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The sixth phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). It is a compound word, a combination of lóte “flower”, and the instrumental plural form falmarínen of the noun falmar “wave”. In the English translation “with waves crowned with flowers”, the word “crowned” is a poetic addition. A better translation might be “with foamcrests like flowers” (PE16/62).

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

lóte-falmar-í-nen = “*flower-wave-(plural)-with”

Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the second draft of the poem (OM1b: PE16/57-8), where Tolkien wrote i falmain lótanéro >> falmain lótanéren, using the nominative plural of the related noun falma “foam” and the feminine plural of the verb lóto- “to bloom”, perhaps “*foam was blooming”. He revised it to lótefalmarínen in the third draft (OM1c: PE16/60) and aside from the variant Finnish-like spellings of the fifth draft (OM1e: PE16/72), it remained the same thereafter.