Primitive elvish
tanat
root. bounce
Quenya
tanta-
verb. to bounce, bound, rebound; to swing (intr.), sway, dandle, wave
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
Early Quenya
tanta-
verb. to bounce, bound, rebound
Early Primitive Elvish
tṇt-
verb. to bounce
A verb appearing as ᴱQ. tanta- “bounce, bound, rebound” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TṆTṆ (QL/93). The verb tante reappeared in the Early Qenya Grammar based on primitive ✶tṇt- {“dance” >>} “bounce” (PE14/58). See also the transitive variant tanta- from this same period “dance (tr.), dandle, wave” (QL/94).
Neo-Quenya: As we have no better options for “bounce”, for purposes of Neo-Quenya I would retain ᴺQ. tanta- “to bounce, bound, rebound” based on the Neo-Root ᴺ√TANAT; I would use it both transitively and intransitively, with distinct past forms tantane “bounced [something]” and tanante “bounced [self]”. This does conflict with the 1960s verb Q. tanta- “to play a harp”, but I prefer 1930s ᴹQ. ñanda- “to harp” instead. For other “dance” verbs see Q. lilta-.
In a 2025-01-25 post to the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle this word might also mean “swing (intr.), sway, dandle, wave”.