Aurë Entuluva Meaning: Húrin's Cry 'Day Shall Come Again'
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Quick Answer: Aurë entuluva! is Quenya for "Day shall come again!" It is the cry Húrin shouts in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (the Nirnaeth Arnoediad) in The Silmarillion, Chapter 20, as the cause of the Elves and Men of the North is collapsing. Aurë means "day, daylight" and entuluva is the future tense of entul-, "to come again, return." It sits beside the better-known cry Utúlie'n aurë! ("The day has come!") and is the more hopeful of the two: a promise made in defeat.
Few Elvish phrases carry as much feeling in so few syllables. Aurë entuluva has been carved into memorials, tattooed on forearms and printed on funeral cards, and most of the people who use it have never read the chapter it comes from. This guide covers where the phrase appears in Tolkien's work, what each word means, how to say it, how it differs from the cries around it, and what to consider before you put it somewhere permanent.
A note on method. Every Elvish word below is checked against the attested vocabulary list this site maintains, and where a grammatical explanation is a reconstruction rather than something Tolkien wrote out, the text says so.
The Short Answer
| Part | Quenya | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Full phrase | Aurë entuluva! | "Day shall come again!" |
| Word 1 | Aurë | day, daylight, morning |
| Word 2 | entuluva | (it) shall come again, shall return |
| Language | Quenya | The High-elven tongue |
| Source | The Silmarillion, Ch. 20 | Húrin, at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad |
That is the whole phrase. Everything else in this article is context, grammar and caution.
Where the Phrase Comes From
"Mae govannen" — want to actually speak Elvish?
Try It Free →The Nirnaeth Arnoediad, "Tears Unnumbered," is the great battle of the First Age in which the free peoples of Beleriand make their last united attempt against Morgoth. It is told in Chapter 20 of The Silmarillion, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad." It goes badly. Treachery among the Easterlings and Morgoth's reserves bring the alliance down.
Two Elvish cries are given in that chapter, and they are easy to confuse:
- Utúlie'n aurë! "The day has come!" This is the great shout of the opening of the battle. This site's phrasebook, Elvish battle cries and blessings, and the Silmarillion text it follows attribute it to Fingon, King of the Noldor of Hithlum. It is a cry of confidence.
- Aurë entuluva! "Day shall come again!" This is Húrin's cry. By the time it is spoken the battle is being lost, so it is a cry of defiance rather than confidence: the day is not here, but it will return.
The difference in tense is the whole story. Utúlie'n aurë is a perfect, "has come." Aurë entuluva is a future, "will come again." One is spoken by an army that thinks it is winning; the other by someone who knows it is not and refuses to give up the hope anyway.
Húrin is a mortal, of the Edain, the Men who allied with the Elves. That is why his cry in Quenya is so striking: an Elvish phrase in the mouth of a human, in the language of the High Elves of Valinor that the Noldor had carried back to Middle-earth. For the background on that tongue see what language the Elves speak in Lord of the Rings.
A related line, Auta i lómë!, "The night is passing!", belongs to the same battle and is often quoted with it. See the next sections for how the three fit together.
Word-by-Word Breakdown
Aurë: "day"
Aurë is the Quenya noun for day or daylight. It appears in the same Silmarillion phrase as Utúlie'n aurë, and it is the root of everyday Quenya time vocabulary: the dictionary glosses it "Day / Daylight / Morning." For more day, night and light words see Elvish words for light and dark and Elvish words for time.
Two things to keep in mind:
- The word is aurë, with a final ë. Many tattoo requests drop it ("aure") because the diaeresis is awkward to type. In Tolkien's Quenya the final -ë is a real vowel and is pronounced.
- Aurë is not the same as anar, the Sun, nor calima or cala, light. Aurë is the span of daytime itself.
entuluva: "shall come again"
This is the word that carries the meaning, and it is built from smaller pieces. Using only the glosses this site's vocabulary records:
| Piece | Gloss | Role |
|---|---|---|
| tul- | "to come" | the verb stem |
| en- | a prefix, here giving the sense "again" | part of the compound verb |
| entul- | "to come again, return" | the compound verb |
| -uva | future tense ending | "shall, will" |
The attested verb is entul-, "to come again, return," which this site's dictionary cites to The Silmarillion and Tolkien's later linguistic papers. The dictionary notes that the exact stem form is deduced from the inflected examples, so it is more accurate to say Tolkien published entuluva and entul- is the stem scholars derive from it. The plain verb tul- ("to come") also appears in Utúlie'n aurë, in its perfect form utúlie, "has come."
The future ending -uva is the standard Quenya future for verbs of this kind. This part of the grammar is a reconstruction from patterns across Tolkien's published Quenya rather than a rule he stated in the Silmarillion itself, so treat it as a well-supported analysis rather than a quotation. The practical upshot is this: entuluva is a single word that means "it will come again."
Note also what is missing. Quenya does not need a separate word for "it." The subject, here the day, is already named by aurë, and the verb stands on its own. English needs "shall" and "again" as separate words; Quenya packs them into one.
The order of the words
Quenya word order is freer than English, and putting the noun first for emphasis, "Day, it shall come again," is natural for a shout. You do not need to rearrange anything. If you want to learn how Quenya sentences are built, Quenya grammar basics is the place to start.
Pronunciation
Quenya pronunciation follows The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, which gives the sounds and the stress rule. The rule that matters here is this: in words of more than two syllables, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable if it is long (a long vowel, a diphthong or a vowel followed by two consonants); otherwise it falls on the third-to-last.
| Word | Syllables | Rough English guide | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurë | AU-rë | OW-reh | two syllables, so first is stressed; au is a diphthong |
| entuluva | en-TU-lu-va | en-TOO-loo-vah | second-to-last syllable -lu- is short, so stress moves to tu |
So: OW-reh en-TOO-loo-vah. You will sometimes see the second word respelled with the stress on -LOO-, but by Appendix E the penultimate syllable here is short, which points to en-TU-lu-va. The other pages on this site, including the funeral and memorial phrases guide, use the same Appendix E stress. For the full sound system see the Quenya pronunciation guide.
A few more notes:
- u is always as in "rule," never as in "but."
- e in en- is as in "pen."
- The final -ë is a distinct short vowel. The diaeresis only tells you not to drop it.
- v is as in English.
How It Fits With the Other Cries
The three phrases from the Nirnaeth that people quote are worth lining up, because they are regularly mixed up on the internet.
| Phrase | Meaning | Tense idea | Mood |
|---|---|---|---|
| Utúlie'n aurë! | "The day has come!" | perfect ("has come") | triumph, readiness |
| Auta i lómë! | "The night is passing!" | present ("is going away") | the turning point |
| Aurë entuluva! | "Day shall come again!" | future ("shall come again") | defiance in defeat |
Auta is a verb meaning "to go away, to pass" in the vocabulary here, a point worth stressing because it is sometimes mistranslated as a greeting ("welcome"). Lómë is "night, dusk, shadow." So Auta i lómë is "the night passes," with the small word i serving as "the." Together the lines show Tolkien's pattern for these cries: they are built from the same two ideas, day and night, in three different tenses.
A caution about speakers. Different sources assign the three cries to different people, and the Silmarillion's own paragraphing makes this easy to get wrong from memory. This site's other guides give Utúlie'n aurë and Auta i lómë to Fingon and Aurë entuluva to Húrin. If you plan to quote a speaker in print, check the chapter text rather than relying on any summary, ours included.
If you want the longer story of Tolkien's battle cries and which are attested, see Elvish battle cries, blessings and phrases.
Aurë Entuluva or Mornië Utúlië?
Many people searching for this phrase end up on the wrong one, so it is worth being direct.
Mornië utúlië, meaning "darkness has come," appears in Enya's song "May It Be," written for the 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring. The Elvish in the song was written for the soundtrack and is not a line from Tolkien's books or spoken by any character in them. It is often misattributed to Galadriel. We do not quote the lyrics here; the point is only that this is a different source with a different, darker meaning.
The two phrases are close to mirror images:
- Mornië utúlië says that darkness has come.
- Aurë entuluva says that day will come again.
If you want something from Tolkien's own text, Aurë entuluva is the one. If you want the song, that is a legitimate choice too, but it should be described honestly as film-music Elvish.
Using It Today
Memorials and funerals
Aurë entuluva is among the most commonly chosen Tolkien phrases for memorials, and with reason: it is genuinely Tolkien's, it is short, and its meaning of morning returning after night reads as hope. Our guide to Elvish funeral and memorial phrases lists it among the few memorial lines that are attested rather than invented, alongside Namárië and Estel.
Keep in mind the context. Húrin says it in a battle that is being lost, and the long tale of his family that follows (in The Children of Húrin) is among the most tragic Tolkien wrote. The phrase is hopeful, but its setting is not gentle. Most people read it as a promise of dawn after grief, and that is a reasonable use. If a family member would find the battle context unwelcome, a different phrase may serve better.
Tattoos
It is a good candidate for a tattoo because it is attested, but a few practical points matter more than usual because ink is permanent:
- Spell it fully. Aurë entuluva, with the ë. Do not let a tattoo artist substitute a plain e or invent hyphens.
- Decide on script. Latin letters are the simplest. If you want it in Tengwar, the mode matters, and the Quenya mode is not the same as the English one; see our Tengwar modes guide before commissioning a design.
- Do not add words. Tacking on extra Elvish ("my day shall come again") means writing new Quenya, and new Quenya from a non-expert is the usual source of errors. Our Elvish tattoo guide goes through how to check a phrase.
- Be clear about what it is. It is a battle cry, not a blessing or a proverb. That does not make it a bad choice; it just means the honest description is "Húrin's cry from the Silmarillion."
Games, writing and roleplay
Because it is short and well known, it works as a rallying line for tabletop campaigns and fan fiction. If you are writing Elvish for a character, remember the distinction above: Aurë entuluva is Tolkien's, but most of what surrounds it in fan material is not. See Elvish phrases for D&D campaigns for how to separate canon from invention.
What We Left Out, and Why
A few claims about this phrase circulate widely and are not safe to repeat:
- That it is a standard farewell. It is not. Tolkien's farewell is Namárië.
- That it was said by Aragorn. It is Húrin's cry in the Silmarillion; any film or fan use is an adaptation.
- Exact stage directions of the speech. Different retellings add details about where Húrin stood and what he did next. Beyond the cry itself, consult the chapter rather than a summary.
- Extra Elvish "completions." Lines that extend the phrase with more Quenya are modern inventions.
When a source would not let us state a fact cleanly, we left it out.
People Also Ask
What does Aurë entuluva mean?
It means "Day shall come again!" in Quenya. Aurë is "day" and entuluva is the future of the verb entul-, "to come again, return."
Who said Aurë entuluva?
In The Silmarillion, Chapter 20, it is Húrin's cry at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. It does not appear in The Lord of the Rings.
Is Aurë entuluva the same as Mornië utúlië?
No. Mornië utúlië is from Enya's "May It Be" in the 2001 film's soundtrack and was written for the song. Aurë entuluva is Tolkien's own phrase and has the opposite message.
Is Aurë entuluva a good tattoo?
It is a safer choice than most Elvish phrases because it is attested. Spell it with the ë, avoid adding words, and understand that it is a battle cry.
Learn the Language Behind the Phrase
Reading a single phrase tells you a little about Quenya; learning how the pieces fit tells you far more. Entuluva is a good first example because it shows three things at once: a verb stem, a prefix and a tense ending. If you want to go from quoting Elvish to reading it, start with the free Quenya course at learningelvish.com/learn-elvish, or try the English to Elvish translator to see how attested words are looked up.
Related Reading
People Also Ask
What does Aurë entuluva mean?
It is Quenya for "Day shall come again!" Aurë is "day" or "daylight" and entuluva is the future tense of entul-, "to come again, return." The phrase is a cry from the Nirnaeth Arnoediad in The Silmarillion.
Who said Aurë entuluva in Tolkien's books?
The Silmarillion gives it to Húrin of the House of Hador, in the chapter on the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (Chapter 20). It is not spoken by Aragorn or any character in The Lord of the Rings.
How do you pronounce Aurë entuluva?
Roughly OW-reh en-TOO-loo-vah. Au is a diphthong like "ow," the final ë is pronounced like a short "eh," and by the Appendix E stress rule the third-from-last syllable of entuluva carries the stress. Every vowel is sounded.
Is Aurë entuluva Tolkien's own Elvish?
Yes. It is printed in The Silmarillion, so it is a full Quenya sentence that Tolkien published himself, not a modern reconstruction. How its grammar is analysed is partly reconstruction, but the phrase and its translation are attested.
Is Aurë entuluva the same as Mornië utúlië?
No. Mornië utúlië comes from Enya's song "May It Be" on the 2001 film soundtrack, with Elvish written for the song rather than taken from Tolkien's books. Aurë entuluva is Tolkien's own phrase and it says nearly the opposite: day will return.
Is Aurë entuluva a good tattoo?
It is one of the safer Quenya choices because it is attested, but know what it is: a battle cry spoken in a lost battle. Check the spelling of the ë and the stress marks, and decide whether the context suits you before it is permanent.
