-(s)tā

suffix. -(s)tā

(a)tata

cardinal. two

-ta

suffix. noun suffix, single product of an action

-tā

suffix. verb suffix (transitive), causative

-tă

suffix. verb suffix (intransitive)

-yā

suffix. causative

-yă

suffix. formative

aba-

verb. refuse, forbid

abta-

verb. refuse, deny, say no

amtā

noun. amtā

amtā-

verb. to enlarge, increase

an

preposition. to

antā-

verb. to give, cause a thing/person to go to an object, send, to give, cause a thing/person to go to an object, send, [ᴹ✶] present

atata

root. two, two; [ᴹ√] again, back

atta

cardinal. two

bāta-

verb. to ban, prohibit, refuse, forbid

dat

root. fall down, fall to ground

The Quenya word for “fall” was Q. lanta- for all of Tolkien’s life, and in his later writings it was derived from the root √DAT, where the [[aq|initial [d] became [l]]] as it usually did in Quenya. But this was not the earliest root for “fall”, which was given as ᴱ√LANTAN in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/51), though the actual primitive form was probably ✱ᴱ√LṆTṆ. This early root is consistent with the Gnomish form G. lantha- “fall onto, settle on, alight” (GL/52). Indeed, this is the most reasonable root in this early period, since [[eq|initial [d] > [t]]] in Early Qenya rather than to [l] as it did later on.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√DAT “fall down” (Ety/DAT), replacing a deleted root ᴹ√LANTA (Ety/TALÁT; EtyAC/LANTA). Tolkien coined a new Noldorin verb for “to fall”, as N. dant- with passive participle N. dannen “fallen”. The Noldorin verb form dant- was probably archaic or incomplete, and with the proper form most likely matching its later Sindarin form, S. danna- (PE17/62).

The root √DAT “fall” appeared pretty regularly in later notes (VT47/29; VT48/24, 30). In some notes associated with words in The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave a new derivation of Q. lanta- and S. danna- from a root DAN-TA (PE17/62), but I suspect this was just the nasal-infixed form of √DAT, as with the similar form ᴹ√DANT from the 1930s (Ety/DAT).

However, in notes from 1968, Tolkien gave √LAT as a variant of √DAT via ancient d/l interchange:

> d and l interchanged frequently in early Common Eldarin, as exemplified by Dat/Lat “fall (to the ground)” (VT47/29).

Detecting this variant in Quenya would be nearly impossible, but it is probably evident in the Sindarin word for “waterfall”: S. lanthir (S/235; PM/349), perhaps < ✱lant-sirē “fall-river”. This variant might be a partial restoration of the early root ᴱ√LṆTṆ, but there are no clear signs of it outside this 1968 note and the Sindarin word for “waterfall”.

ektā-

verb. prick with a sharp point, stab

eledā

noun. star-folk, of the stars

ent(h)a

pronoun. away over there, in time to come

hektā-

verb. set aside, cast out, forsake

imte

pronoun. themselves

ista-

verb. to know

kanat

root. four

This root was established as the basis for “four” very early, though the earliest known Elvish word for “four” was actually ᴱQ. nelde from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/65), which became “three” later on (PE14/49). In the Gnomish Lexicon written soon after, the Gnomish word for “four” was G. cant (GL/25), and by the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, the Qenya word likewise became ᴱQ. kanta “four” (PE14/49, 82). The Quenya word kept this form thereafter, and the Noldorin form became N. canad in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where the root ᴹ√KANAT “four” explicitly appeared for the first time (Ety/KÁNAT). The words and root for “four” remained the same thereafter (VT42/24-26; VT47/15-16; VT48/10), with occasional minor (and transient) variations such as √KENET (VT47/41).

kanatā

cardinal. four

kar-

verb. do, make

kelutā-

verb. to cause to spring forth, start (water) flowing, tap

khotta

verb. gather hastily together, pile up

kwat

root. fill; full

This root was used for Elvish “fill, full” words for most of Tolkien’s life. The earliest appearance of this root was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it appeared unglossed as ᴱ√QṆTṆ or ᴱ√QATA with derivatives ᴱQ. qanta “full, whole, all” and ᴱQ. qanta- “fill, complete” (QL/78). It seems in this early period, Tolkien favored the root with syllabic Ṇ, given forms ᴱQ. kunta “full” (< ᴱ✶qṇtā́) beside qanta in the Qenya Phonology (PE12/11) and G. cwintha- “to fill” beside G. cwant “full” in the Gnomish Lexicon (GL/28); these vowel variations are indications of syllabic consonants.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√KWAT, mostly with nasal-infixed derivatives like ᴹQ. qanta/N. pant “full”, but with others that were not like N. pathra- “fill” and N. pathred “fullness” (Ety/KWAT). Quenya Personal Pronouns (QPP1) from the late 1940s also had ᴹ√KWAT “fill”, and he said it was possibly related to kwā- “all” (PE23/101). The root appeared in Tolkiens later writings (PE17/68), and in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 Tolkien again said it was an extension of the root √KWA (WJ/412), a notion he repeated in notes on numbers from the late 1960s (VT42/24).

magtā-

verb. to handle, wield, manage, deal with

māīta

?. māīta

nō

adverb. behind

oktā

noun. war, hostility, strife

orta-

verb. to rise, ascend

orya-

verb. to rise

pal’tā

verb. to feel with the hand, stroke

san-

pronoun. that

satya-

verb. set aside

ta

root. that, there, then; demonstrative

Tolkien used the root √TA for Elvish demonstratives for much of his life, but in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱ√TA “demonstrative” (with variant ᴱ√TAMA²) had derivatives like ᴱQ. tāma “this” and ᴱQ. tamīne “today” (QL/87). This ᴱ√TA seems to be a near demonstrative “this”, as opposed to ᴱ√E “that (by you)” for far demonstratives (QL/87), the latter reappearing in later writings as a “very far” demonstrative ᴹ√EN “yonder, over there”.

By The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹ√TA had switch from “this” to “that”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. tana “that (anaphoric)” and ᴹQ. tar/ON. tō “thither” (Ety/TA). √TA continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s later writings with senses like “that, there, then”.

ta

conjunction. that, then

tata

masculine name. Two

te

pronoun. they

tektā

noun. sign, symbol, mark

tā/taʒ

root. high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble

This root and ones like it were used for “high” things for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√TAHA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. tā “high; high above, high up”, ᴱQ. tahōra or tayóra “lofty”, and ᴱQ. tāri “queen”; it had a variant form ᴱ√TAʕA where the ʕ might be a malformed Y (QL/87). The corresponding forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon were G. dâ “high” and G. dara “lofty” (GL/29), indicating the true form of the root was ᴱ√DAHA, since initial voiced stops were unvoiced (d- > t-) in Early Qenya (PE12/17). Primitive forms like ᴱ✶dagá > ᴱN. dâ/ᴱQ. tá “high” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s indicates the root continued to begin with D for the following decade (PE13/141, 161).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this root as ᴹ√TĀ/TAƷ “high, lofty; noble” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tára “lofty, high”, ᴹQ. tári “queen” and N. taen “height, summit of high mountain” (Ety/TĀ). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien gave the root as √TAG or Tā- “high”, and in notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave √TAƷ as the explanation of the initial element of Q. Taniquetil and contrasted it with √TĂR “stand” (PE17/186). In 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2), Tolkien wrote a marginal note giving √TAƷ > TĀ “high”, but this note was rejected with a statement “transfer to Gen. Structure. No [ʒ] existed in Eldarin” (PE19/72-73 note #22).

This last rejection seems to be part of Tolkien’s general vacillation on the nature and phonetic evolution of velar spirants in Primitive Elvish in 1968-70. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root form was √TAH or √TAƷ > √TĀ as the basis for “high” words, much like √MAH or √MAƷ > ✶mā was the basis for “hand” words.

tāra

adjective. high

tī

pronoun. they

ñ(g)alatā

noun. (reflected) radiance, glitter (of reflected light), glory

ñ(g)alatā-rigelle

feminine name. maiden crowned with a garland of radiance

ṃbart(ă)

noun. fate, doom; (orig.) permanent establishment

mal(a)tā Reconstructed

noun. gold (as metal)