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The sixteenth phrase (lines 17-18) of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/221). The first word is the nominative form of the noun telume “vault of heaven” followed by the allative of tolla “hill”, singular despite its English translation. It is followed by an adverb of unclear function naiko; this adverb is not reflected in the English translation, but in the Glossary Commentary accompanying the sixth draft, it is said to be the adverbial form of naika² “stricken ill, sick” (PE16/75). The last word in the phrase is the aorist 3rd-singular masculine form of the verb lunga(na)- “sag, bend down”.

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

telume-n tolla-nta naik-o lungana-r = “*heavens-(nominative) hill-upon sick-ly sag-he”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem, where Tolkien first considered an alternate form lungáro of the verb before switching to lunganar (OM1d: PE16/62). Aside from the variant Finnish-like spelling of the fifth draft (OM1e: PE16/72), the phrase remained the same thereafter.