canta (2) _("k") noun"shape" (PE17:175), also used as adj._ "shaped", also as quasi-suffix -canta ("k") "-shaped" (KAT)
Quenya
canta
noun. shape, framework, shape, framework, [ᴹQ.] frame; shaped
canta
shape
canta
cardinal. four
canta (1) ("k") cardinal "four" (KÁNAT, VT42:24, VT48:6). In the Etymologies as printed in LR, this word was cited with a final hyphen (as if it were a verb), but the hyphen does not actually appear in Tolkien's manuscript (VT45:19). Ordinal cantëa ("k") "fourth" (VT42:25) Compare cantil.
canta
cardinal. four
The Quenya word for “four” derived from the root √KANAT of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/24; VT48/6; Ety/KÁNAT).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. kanta “four” dates all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82), but in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “four” was ᴱQ. nelde (QL/65), which in Tolkien’s later writings meant “three”.
canta
noun. frame
frame, frame-work, shape
canta-
verb. ?
canya-
verb. canya-
canya- (2) verb (pa.t. canyanë given), undefined form occurring in PE17:113 (together with the seeming variant canta-). See *can- #2 for a conjecture regarding its meaning.
can-
cardinal. four
can- (1) (prefix)("k") "four" (KÁNAT)
cat-
verb. shape
shape, fashion
sal-
verb. ?
venië
shape, cut
venië noun? "shape, cut" (LT1:254)
venwë
shape, cut
venwë noun? "shape, cut" (LT1:254)
A word for “shape, frame(work)” mentioned in both the first (TQ1) and second (TQ2) versions of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1940s and early 1950s (PE18/33, 90). It also appeared as an adjective and quasi-suffix ᴹQ. kanta “shaped” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KAT “shape, make”, as in ᴹQ. lassekanta “leaf-shaped” (Ety/KAT). As a noun, canta appeared in the phrase Nasser ar Cenime Cantar Valaron ar Maiaron “The Natures and Visible Shapes of the Valar and Maiar” (PE17/175) and in Ambarkanta “Shape of the World” (SM/235), while in Tengwesta Qenderinwa it was used to describe the “shapes” of primitive roots that were the basis for forming words. As such, it seems this word is used both for the shapes of actual physical things as well as more abstract frameworks.