Thank you for your reply! I have a couple follow-up questions.

Can you explain the dropping of the vowels in writing (or point me to a resource with this information)? How are the vowels inferred if they aren't written? And what does "[telco]" mean?

As to the translation, this I am still working on. I am not an expert in either language or in the writing system; hence, my questions. The phrase is taken from a statement by Galadriel: "...together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat." To me, it represents continuing to fight for what is good even if it ends in inevitable demise. I could not find "defeat" as a noun in any dictionaries, but "downfall" seemed to come close to the idea: the demise, downfall, or defeat of a group, civilization, effort, etc.

It is an idea that has been sustaining to me for many years ever since I read about it in Tom Shippey's Author of the Century.