Rói's Edda-stone

Description

This massive rune-inscribed tablet, along with its mate, can be found within Agshar-mazal, the Scholar's Abode in Erebor, where both were carved by the Dwarf scholar Rói.

It is similar to the real-world Rosetta Stone, in that it contains the same text repeated three times, each time in a different mode of writing.

The inscription on the stone is reversed, as if seen in a mirror. When flipped to the proper orientation, it can be seen to consist of text written in three sections. The top section is written in the Angerthas Daeron, the original Cirth alphabet invented by the Elf-smith Daeron for writing Sindarin. The middle section is written in the Angerthas Erebor, the Dwarves' adaptation of Daeron's alphabet for writing Khuzdul. The bottom section is written in the Felak Karâth, the runes of the Zhélruka Dwarves of the East. The language in all three cases is English; only the writing system differs.

The key to reading the Felak Karâth can be found on the neighbouring cipher-stone.

Translation

Transcription of the top section - Angerthas Daeron

Transcription of the middle section - Angerthas Erebor

Transcription of the bottom section - Felak Karâth

The text is two stanzas of a poem from The Hobbit:

The wind was on the withered heath,

but in the forest stirred no leaf:

there shadows lay by night and day,

and dark things silent crept beneath.

The wind came down from mountains cold,

and like a tide it roared and rolled;

the branches groaned, the forest moaned,

and leaves were laid upon the mould.

The full poem can be read here.