imaganitive translation than Dodson's, but more accurate.



Given the different style of the Anglo-Saxon first verse from the rest of 
the poem (internal rhyme, metre,) and Dodson's inability to gloss subsequent 
verses, we may be missing some more material between verse 1 and 2, or there 
may be two separate portions (first verse + the rest) grafted together.






SECOND VERSE



  
 (line 1)

   FEUYA - beware  


   from Et:[PHEW- feel disgust at, abhor] imper. "-a"






  I - the







LAMALÓCE - jabberwocky


   see title notes





   
(line 2)

    YONDONYA - my son

   
   Et:[YON- son] yondo + 1st.p.poss. "-nya"




   

ANCA - jaw  

   
   Et:[NAK- bite] anca in the sense of biting teeth






NACILTE - biting

   
   Et:[NAK- bite] We would normally expect a present participle (*nacala,) here, but 
   perhaps due to the constraints of the rhyme scheme, or some other aesthetic considerations, 
   we have the verb in the aorist form ( "-i", denoting a timeless quality,) with the 
   3rd.p.pl.pron. "-lte"






(line 3)

 AR - and







ATSAR - claws
  
Et:[GAT-catch] atsa = claw + pl. "-r". In the original, this appeared to be written 
"atsen", but I am confident that this is a mere transcription error and not a proper 
usage of the noun (even dialectically so.)






NARCILTE - they catch


Et:[NARAK- tear, rend] As nacilte above, this verb is in the aorist form with the 
3rd.p.pl.pron. -lte. We cannot be sure of what subtle shade of meaning would 
be conveyed by this construction to a native of Kor Tirion, but perhaps the biting 
and rending has a more than literal meaning, indicated by the reinforcing of the subject 
with "-lte" in each clause ("the jaws, they bite" "the claws, they rend").






(line 4)

O - OH







FEUYA - beware

as line 1






I - the







OSSEA - fearsome

Clearly derived from Et:[GOS- dread], though elsewhere unattested






(line 5)

 ÚTÚT-AIWA - jubjub bird

Some sort of bird, evidently, aiwa is clear enough from Et:[AIWE-], but útút 
poses something of a difficulty, not helped by the apparently meaningless gloss eab-eab 
in the Anglo-Saxon and Dodson's "jub-jub". Clearly this is a fearsome creature of comparable 
stature to the Jabberwocky itself, and the etymology may derive from the primitive Qenya stem 
QL:[UT-/UD- gloom, dark?], but nothing can be concluded with any certainty.






AR - and







AVARA - avoid

Et:[ABAR-] "-a" imper.






(line 6)

 HISQINQE - frumious

I do not know if Dodson accurately identified the root of this adjective in the 
original Quenya as Et:[KHITH- mist] (and perhaps some influence of Et:[USUK- reek],) 
but "frumious", with its connotations of fuming seems a better translation than the 
Anglo-Saxon fraemne which merely means something like "fearful" or "strange" 
(and which may be merely a transcription error for fremde.) Perhaps Dodson 
blended the two to arrive at "frumious".

If this is indeed the Quenya derivation of the word, it may have some special meaning 
apart from "smoking and reeking", aside from the more logical *his(h)inqe that 
we might expect.






MANDMAPE - bandersnatch


The derivation of this word is clear enough - it is a contraction of Mandomape - 
lit. "snatcher of doom" (Et:[MANAD- doom] + gen "-o" + Et:[MAP- seize],) and clearly 
another of the fearsome beasts to be found in the locality. 


The Anglo-Saxon is, for once, more accurate than Dodson - bana = "slayer, murderer 
(bane)", fon = "seize, grasp, imprison" (though one might have expected a participle 
in the construction, eg: fangen. This may be another mediaeval transcription error.)


This word occurs also (uncontracted,) in the primitive Qenya epic I Rautala Naqaro - 
('The hunting of the thief - An early Qenya Epic translated 
and analysed' - Cole - in publication). This work was also grossly 
mistranslated by Dodson in his The Hunting of the Snark 
(immediate confusion of Qenya QL:[NAQA- thief] with (presumably) mature Quenya QL:[SNAR- knot], 
and downhill from there! But I digress.






THIRD VERSE



   
(line 1)
 MAPANERO - he grasped

   Et:[MAP- seize, grasp] mapa + past -ne + 3rd.p.subj. -ro
   
   
   

   
MACILERYA - his sword

   Et:[MAK- sword] macil + 3.p.poss. "-erya".
   
   
   

 
   
(line 2)
 VERSARE - vorpal

   presumably derived from Et:[BER- valiant] - this word is almost illegible in the
   transcription, but is repeated in v.5 where it is clearer.

   The Anglo-Saxon geoplic is also almost illegible, and could be read as 
   geo(n)g... or georn..., but certainly does not start with a "f" as 
   feoplic in v.5 line.2 certainly does. It may be a transcription error, or 
   a different word.

   feoplic probably derives from feoht (fight), or conceivably 
   feorh (life). geoplic displays no obvious etymological base in 
   Anglo-Saxon at all, which is why I consider a transcription error the likeliest 
   explanation.
   
   
   

   
   
VOROITANERO - long he sought

   Et:[BOR- endure] vo- + Et:[ROY1- chase, pursue] roita- 
   + past "-ne" + 3rd.p.pron. "-ro".
   
   
   


   
(line 3)
 ORSAURE - manxome  

Dodson's choice of "manxome" is clearly due to the Anglo-Saxon mahslic, which
due to the poor state of the original document, might be easily misread manslic 
(with seeming derivation from mân - "wicked"). In fact this would make a lot more 
sense, and the reason for mahslic cannot be satisfactorily explained, so this is most 
likely another transcription error.

The Quenya is partially illegible at this point, and the word may possibly be read 
orsauce, but this is less likely.

The derivation of the Quenya is unclear, and the exact shade of meaning it 
conveys is uncertain, but it must be one of the following constructions (by my estimates 
roughly in order of probability):