The White Tower: Difference between revisions
Created page with "{{Song |title=The White Tower |season=1 |composer=Lorne Balfe }} '''The White Tower''' is a song from the Season 1 soundtrack of ''The Wheel of Time'' television series. == Lyrics == === Verse 1 === ==== Old Tongue ==== greanin saidin shaia al Tar Valon begratan feide so'de alien'tsuqa ==== Official English ==== Channelers of power The women of Tar Valon Who cannot speak untruths Cautioned ==== Literal Translation ==== c..." |
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Strangely, saidin is used as a generic word for power. We presume that the correct translation would be ''saidar'', but it is unknown why saidin is used here. It is possible this is some rare form of morphological agreement between greanin and saidar — agreement is not a general feature of Old Tongue but it cannot be ruled out. | Strangely, saidin is used as a generic word for power. We presume that the correct translation would be ''saidar'', but it is unknown why saidin is used here. It is possible this is some rare form of morphological agreement between greanin and saidar — agreement is not a general feature of Old Tongue but it cannot be ruled out. | ||
Feide so'de is an interesting construction: a contraction of [[feia]]'[[de]] [[soe]]'de, "unspeakers (of) untruth". | |||
Alien'tsuqa is one of the most mysterious words in the Wheel of Time show corpus. It is seemingly translated to "cautioned". We know [[alien]] refers to "yet", a form related to [[ailen]] (before). There is no other use of tsuqa anywhere as of yet, and no apparent related words. | Alien'tsuqa is one of the most mysterious words in the Wheel of Time show corpus. It is seemingly translated to "cautioned". We know [[alien]] refers to "yet", a form related to [[ailen]] (before). There is no other use of tsuqa anywhere as of yet, and no apparent related words. | ||
Latest revision as of 23:44, 21 February 2026
The White Tower is a song from the Season 1 soundtrack of The Wheel of Time television series.
Lyrics
Verse 1
Old Tongue
Official English
Channelers of power
The women of Tar Valon
Who cannot speak untruths
Cautioned
Literal Translation
channelers (of) saidar(*)
women of Tar Valon
sworn non-speakers of untruth
cautioned
Notes
Strangely, saidin is used as a generic word for power. We presume that the correct translation would be saidar, but it is unknown why saidin is used here. It is possible this is some rare form of morphological agreement between greanin and saidar — agreement is not a general feature of Old Tongue but it cannot be ruled out.
Feide so'de is an interesting construction: a contraction of feia'de soe'de, "unspeakers (of) untruth".
Alien'tsuqa is one of the most mysterious words in the Wheel of Time show corpus. It is seemingly translated to "cautioned". We know alien refers to "yet", a form related to ailen (before). There is no other use of tsuqa anywhere as of yet, and no apparent related words.
Verse 2
Old Tongue
al Aes Sedai
greanin an saidin
Official English
The Aes Sedai
Channelers of power
Literal Translation
the servants of all
channelers of saidar(*)
Notes
No additional notes for this section.
Verse 3
Old Tongue
alien'tsuqa
bala'vakye shaia
Official English
Cautioned
By the memory
Of the breaking
Of the world
Literal Translation
cautioned
(by) memories from (the) breaking
take caution women
guard against breaking (of the) world
Notes
Here, the official English diverges fairly substantially from the apparent literal meaning, and we are left to speculate on the meaning of bala'vakye. Bala may be a contraction of balad ("slow"); vakye could naively appear to be vakar modified by the -ye suffix. The -ye suffix generally converts a more basic word into an abstract or conceptual version of itself, so here, "to move" might be abstracted to "do" or "reach". Bala'vakye would then be "do slowly" or "reach slowly". Or, if we take it more abstractly still, "do cautiously" or "take caution".