Atanatárion
The Atanatárion was a literary work dealing with the three "Great Tales" as written down in Númenor that were primarily concerned with the heroes of the Edain of the late First Age.[1]
These three Great Tales, which were later preserved in Gondor, were:[1]
1) Narn Beren ion Barahir ("Tale of Beren son of Barahir") or Narn e·Dinúviel ("Tale of the Nightingale")
2) Narn e·mbar Hador ("Tale of the House of Hador"), which consists of:
- a) Narn i·Chîn Húrin ("Tale of the Children of Húrin") or Narn e·’Rach Morgoth ("Tale of the Curse of Morgoth")
- b) Narn en·Êl ("Tale of the Star") or Narn e·Dant Gondolin ar Orthad en·Êl ("Tale of the Fall of Gondolin and the Raising of the Star")
Etymology[edit | edit source]
The title Atanatárion is Quenya for "(Legendarium) of the Fathers of Men", with the later part of the title forming a genitive plural of the term Atanatar ("of the Fathers of Men"), while the "Legendarium" part of the title is implied in the English gloss of the title of the work.[2]
The Sindarin cognates of the title are Nern in Adanath and Nern in Edenedair, where the "Legendarium" part of the title is explicitly translated,[2] with the term Nern being the plural of the noun narn ("a tale").[3]
Composition[edit | edit source]
Tolkien wrote about the Atanatárion and the titles of the three Great Tales on a small slip with the heading: Memorandum, some time in the 1950's. According to Christopher Tolkien, he probably considered composing them in the form of three shorter stories as Appendices to The Silmarillion.[1]
See also[edit | edit source]
- Unfinished Tales (1980)
- The Lays of Beleriand (1985)
- The Children of Húrin (2007)
- Beren and Lúthien (2017)
- The Fall of Gondolin (2018)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Five. Myths Transformed", "[Text] I", p. 373
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Paul Strack, "Q. Atanatárion pn.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 22 November 2023)
- ↑ Paul Strack, "S. narn n.", Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon (accessed 22 November 2023)